--- title: A Data Scientist’s Guide to Writing description: Meagan is a data scientist. Here is her guide to being a capable communicator. image: https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/HAW%20Blog%20-%20image%20to%20post%20in%20Webflow%20on%20the%20blog%20itself%20(51)%20(1)-1.png --- [Skip to the main content.](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/a-data-scientists-guide-to-writing#main-content) [![Untitled design (90)](https://www.hireawriter.us/hs-fs/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(90).png?width=500&height=500&name=Untitled%20design%20(90).png "Untitled design (90)")](http://hireawriter.us) [![Untitled design (90)](https://www.hireawriter.us/hs-fs/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(90).png?width=500&height=500&name=Untitled%20design%20(90).png "Untitled design (90)")](http://hireawriter.us) - [FOR BUSINESSES](https://www.hireawriter.us/for-businesses) - [SEO COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/seo-copywriting) - [SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT](https://www.hireawriter.us/social-media-services) - [WEBSITE COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/website-copywriting) - [LEAD GEN COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/lead-generation-copywriting) - [MARKETING STRATEGY](https://www.hireawriter.us/marketing-strategy) - [FOR AGENCIES](https://www.hireawriter.us/agency-partnership) - [WHITE LABELED COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/white-labeled-copywriting) - [FRACTIONAL SEO LEADERSHIP](https://www.hireawriter.us/fractional-seo-leadership) - [TECHNICAL SEO](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-seo) - [TRAINING](https://www.hireawriter.us/training) - [ABOUT HAW](https://www.hireawriter.us/about) - [JOBS](https://www.hireawriter.us/hire-a-writer-jobs) - [LEARN](https://www.hireawriter.us/learn) - [LEARN SEO](https://www.hireawriter.us/seo) - [LEARN BUSINESS CONTENT](https://www.hireawriter.us/business) - [LEARN SOCIAL MEDIA](https://www.hireawriter.us/social) - [LEARN STORYTELLING](https://www.hireawriter.us/storytelling) - [LEARN CREATIVE WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/creative) - [LEARN TECHNICAL WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content) - [LEARN FREELANCE WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/freelance) - [CONTACT](https://www.hireawriter.us/contact) Search Toggle Menu Search Toggle Menu - [FOR BUSINESSES](https://www.hireawriter.us/for-businesses) - [SEO COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/seo-copywriting) - [SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT](https://www.hireawriter.us/social-media-services) - [WEBSITE COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/website-copywriting) - [LEAD GEN COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/lead-generation-copywriting) - [MARKETING STRATEGY](https://www.hireawriter.us/marketing-strategy) - [FOR AGENCIES](https://www.hireawriter.us/agency-partnership) - [WHITE LABELED COPYWRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/white-labeled-copywriting) - [FRACTIONAL SEO LEADERSHIP](https://www.hireawriter.us/fractional-seo-leadership) - [TECHNICAL SEO](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-seo) - [TRAINING](https://www.hireawriter.us/training) - [ABOUT HAW](https://www.hireawriter.us/about) - [JOBS](https://www.hireawriter.us/hire-a-writer-jobs) - [LEARN](https://www.hireawriter.us/learn) - [LEARN SEO](https://www.hireawriter.us/seo) - [LEARN BUSINESS CONTENT](https://www.hireawriter.us/business) - [LEARN SOCIAL MEDIA](https://www.hireawriter.us/social) - [LEARN STORYTELLING](https://www.hireawriter.us/storytelling) - [LEARN CREATIVE WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/creative) - [LEARN TECHNICAL WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content) - [LEARN FREELANCE WRITING](https://www.hireawriter.us/freelance) - [CONTACT](https://www.hireawriter.us/contact) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Hireawriteronline) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/joywriteryouell/) [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hireawriter/) [X](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/a-data-scientists-guide-to-writing#0) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8sZOTANgCCjtn29m4J0Z6A) [Medium](https://medium.com/hireawriter) [Tiktok](https://www.tiktok.com/@joyyouell) [Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.com/joyfromhireawriter/) 3 min read # A Data Scientist’s Guide to Writing [![Picture of Meagan Voulo](https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20-%202023-01-11T163452.827.png) Meagan Voulo](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/author/meagan-voulo) : Apr 10, 2023, 12:39:25 PM [Technical](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/technical) [Copywriting](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/copywriting) ![A Data Scientist’s Guide to Writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/HAW%20Blog%20-%20image%20to%20post%20in%20Webflow%20on%20the%20blog%20itself%20(51)%20(1)-1.png) By day, I’m a data scientist. I spend most of my time looking at tables, graphs, and numbers; running statistical analyses; and solving business problems with predictive analytics and machine learning. While those are the typical daily tasks, you might be surprised that my job also involves quite a bit of writing. Yes, even data scientists need to be able to write effectively. But I don’t just mean technical manuals, white papers, and reports. This goes beyond [the basics of technical writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/the-basics-of-technical-copywriting). I also have to translate my findings into blog posts or reviews for critical stakeholders and even those who have next to no experience with the data. Thankfully, I studied psychology in college. Through my undergraduate and graduate career, I learned how to explain my findings in layman’s terms, and because I also love writing, this allowed me to combine my analytical thinking with my creative side. ## Why is Writing Important for Data Scientists? You might ask – why is writing important for data scientists? Isn’t there someone else who takes care of that stuff?  You’d think that all copywriters handle data write-ups, but you’d be surprised to find that copywriters also need to communicate with the data engineers and data scientists to tell a brand’s story. I admit I have a bit of a competitive advantage when it comes to these tasks. Because I studied the elements of storytelling for my fictional pieces, I’m better able to apply them to my data analyses. For instance, as I lay out my coding notebook for my analyses, I also keep track of what I’m doing by taking notes. At first, it’s just commented in the code so that I know the transformations and calculations, but later I expand this to full markdown which involves headings, paragraphs, bullet points, and more. Why do I take the time to do all this? Because if the person making the company’s decisions - whether that’s the CEO, the Chief Business Officer, or another executive – isn’t engaged by my findings or doesn’t fully understand what I did, then essentially the whole project was useless. [![TECH BLOG CTA](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/24409333/8dc735c9-924b-44af-92c6-522bf46df958.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/24409333/8dc735c9-924b-44af-92c6-522bf46df958) ## Dos and Don’ts of a Data Write-Up When I approach my final data write-ups, I try to keep some key points in mind. Below, I’ll go over some of my major Dos and Don’ts: ### Do - **Start with a problem** – If you’re analyzing data, there must be a problem to solve or a goal in mind. If you going into a project just trying to find anything significant, you’re set up to fail. Give your readers the context. - **Create meaningful visualizations** – They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that can apply even in a complex data analysis. If I want to show someone the relationship between two variables, I might briefly explain it (with a sentence or two) but then really drive the point home with an interactive graph. - **Provide a solution** – What did you actually find and what does it mean? If I can’t answer that at the end of my write-up, then I didn’t do my job as a data scientist or a writer. If someone gave you a complicated math problem and you spent hours doing all the calculations and writing out the work on scratch paper, but you didn’t provide a solution, then you got the question wrong. By the end of a data write-up, there should be a clear conclusion and interpretation of the findings. - **Introduce the next steps and implications** – What does it mean? Based on what you found, it’s crucial to go a step or two further. Is more research needed? Is there a new question to answer? All of these things make up part of your data’s story. ### Don’t - **Rely on technical jargon – Yes, sometimes technical jargon is necessary, but depending on your audience, it could be unnecessary. If I’m trying to write a blog for my brand’s customers to understand how we came to a business decision, I don’t want to just throw out terms like K-Means clustering, logistic regression, or neural network without an explanation. If I do introduce those terms, I need to at least describe what they mean in a way that any reader can understand.** - **Copy and paste statistics – This is my biggest pet peeve! Honestly, when a see a write-up that’s supposed to go to the general public and it has the stats copied and pasted from the code without context or elaboration, I almost want to stop reading myself – even as a data scientist. There’s something to be said about introducing statistics as they are needed.** - **Make assumptions about your audience – If you want to write for your audience, research your audience. Don’t make assumptions. Look into who the target market is for your piece – whether that’s the data team, business stakeholders, or the customers – and tailor your writing based on the research you’ve conducted.** ## Data Science Involves More Than Technical Writing Data science and [creative writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/creative) aren’t as different as people might think. I say that as someone who practices both skills regularly. Even though the majority of my day job focuses on technical communication, having a background in creative writing and employing the help of an agile copywriter can take a data science project to the next level. If you’re looking to hire a writer who is skilled in turning your data into a meaningful message [contact us today.](https://www.hireawriter.us/contact) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![The Art of Scenario-Based Writing: Enhancing Communication](https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/HAW%20blog%20-%202023-09-07T081520.043%20(1).png)](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/the-art-of-scenario-based-writing-enhancing-communication) 1 min read #### [The Art of Scenario-Based Writing: Enhancing Communication](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/the-art-of-scenario-based-writing-enhancing-communication) ![Picture of Writing Team](https://www.hireawriter.us/hs-fs/hubfs/HAW%20Logo%20T%20%26%20White%20square-3.png?width=30&name=HAW%20Logo%20T%20%26%20White%20square-3.png) [Writing Team](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/author/writing-team) : Sep 7, 2023, 8:16:03 AM In human perception, certain unspoken rules govern the way we process information, akin to mathematical principles. One such rule revolves around the... [Storytelling](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/storytelling) [Technical](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/technical) [Copywriting](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/copywriting) [Writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/writing) [Read More](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/the-art-of-scenario-based-writing-enhancing-communication) [![How to Write Like an Engineer](https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/HAW%20blog%20-%202023-08-15T135532.352%20(1).png)](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/how-to-write-like-an-engineer) 2 min read #### [How to Write Like an Engineer](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/how-to-write-like-an-engineer) ![Picture of Writing Team](https://www.hireawriter.us/hs-fs/hubfs/HAW%20Logo%20T%20%26%20White%20square-3.png?width=30&name=HAW%20Logo%20T%20%26%20White%20square-3.png) [Writing Team](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/author/writing-team) : Aug 15, 2023, 1:55:51 PM Writing like an engineer requires a unique blend of technical expertise, clear communication, and concise expression. In this guide, we'll... [Technical](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/technical) [Copywriting](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/copywriting) [Writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/tag/writing) [Read More](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/how-to-write-like-an-engineer) [![Remedies for Boring Technical Writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/hubfs/HAW%20Blog%20-%20image%20to%20post%20in%20Webflow%20on%20the%20blog%20itself%20(70)%20(1).png)](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/remedies-for-boring-technical-writing) 1 min read #### [Remedies for Boring Technical Writing](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/remedies-for-boring-technical-writing) ![Picture of Joy Youell](https://www.hireawriter.us/hs-fs/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20-%202023-01-11T142651.001.png?width=30&name=Untitled%20design%20-%202023-01-11T142651.001.png) [Joy Youell](https://www.hireawriter.us/technical-content/author/joy-youell) : Apr 11, 2023, 7:22:51 AM Yawn. 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