: Re: Writing a press release without tacky self-promotion I recently graduated from a university and was selected to participate in an exciting team event that likely would interest the public. One

@Bethany377

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You are wise to realize that the passion and enthusiasm you feel for your research could be your downfall with regards to writing press releases. This self-awareness serves you well. I draw on my experience in writing objective graduate research papers from which one was obligated to remove personal ambitions and biases for the sake of a professional presentation, even when writing in the first person.

My skills in dispassionate discourse were further honed answering thousands of questions on Quora.com to their strict policy of political correctness, often on controversial issues and/or in trying situations though I have never written a press release. To remedy this last, I consulted a retired English teacher who has written press releases on topics close to his heart, to which he devoted much time and energy.

I emphasize dispassionate discourse because that is the way to go. "You have to write almost as if you were the reporter," said the English teacher. "I don't know about the American press, but here in Canada reporters are so pressed by deadlines they often lift entire paragraphs from the press release."

He sent me two press releases he wrote in recent years. Both read like newspaper articles. Were I not involved in the projects the press releases regarded, I would never have guessed the passion--the enthusiasm, the sweat and the blood--poured into them. It was hard to realize that he wrote them himself. So dispassionately were they written.

In other words, present the facts. Provide the who, when, where, what, and why as required by the newspaper's template. Stick to the academic analysis of why, not your personal motivation to save the world. But don't short-change yourself. To prevent your soul from shrivelling at the sterility of it all, have a warm talk with your heart and remind yourself of the positive results you expect for yourself and your beloved institution.

You may even want to write your first draft like a journal entry or letter to a friend with all your passion and enthusiasm intact, then ruthlessly go through it and screen out every last trace of passion. I have used that approach on things I found very difficult to write. That allowed me to express my inner feelings and also get the facts down. The end result--after all the screening and deletions--was great, even professional. Just don't let the recipient see the first draft--or the second or third. To be sure it's suitable, get a third party to read it before submitting.

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