The Conversation

The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit platform for informed commentary and analysis written by university faculty and researchers and delivered directly to the public. It presents academics at all levels in their careers with an opportunity to reach large audiences through the creation of evidence-based analysis written in plain language and disseminated under Creative Commons licenses. 

Watch a video about what MSU faculty have to say about writing for The Conversation:

Articles published in The Conversation are accessible to the general public and are republished by major news outlets (such as Time, CNN, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Newsweek and more), generating thousands of views across multiple platforms.

In a partnership with the Associated Press, the AP distributes articles from The Conversation to its website and wire service, increasing readership. 

For more about the partnership between The Conversation and the Associated Press, read A common goal: media, universities and mission-driven foundations.

Read more about how The Conversation is different. 

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Write for The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation is a great way to begin publicly communicating because you don’t have to do it alone. As a contributor, you work collaboratively with an editor to write an explanatory story that is interesting, timely and authoritative. Your article will not be published until you have signed off on it and no matter which outlet publishes it, the article will not be altered in any way.

See a full list of articles written and published by more than 140 MSU faculty members.

The Conversation always is seeking ideas for stories, reactions to current events and scholarly takes on the news. Learn more about pitching a story idea to the editors.

For more information about working with The Conversation, please contact Jennifer Davis, (517) 355-2281.

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MSU Faculty Testimonials

“It was an exceptionally good experience. I worked with editor Kaitlyn Chantry. Kaitlyn was professional, insightful, responsive and flexible. I highly recommend this venue.” — Laura Apol, associate professor of teacher education

“The editors at The Conversation are very nice and friendly. More important, they responded to my edits very quickly. This is impressive considering they have so many articles to work with on a daily basis. Thus, I highly recommend our faculty colleagues work with them.” - Mi Zhang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

“The Conversation editor was wonderful to work with.” — Guowei Wei, professor of mathematics, electrical and computer engineering, biochemistry and molecular biology