How to Write Press Release from Your Reading Notes (With Citations)

The Unusual Combination That Has a Genuine Use Case

Students don't usually write press releases. And reading notes — the notes you take from assigned readings, research texts, or project source material — aren't typically what people think of as the raw material for a press release. So the combination of reading notes and press releases is unusual enough that it's worth understanding when it actually applies before discussing how to do it.

There are three realistic scenarios where a student or lifelong learner needs to write a press release from reading notes:

Scenario 1: Announcing student or community-based research A graduate student completing a capstone project, thesis, or community-based participatory research project may need to write a press release about their findings — either as a class assignment in a science communication or journalism course, as a submission to their department's communications office, or for a community partner who wants to publicize the findings. Their reading notes from the research background are the source material.

Scenario 2: Science or academic communication assignments Communications, journalism, and public relations courses often assign press releases based on summarized research. The student's reading notes from the research article or study become the source for translating academic findings into journalistic language. Organizations like the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) have documented extensively that a major barrier to research coverage is poor translation between academic language and journalistic expectations — the press release assignment exists to address this gap.

Scenario 3: Student organization or community initiative announcement A student organization launching a program, initiative, or event and wanting to issue a formal announcement to campus media. The reading notes ground the initiative's rationale in published evidence rather than assertion.

Each of these scenarios requires a different approach. This guide covers all three, with emphasis on the most common challenge: translating academic language into press release format.

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The Core Challenge: Academic to Journalistic Translation

Reading notes are typically structured around academic sources. Academic writing has conventions that are fundamentally different from press release conventions:

Academic convention	Press release convention
Context first, conclusion later	Conclusion first (inverted pyramid)
Hedged language ("findings suggest," "may indicate")	Direct claims ("research shows," "data finds")
Passive voice common ("it was found that")	Active voice required
Multiple qualifications for every claim	One main claim per paragraph
Citation by (Author, Year) or numbered footnote	Source named in running text: "According to [Publication]..."
Length as needed	400-700 words standard
Abstract language ("theoretical framework")	Concrete language ("a 5-step process")
Specialized terminology without translation	Plain language for general audience

The translation challenge is the central skill in writing a press release from reading notes. Your notes will use academic language; the press release must not.

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Step 1: Identify What the Press Release Is Actually Announcing

Before any translation work, be clear about what is being announced. In press release terms, this is the "news hook" — the specific piece of information that is new, significant, and relevant to a specific audience.

Reading notes contain research background. Research background is not the announcement — it's the context. Identify:

WHAT IS BEING ANNOUNCED?

Scenario check:
□ SCENARIO 1 (research announcement): I am announcing [my/our research findings]:
  - Organization or student publishing: [Name, Institution]
  - What the research studied: [Topic, method, sample]
  - What the research found (key finding, in plain language): [...]
  - Who this matters to: [Specific audience — not "everyone"]
  - Why this matters now: [What makes this timely or significant]

□ SCENARIO 2 (course assignment - translate existing research):
  - Study being translated: [Author(s), Title, Publication, Year]
  - What the study found (key finding): [...]
  - Who should know about this: [Defined public audience]
  
□ SCENARIO 3 (initiative/event announcement):
  - What is being announced: [Program, event, initiative]
  - What reading notes provide: [Evidence base / rationale for why this initiative matters]
  - Key data point from notes: [Specific finding that contextualizes why this initiative is needed]

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Step 2: Extract the Academic-to-Plain-Language Translations

Go through your reading notes and identify:

Finding 1: The main research finding, conclusion, or rationale from your notes.

• Academic language: "[How you wrote it in your notes]"
• Plain language translation: "[How a journalist would write this for a general audience]"

Finding 2: The evidence that supports why this matters.

• Academic language: "[Your notes]"
• Plain language: "[Translation]"
• One key data point: "[Specific number, percentage, or finding]" — Source: [Publication, Author, Year]

Context: Background that situates why the finding or initiative is significant.

• Academic language: "[From your notes]"
• Plain language: "[Translation]"

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Translation Techniques: From Academic Notes to Press Release Language

Replace hedged language with direct attribution

Academic hedge:

"The findings suggest that learners who engage in spaced practice may demonstrate superior long-term retention compared to those using massed practice."

Press release attribution:

"Research published in Psychological Science found that spaced practice improves long-term retention by 47% compared to massed practice sessions of the same total duration."

The key: replace the academic hedge ("may demonstrate superior") with a direct statement that attributes the finding specifically to a named source.

Replace passive voice with active voice and named actors

Academic passive:

"It was determined that communities with higher levels of social capital were found to recover more quickly following natural disasters."

Press release active:

"Communities with high social capital recover from natural disasters 2.4 times faster, according to a 2023 study published in Nature Human Behaviour."

Replace technical terminology with plain language in the body

Technical note:

"The intervention utilized a CBT-based psychoeducational framework targeting metacognitive awareness."

Press release body:

"The program uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to help participants recognize and change unhelpful thought patterns."

If technical terms appear in a press release, define them immediately: "cognitive load — the mental effort required to process information."

Convert statistical hedging to direct statement

Academic hedge:

"The correlation between X and Y was statistically significant (p < 0.05, r = 0.42), though causality cannot be established."

Press release statement:

"[Researcher] found a significant link between X and Y across a study of [N] participants — though the researchers note the finding establishes association rather than cause."

For a press release, you can report the finding while noting its limitation in one sentence rather than burying it in statistical language.

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Step 3: Draft the Press Release

PRESS RELEASE FROM READING NOTES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[HEADLINE: What is announced + why it matters, in plain language — active voice, specific]

[SUBHEAD — optional: Key finding or key detail that adds context]

[CITY, Date] — [Organization] today announced [what], [brief context].

[LEAD PARAGRAPH: 5Ws — who, what, when, where, why — in plain language]
[Lead with the announcement or finding, not background]

[BODY PARAGRAPH 1: Context — why this matters]
[Use your reading notes' evidence here, translated to plain language]
"According to [Source, Year], [plain-language version of key finding or statistic]."

[BODY PARAGRAPH 2: Details]
[For Scenario 1: What the research found, how it was conducted (briefly)]
[For Scenario 2: What the study did and found]
[For Scenario 3: What the initiative does, why it's designed this way]

[QUOTE — from named person]
"[Quote in plain language — what this means for the audience, not academic summary]"
— [Name], [Title], [Organization or Institution]

[BOILERPLATE]
[One paragraph about the organization/institution]

###

Contact:
[Name, email, phone]

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Before/After Worked Example (Scenario 1: Research Announcement)

Context: Maya is an MPH student at a university who conducted a capstone project studying access to mental health services among first-generation college students. Her department's communications office has asked her to draft a press release about her findings. She has 15 pages of reading notes from the literature review.

Key reading notes extracts:

• From American College Health Association (ACHA) Report (2023): "Among college students surveyed, 39% reported mental health concerns as a top barrier to academic performance, up from 27% in 2016."
• From National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Campus Survey (2022): "First-generation college students are significantly less likely than their continuing-generation peers to access campus mental health services, with 58% reporting they were unaware of available services."
• From her own capstone findings: "In our sample of 143 first-generation students at [University], 71% reported high or very high stress levels in the past month; of those, only 22% had used any campus mental health resource. The most frequently cited barrier: 'I didn't know the services existed.'"

Before (academic language from reading notes directly pasted):

A capstone research study examined access utilization patterns among first-generation college students (n=143). The study found that among respondents reporting high stress (n=102, 71% of sample), only 22% had utilized campus mental health resources. Barriers to utilization were identified, with lack of awareness emerging as a salient theme. Literature suggests that first-generation college students face elevated access barriers relative to continuing-generation peers (NAMI, 2022). Implications for campus mental health service communication and outreach are significant.

Dense; passive voice throughout; no journalistic translation; no human angle; "implications are significant" is an academic hedge.

After (press release from translated reading notes):

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[University] Research Finds 71% of First-Generation Students Report High Stress — While Only 1 in 5 Know Campus Mental Health Services Exist

MPH capstone study reveals awareness gap, not access gap, as the primary barrier to campus mental health care

[CITY], Date — [University School of Public Health] today released findings from a capstone research study showing that the primary barrier to mental health service use among first-generation college students is not cost, stigma, or location — it's awareness that campus services exist at all.

Among 143 first-generation students surveyed, 71% reported high or very high stress levels in the past month. Of those students, only 22% had used any campus mental health resource. The most common reason given: "I didn't know the services existed." The finding aligns with national data: the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found in 2022 that 58% of first-generation college students nationally reported unawareness of available mental health services — compared with significantly lower rates among students from families with prior college experience.

"We went into this study expecting to find that stigma or cost was the primary barrier," said [Name], the capstone project's lead researcher and MPH candidate. "What we found instead is that students who need mental health support simply don't know the door is open for them. That's an awareness problem, which is also a solvable problem."

The study's recommendation: targeted outreach to first-generation students during their first two weeks of enrollment — before the stress of coursework builds — through peer networks and channels first-generation students already use. The approach is consistent with a broader literature showing that outreach through trusted peer networks increases help-seeking among populations with low prior experience with mental health services (ACHA, 2023).

[University] is now piloting a first-generation peer ambassador program based on the capstone findings. [Additional details on the pilot.]

About [University School of Public Health] [Boilerplate]

Contact: [Name, email, phone]

Active voice; specific numbers from both primary and secondary research; academic findings translated to plain language; quote adds a human angle rather than restating findings; actionable recommendation follows naturally.

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A Note on Citation Format in Press Releases

Academic citation (from your notes): Smith, J., & Lee, K. (2023). Mental health service utilization among first-generation college students. Journal of American College Health, 71(4), 234-242. doi:10.xxxx

Press release citation (in running text): "A 2023 study in the Journal of American College Health found that..."

Press releases do not use in-text parenthetical citations or footnotes. Name the source in the sentence. Include enough information that a journalist can find the study (publication name, year, researcher names if known), but embed it naturally in the prose rather than appending it.

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Prompts to Reuse

Press Release From Reading Notes

I'm writing a press release based on reading notes.
Scenario: [Research announcement / Course assignment translation / Initiative announcement]
Organization/publisher: [Name, institution]

What is being announced:
  [Clear plain-language statement of the news — the announcement, not the background]

Key reading note extracts (with academic-to-plain-language translation):

Extract 1 (significance/problem evidence):
  Academic language from notes: "[What your notes say]"
  Plain language translation: "[How to say this for a general audience]"
  Source: [Author(s), Publication, Year]

Extract 2 (key finding or program detail):
  Academic language from notes: "[...]"
  Plain language translation: "[...]"
  Source: [...]

Specific data point to include:
  "[Number, percentage, or finding]" — Source: [Publication, Year]
  Translation: "[Plain language version]"

Spokesperson: [Name, Title] — Quote (draft or approved): "[Quote text]"
Boilerplate: "[Standard organization description]"

Draft a press release that:
- Headline: Plain language, active voice, specific — includes the main finding or announcement
- Lead: 5Ws, plain language, leads with announcement not background
- Body 1: Why this matters — uses translated evidence from reading notes
- Body 2: Details — what was found, done, or announced
- Optional body 3: Recommendation or implication
- Quote: Adds human angle to what the data shows — not a restatement
- Closes with ###, boilerplate, contact

Academic-to-press-release translation rules:
- No parenthetical citations: name sources in sentences ("According to [Publication], [Year], ...")
- No passive voice: "The study found X" not "X was found"
- No hedged language: "Research found" not "Research may suggest"
- Technical terms: plain language in body with brief definition if needed
- Statistical findings: report the number, name the source, note key limitations in plain language

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Key Takeaways

1. Identify the specific announcement before translating anything: reading notes contain research background, not the press release hook — decide what is actually being announced and why it's news.
2. Translation from academic to journalistic language is the central skill: passive → active; hedged → attributed; technical → plain; context-first → conclusion-first.
3. Cite sources in running text, not footnotes: press releases attribute by naming sources in sentences ("According to NAMI, 2022..."), not by parenthetical citation or numbered footnotes.
4. The quote must add a human angle, not restate the finding: the best press release quotes say what the finding means for real people, not what the study found (that's in the body).
5. Specific numbers from your reading notes are the most usable material: "71% reported high stress and only 22% accessed services" is more compelling than any amount of academic prose about barriers to mental health service utilization.

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Conclusion

A press release from your reading notes is primarily a translation task. The facts, findings, and significance are in your notes — but they're in academic language, academic structure, and academic format. The press release discipline converts that material into a format journalists recognize: specific announcement, plain language, inverted pyramid structure, running-text citations, and a human voice in the quote. Students and researchers who master this translation are more likely to see their research reach the public audiences who need it, rather than staying within the walls of academic publication.

Try WebSnips free — save your research readings, study summaries, and project source material as organized extracts tagged by project and finding type, so when you need to write a press release from your research notes, your key statistics, plain-language translations, and source details are already organized and ready to pull into a draft.