I discovered the one secret to captivating academic writing

Lennart Nacke
6 min readApr 26, 2024
A comic with the title: How to make your academic writing read like a bestseller: Tell a research story.
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Storytelling is changing the research game

Facts. It’s all about them. But nobody will check your stats if they don’t care about your research. You have to get an angle. That angle is: storytelling.

You’ve spent countless hours researching, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. You’ve poured your heart and soul into your research.

Now, you want to share this stuff with the world. But how TF? How do you make your research engaging and captivating for your readers?

The answer lies in the art of storytelling.

Storytelling is a powerful tool. It transforms even the most complex and dry research into a compelling narrative. It keeps your readers on the edge of their seats.

The heart of it is facts. That doesn’t change. It’s not about dumbing down your work or sacrificing academic rigour. That would be some bullshit.

It’s about presenting your findings. Making them resonate with your audience. You want to leave a lasting impact here. You want the milkshake and the boys in the yard.

The Power of the Opening Paragraph

Picture this: you’ve spent months crafting the perfect research paper. All that…

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Lennart Nacke

I share effective strategies for better UX research, game design, and writing. University Research Chair & Tenured Full HCI Professor.