Lay summaries: communicating research to non-specialist audiences
A lay summary translates technical research findings into accessible language for non-specialist audiences — the general public, policy makers, journalists, patients, or secondary school students. Lay summaries are increasingly required by research funders (UKRI, Wellcome Trust, NIH) as part of grant applications and final reports, and by journals with public engagement requirements.
What makes a good lay summary
Short sentences. Active voice. No unexplained acronyms. An opening that answers "why should I care?" before explaining what was done. Concrete examples and analogies where technical concepts appear. The most common failure is starting with the methodology — lay readers need the "so what" before the "how". Lead with the problem, then the approach, then the finding and its real-world significance.
Length and audience calibration
Funder lay summaries are typically 100–200 words. Journal plain-language summaries vary from 150 to 500 words. The target audience changes what you can assume: a policy-maker audience understands budget and population-level concepts; a patient audience needs clinical relevance explained without assuming medical knowledge; a general public audience benefits from everyday analogies. This tool lets you specify the audience before generating.