Writing

How to write your lab’s research page (with examples)

The research page is where visitors decide whether your work interests them. How to structure research themes, write in plain language, choose figures and link papers — with before-and-after examples.

By the Labsite team · 29 October 2026 · 2 min read

Your research page is where a prospective student decides whether to email you, and where a collaborator decides whether your work fits theirs. University guides offer sensible rules of thumb: describe the research in a few sentences with the keywords people search for, and keep the whole page to about one printed page, with more detail on separate pages.

Structure: an overview, then themes

Start with a two-to-three sentence overview of the lab's big question. Then organise the page into two to five research themes. Each theme gets:

A short, concrete title
One paragraph in plain language
One figure — a schematic, micrograph, model or photo
Two or three key papers
The people working on it (optional, but applicants love it)

Write for a smart non-specialist

Imagine a final-year undergraduate in a neighbouring field. They should understand the question and why it matters even if the methods are new to them.

Before:

We employ operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction and DFT-guided compositional engineering to elucidate degradation mechanisms in layered transition metal oxide cathodes.

After:

Batteries that last. Sodium-ion batteries could store solar and wind power cheaply, but their cathodes wear out too fast. We watch cathodes while they charge using X-rays, find out why they crack, and design new compositions that don't.

The second version still mentions the methods — they belong in the paragraph's last sentence — but leads with the problem.

Use the words people search for

Include the terms someone would type into Google: the organism, the disease, the material, the technique. "Sodium-ion batteries", "zebrafish heart regeneration", "cryo-EM". This is most of what making your lab website show up on Google comes down to.

Figures

One strong image per theme beats a gallery.
Simplify figures from papers: bigger labels, fewer panels.
Make sure you have the rights to use journal figures; your own unpublished images or redrawn schematics are safest.

Keep it current

Revisit the page once a year. Retire finished projects into a "Past research" section, and add new directions — it signals momentum and matches what your Join us page says you're hiring for.

On Labsite

Research themes in Labsite are rows in a table — title, summary, image and linked papers — shown in the layout your template uses: alternating rows, cards, a numbered list or an index. The AI assistant can help tighten a paragraph or suggest a plain-language version. See the research page on the example lab or browse the templates.