Welcome to a somewhat normal start to the academic year! I am thrilled to see the students walking around campus again, but a bit overwhelmed by the mountainous piles of information flooding my inbox. I would imagine that I am not alone in that sentiment, so I promise to only add one rock to that mountain today – this post recommending two “explainer” websites.

Shall I explain the “explainer?” Picture the literature review of a peer-reviewed article but instead of article citations there are news citations. Explainers seek to condense a complicated news topic into a manageable format. It is not a new concept, but there are some exemplary sites out there that I have found helpful and would like to share.

I am interested to hear your suggestions on this topic; please share below in the comments!

https://www.vox.com/explainers

“Vox explains the news. We live in a world of too much information and too little context. Too much noise and too little insight. And so Vox’s journalists candidly shepherd audiences through politics and policy, business and pop culture, food, science, and everything else that matters. You can find our work wherever you live on the internet — Facebook, YouTube, email, iTunes, Instagram, and more. Vox was launched at Vox Media in 2014 by founders Ezra Klein, Melissa Bell, and Matthew Yglesias.”

Example: Book publishers just spent 3 weeks in court arguing they have no idea what they’re doing

Review: Vox provides a thorough and clear explanation of a topic. Links to original sources are provided. Free crosswords for breaks!

“The Journalist’s Resource is here to help. We examine public policy news topics through a research lens — and research through a journalistic lens. In clear, simple language, we provide journalists with a way to get up to speed on academic studies about complex problems and their potential solutions. Our mission is to inform the news by bridging the communications gap between academia and journalism. Our goal: to get more high-quality information into the media stream.”

Example: Want to reach skeptics? Researchers suggest leaving the term ‘climate change’ out of some news coverage

Review: Similar to Vox, this resource focuses on a broad range of topics. Links to original sources are provided. Although journalists are the intended audience, I find that the content is broadly applicable to many audiences. One of my favorite recent pieces: White papers, working papers, preprints, journal articles: What’s the difference?

Amanda McCormick, Science Librarian, University at Buffalo

We welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have a resource that you would like to see highlighted, please leave us a comment.