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Research Guides@Tufts

Podcast guide

This guide provides an overview for the various stages of podcast creation.

Scoping your project

Consider the following questions to help your group clarify the scope and specifics of your podcast.

Purpose - Your motivation behind creating this project. 

  • What is the purpose of the podcast? Is it to inform? teach? motivate? persuade? entertain? advocate? share?
  • What essential message do you want to communicate?
  • How does this story benefit from sound?  Why audio storytelling and not a paper or a video?
  • What other podcasts has been made on this topic and how does yours differ? 

Audience - Who is this project for?

  • Who is your intended audience?
  • How will you reach this audience?
  • What prior knowledge (if any) might they have of the topic?
  • What do you want your audience to do after hearing your project? (e.g., check out a website? talk to their friend about a topic? contact their legislative representative? etc.)

Perspective - The point of view from which you will speak from

  • Who is telling your story and why?
  • From what perspective will your story be told? How does that impact the language used?
  • Is your perspective made explicit to your audience?  Why or why not?
  • Does your perspective reinforce or challenge harmful stereotypes in your field?

Design - How you organize and present the components of this project

  • How would you characterize the tone of your podcast? (e.g., formal/informal? upbeat?). 
  • How will the content be sequenced? (e.g., lead with problem, lead with context, chronological)
  • Who is represented in the audio and when?  Why?
  • How does your structure and organization support the purpose of your podcast?
  • If doing community work, who has ownership of the media when the project is over? Why?

Structuring your podcast

There are a variety ways to structure your podcast can take.  Depending on your topic, your podcast might be best served picking one approach or having a variety of approaches to help break up distinct sections.  Consider how your structure supports the information you are trying to convey.  

Solo/Monologue

One person speaking, usually with in-depth expertise on a particular subject.

Asking questions (with intention) to elicit information, experiences, emotion on a specific topic.  With this format the interview may be used as is or be heavily edited.

Group of people discuss various topics, often informally

The story is told directly by the storyteller, usually with little interruption from a narrator.

Some podcasts have a narrator that is interwoven throughout a story to help push the narrative forward. 

Story (fiction / non-fiction) using anecdotes and scenes exploring larger concept

Layering and intercutting various types of audio on a subject or theme without a narrator 

Creating a script

Creating a script can help you organize your ideas before you even open an editing application.  Not all podcasts require a script but having some structure will help your listeners understand what they are listening to and why.  Below are some organizing structures to consider as well as a template to get you started.  Scripts can take many shapes and they can be helpful even when recording non-vocal sounds.  You may even find that your podcast has segments that have different formats and thus different relationships to script creation. Don’t hesitate to invent a script format that works for your project! 

  • Scripted Narrative - An approach that maps out, in a very detailed fashion, the narrative arc and trajectory of the podcast.
  • Loose Script - Helpful for conversational formats, as well as approaches that focus on non-vocal sounds, outlining topics or a conversational thread 
  • Unscripted - Being open to wandering, listening and shifting your subject based on what you encounter, doesn’t mean you can’t establish a structure during recording or editing

Writing for listening

Writing a script is different than reading a script.  If you plan to work from a script, try writing the way you speak instead of writing the way you read.  When writing, also consider your audience.  What prior knowledge do they already have about your topic?  Is the language you're using accessible to your listeners? 

This is an example from the book Soundwriting: A guide to making audio projects on how your writing might shift for audio.

Newspaper Copy Audio Script

Even in the best of times, dating can be a nerve-racking experience.  The isolation brought on by the coronavirus has left many singles even more apprehensive (and simultaneously, perhaps, more eager).

Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the dating app Hinge, calls for phenomenon F.O.D.A., or fear of dating again.  "People are worried about their rusty social skills, not having anything to talk about," she said.

Ms.Ury, who also ran Google's behavioral science team, also notes singles who suffered from loneliness during lockdown are now prioritizing dating over their career, family, and friends after realizing that their jobs were not keeping them warm at night. 

Dating is scary.  There's no doubt about it.  It's even scarier when you've been cooped up in the house for more than a year because of a global pandemic.

Logan Ury, who's a relationship scientist for the dating app Hinge, calls this foda - that's F.O.D.A...in other words, fear of dating again.  She says people are nervous they won't know what to say, but they're also eager to get out there for some human connection.

Rodrigue, Tanya K., and Kyle D. Stedman. “Planning and Gathering Sounds.” Soundwriting: A Guide to Making Audio Projects, Broadview Press, Peterborough, Ontario, 2023, p. 154.