So far, this series has focused primarily on academic journals and guides. They are, after all, the first step in bringing research to public attention. If you want to make the jump from the pages of academia to public influence, however, at some point you will likely come across the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. You may even have to write to this guide yourself! This is the guide that governs your access to popular outlets.
Data journalism
As a tool, the AP guide bears some resemblance to MLA in that it has a strong educational focus. Instead of training students, however, the AP specifically educates journalists in how to communicate quantitative research to a general audience. Much of this gets categorized under the (very broad!) section on data journalism, added in 2017. While individual journalists may have a long and excellent track record in reporting on quantitative research, the standardization of popular reporting on technical writing is still new. Scholars looking to make the jump to popular outlets may have to educate the journalists as well as the broader public.
Business Reporting and the AP Stylebook
The AP guide also governs most of the business and policy publications that disseminate research to investors and policymakers. The goal of the AP when it comes to channeling research is to turn numbers into “real stories.” When in doubt, the guide emphasizes clarity and directness over nuance. While this drives careful researchers nuts, it also provides an opportunity. When writing to this guide, put the real-world impacts of your research front and center. Many researchers carefully build a case up to the conclusion, where they at last present practical conclusions. Writing for a policy or business audience, however, pushes you to put those practical implications first. It takes practice, but viewing this type of writing as a pitch to potential strategic partners helps to bridge this gap.
Getting Published
Some researchers may never aspire to appear in popular publications. If you do wish industry to take your research seriously, though, you may have to interface with writers who use the AP manual. This manual has a lot less of the technical apparatus than some of the guides you regularly use. Journalists work to tight deadlines and have to provide clear and accurate data under those time constraints. When approaching these types of publications, it will help to bear in mind that you may need to adopt a more broadly educational approach. Careful webs of reference and technical jargon will likely need simplification. A good editor can also help you in translating your work to a more popular audience, as many freelancers are generalists rather than specialists. And that, at the end of the day, is what the AP Stylebook is: a bridge between specialized and generalized knowledge.
