How to Write a Plain Language Summary for Marine Science
A plain language summary is one of the most useful things you can produce alongside a piece of marine science research. Not because some journals ask for them, but because they extend the reach of your work to the people who most need to understand it. Policymakers, educators, practitioners, journalists, community groups, and others whose decisions or lives might be shaped by your findings rarely have access to journal articles – or the background to interpret them if they did. A plain language summary gives them a way in.
Plain language summaries come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. A 150-word plain language summary required by a journal is a different task from a two-page accessible overview for educators, or a short briefing for a community group affected by your research. The audience, purpose, and format all shape what you produce.
What a plain language summary is (and isn't)
Before you write a plain language summary, it helps to be clear about what you're actually trying to produce.
A plain language summary is not an abstract. An abstract is written for other scientists. It assumes specialist knowledge, uses technical language, and follows the conventions of academic writing. A plain language summary is written for everyone else.
It is not a press release. A press release is designed to attract media attention and is often written with a degree of promotional intent. A plain language summary is designed to inform and explain, accurately and accessibly, without spin.
It is not a dumbed-down version of your paper. This is perhaps the most important distinction. Plain language does not mean simple thinking. It means expressing complex ideas clearly, without sacrificing accuracy or nuance. The goal is accessibility, not simplification.
It is not a repeat of your paper in shorter form. A plain language summary is a different piece of writing for a different audience with different needs. It follows different conventions, uses different language, and makes different choices about what to include and what to leave out.
A step-by-step approach
Start by identifying your audience. Who are you actually writing for? "The general public" is not a useful answer. As with all science communication, the more specific you can be, the better your summary will be. Are you writing for coastal community groups who might be affected by your findings? Policymakers working on marine spatial planning? Teachers looking for current research to bring into the classroom? To go with your peer-reviewed paper in a journal? The answer shapes everything – the length of the summary, the language you use, the context you provide, and the aspects of your research you emphasise.
Lead with the finding, not the method. Most researchers are trained to write in the order they did the work – background, methods, results, discussion. For a plain language summary, start with what you found and why it matters. The reader can decide whether they want to know more about how you got there.
Instead of: "Using a combination of acoustic telemetry and satellite tracking, we monitored the movement patterns of 47 individual basking sharks over a three-year period across the northeast Atlantic."
Try: "Basking sharks travel much further than previously thought, crossing international boundaries in ways that have significant implications for how we protect them."
Avoid jargon – or explain it when you can't. Every field has its own language, and all the various domains that make up marine science are no exception. Some technical terms are unavoidable. If you have to use them, explain them. Once. Briefly. And then move on.
Instead of: "Anthropogenic nutrient loading was identified as a primary driver of hypoxic conditions in the study area."
Try: "Human activities, particularly agricultural runoff, are causing oxygen levels in the water to drop to levels that most marine life cannot survive."
Use concrete, specific language. Abstract language is harder to understand and harder to remember than concrete language. Where possible, replace generalities with specifics.
Instead of: "significant impacts on coastal ecosystems"
Try: "a 30% decline in seagrass cover over ten years, with knock-on effects for the marine life that depend on it"
Keep sentences short. Long sentences, particularly those with multiple clauses, qualifications, and embedded caveats, are harder to follow than short ones. Aim for an average sentence length of around 15–20 words. Vary the rhythm. Short sentences are easy to read, but they can get boring if overused (exception - if you’re writing for small children!).
End with why it matters. This is the question your reader is asking throughout. So what? Why should I care about this? Answer it explicitly at the end of your summary. What does this research mean for the people reading it, for the decisions being made, for the future of the ocean? Be honest about what the research does and doesn't tell us, but don't be so cautious that the significance of your findings gets lost.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Burying the finding. If a reader has to get to paragraph four to understand what the research actually found, most of them won't get there. Lead with your key finding.
Over-explaining the methodology. Methodology matters in a journal article. In a plain language summary, it's usually context at most. Unless your method is itself the point of the research, keep it brief or leave it out entirely.
Writing for other scientists. It's a surprisingly easy trap to fall into, particularly if you're writing quickly or under pressure. Read your summary back and ask honestly, would someone with no scientific background in your field understand this? Better still, ask someone with no scientific background at all to read it and tell you what they understood.
Using passive voice throughout. Passive voice – "it was found that," "the data were analysed," "results were observed" – is standard in academic writing, but it makes plain language summaries harder to read. Where possible, use the active voice. "We found that" is clearer than "it was found that."
Not explaining why it matters. Research findings don't explain their own significance. You have to do that. If you're not sure why your findings matter to a non-specialist audience, that's worth thinking through before you write. If you can't explain it, your reader certainly won't be able to work it out.
Being so cautious that the finding disappears. Researchers are trained to qualify. Every finding comes with caveats, limitations, and conditions. All of these matter, but in a plain language summary, they need to be handled carefully. Include the ones important to your audience. Leave out the ones that only matter to specialists.
If you need support producing plain language summaries, briefings, or explainers from your marine science research, Ocean Oculus can help.
