External Training Opportunities

The University has a subscription to The Conversation, you can find all St Andrews authored articles here – https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-st-andrews-1280

The Conversation have produced new online training materials, that may be of interest, to you or others.

Four new, self-paced, online training courses for academics.

Building skills to write for non-academic audiences, at times that suits the individual.

Training helps academics to understand how The Conversation works, the support that can be provided and the shift in mindset and writing style needed to write for a non-academic audience.

Links to courses are included in the sections below.

The Conversation: who we are and how we work with academics

Although The Conversation is a news platform, our editorial process is different to other media. This course introduces you to who we are and how we share academic expertise with our global audience.

The first section explains who we are and how we work: how writing for The Conversation is different from academic blogging and how we support academics to write for a non-expert audience. It provides an insight into how academic authors work with editors and what they have gained from their experience.

The second section takes you through the tools you will use on the website if you go on to pitch and write for The Conversation.

Who this course is for:

Academics, PhD candidates and researchers who would like to understand how The Conversation works and how they can get involved. It is a precursor to courses on how to write short and longform articles for and pitch to The Conversation.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
• Understand the differences between an academic blog and The Conversation’s articles
• Recognise the mindset needed to write for a news platform like The Conversation
• Describe how The Conversation’s editorial process works and recognise the support you will receive as an academic author
• List the potential benefits to your research and your career by writing for The Conversation
• Use the platform tools to set up your own author profile and pitch and write for The Conversation

Enrol on The Conversation: Who The Conversation are and how they work with academics

Since the University of St Andrews is a member institution, academics, researchers and PhD candidates must enrol using thier university email address.

How to write for The Conversation

This course introduces you to journalistic writing. It covers the key differences between writing for the media and academic writing, and why you need to consider your audience if you are to write successfully for a non-academic reader. It will help you generate ideas for articles rooted in your research and expertise and give you an insight into how editors at The Conversation commission. By the end of the course, you will have the tools to write a short article.
Who this course is for:
Academics, PhD candidates and researchers affiliated with institutions that are members of The Conversation and would like to develop journalistic skills to write a short article for The Conversation.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
• Explain the difference between journalistic and academic writing
• Identify the audience you are writing for and explain why it’s important
• Recognise what makes a good story and develop a range of story ideas from your academic research
• Write and edit an article using a journalistic writing style

Enrol on How to write for The Conversation

Since the University of St Andrews is a member institution, academics, researchers and PhD candidates must enrol using thier university email address.

Please note that if you are not affiliated with a member institution then you will be automatically un-enrolled, as this course is a member-only benefit for institutions that are members of The Conversation.

If you believe there has been an error, please contact [email protected]

How to pitch to The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation is a good way to raise your academic profile and disseminate your research to a wide, general audience, but you will miss out on opportunities to be published if you can’t successfully pitch your ideas.
This course will demystify pitching and guide you through the commissioning process. It covers what you need to think about before you begin writing a pitch, how to structure your pitch, the key elements to include and what to avoid, as well as how to deal with rejection. By the end, you will have a set of tools to enable you craft a great pitch to The Conversation.
You will get more out of this course if you have taken our How to write for The Conversation course first. As well as helping you to develop the skills to write journalistically, it will help you to frame your research and generate article ideas with a general audience in mind.

Who this course is for:
Academics, PhD candidates and researchers affiliated with institutions that are members of The Conversation who would like to pitch story ideas to The Conversation. 
After completing this course you will be able to:
• Recognise how the commissioning process works
• Develop and test story ideas 
• Write a pitch
• Recognise why a pitch may be rejected and develop a strategy for dealing with rejection

Enrol on How to pitch to The Conversation

Since the University of St Andrews is a member institution, academics, researchers and PhD candidates must enrol using thier university email address.

Please note that if you are not affiliated with a member institution then you will be automatically un-enrolled, as this course is a member-only benefit for institutions that are members of The Conversation.

If you believe there has been an error, please contact [email protected]

Writing for Insights

Writing for Insights builds on what you have learned in How to write for The Conversation. It focuses on how to write longer articles (of around 3,000 to 4,000 words) that will grab a reader’s attention and keep them engaged.
It explains key techniques for developing a compelling narrative out of your research and these techniques will help build suspense, take the reader to the heart of the story and maintain their interest throughout .
The skills learned here will help you to develop and pitch a longform story idea for The Conversation’s long reads section, Insights.
These skills will also come in handy when sending ideas to other feature-led websites aimed at a general (non-academic) audience.
Who this course is for:
Academics, PhD candidates and researchers affiliated with institutions that are members of The Conversation. You will get more out of this course if you have completed the How to write for The Conversation course, or if you have some experience of writing shorter articles for a general audience, or have previously written for The Conversation.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
• Identify the elements of your research that best suit a longform article.
• Develop a narrative structure
• Learn how to keep a general audience hooked.
• Employ journalistic writing techniques that bring your research to life and place readers on the spot and inside the story.
• Pitch your story in a way that makes clear why it is worthy of a longform treatment.

Enrol on Writing longform features

Since the University of St Andrews is a member institution, academics, researchers and PhD candidates must enrol using thier university email address.

Please note that if you are not affiliated with a member institution then you will be automatically un-enrolled, as this course is a member-only benefit for institutions that are members of The Conversation.

If you believe there has been an error, please contact [email protected]