How to Create an Oral Research Presentation Riverside High School Research Biology

Purpose of a research talk Is not to Impress the audience Tell them all you know about a subject Present every little detail of your work Is to Give the audience a sense of what your idea/work is Make them want to read your paper/research Get feedback on your work

Know your audience

Know your audience Who would be there? Teachers Scientists not expert in your field Students Non experts Who knows? Most likely a mix so have something for all

Know your audience Keep in mind What can you do? They might be tired They can read  They are thinking “Why should I listen?” Non-experts will tune off within 2 minutes Experts after 5 minutes What can you do?

What can you do? Early motivation - at the beginning of your talk motivate your research with easy to understand examples Spoil the punch line - State your results early and in simple terms Visuals – Illustrate your idea with images and diagrams

Leave them with these thoughts I understood what the problem was and why it was important I have an idea of what the solution was and how it was different/better than others

The skeleton What is the problem Motivation and goals Relevant state of the art What is your key idea/contribution Why is your approach good/better What I just said and what I want to do next

Preparing the presentation Less is more. Fill in with narration not words Use color to emphasize some points but limit to 2 or 3 Be consistent! In the choice and use of color font size/type etc Use slide real estate appropriately

Technical Aspects of a Presentation: Slide Layout Avoid text heavy slides Avoid full paragraphs unless quoting Create a slide for EACH main point because it keeps presentation focused helps the audience concentrate on each point Prevents audience from reading ahead

Slide layout - Bad This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

Slide layout – Good Show one point at a time: Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying Will prevent audience from reading ahead Will help you keep your presentation focused

Technical Aspects of a Presentation: Fonts Use a decent font size (minimum 18 pt) Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points The title of the slide should be about 44 point The body of the slide should be about 22 point You do not want your font too small so that your audience has to strain to read it! Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial

Fonts: Good 18 point 20 point 24 point 28 point 36 point 44 point

Fonts - Bad CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ Don’t use a complicated font Use the same font style throughout

Technical Aspects of a Presentation: Color Use a text color that contrasts with the background Use color for emphasis Keep colors simple; less is more Use colors sparingly Use colors to tie points together

Color - Good Use font color that contrasts sharply with the background Blue font on white background Use color to reinforce the logic of your structure Ex: light blue title and dark blue text Use color to emphasize a point But only use this occasionally

Color - Bad Using a font color that does not contrast with the background color is hard to read Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying. Using a different color for each point is unnecessary Same for secondary points Trying to be creative can also be bad

Technical aspects of a presentation: Background Use simple backgrounds that provide some visual interest Always use the same background throughout the presentation Try not to use backgrounds that are distracting or make it difficult to read the words

Background - Good Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple Use backgrounds which are light Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation

Background – Bad Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from Always be consistent with the background that you use

Components of an Oral Research Presentation Title Slide with Research Question Background/Literature Review Research Model Experimental Design Research Methods Findings/Data – tables, graphs, summary Discussion/Conclusion(s) Experimental Errors Future Research References

Title Slide Each presentation will have a title slide The title slide must contain the title of your project Add the Research Question It must include your name and group members names, your faculty mentor’s name and department, and the name and location of your institution

Research Question(s) Research Question – it should stand alone on this slide The goal is to showcase your research question so that your audience can let it sink in for a moment Research Question What is the impact of pyrethrin insecticide on decreasing flea population on domestic dogs?

Title Slide Examples

Introduction This is the section where you should explain why this research is important Give your audience the broader impact of your research so that they will have some context to put your scientific data into

Background/Literature Review  This will be more of a background section, but you will cite your sources This section is where you start to discuss other studies that have been performed  Key concepts Student understandings – what are the main concepts in your study

Research model Add the research model to discuss your major science theme and research question

Research Methods In this section you should share with your audience how you went about collecting and analyzing your data Put methods in bullets with pictures of your experiment. Can be combined?

Good or Bad?

Results/Data In this section you want to clearly organize and display your data and findings  This is where graphs, charts and images are most helpful Let the data do the talking in this section and just explain the graphs, charts and images that you are presenting to your audience  You will analyze and discuss this data in the next section

Graphs - Good Use graphs rather than just charts and words Data in graphs is easier to comprehend & retain than is raw data Trends are easier to visualize in graph form Always title your graphs

Do’s and Don’t’s of Graphs Not every table and graph is good Do your best to display your data in the most clear, concise way possible  Remember that your audience will only have a minute or less to view your table/graph Is this an example of a good table?

Do’s and Don’ts of Graphs The following is a much better way to display the data on the previous slide Why is the graph so much better than the table on the previous slide?

Graphs - Bad

Graphs - Good

Graphs - Bad

Graphs - Bad Minor gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colors are illogical Title is missing Shading is distracting

Results Add a bulleted summary of the findings Include p value (if applicable) Reject or accept null hypothesis

Discussion/Conclusion(s) Section is a concise summary of your main findings  Ideally you should be able to state the answer to your research question that you initially posed in the beginning  include the p value (if applicable) when describing the data Accept or reject the null hypothesis How does the data support the claim Give evidence  why did the IV cause a change in the DV Answer your initial research question

Experimental Errors Explain what may have gone wrong in your experiment How could you improve the experiment if repeated Do not simply write, our data was bad?

Future Research State your goals in a bulleted format Add a sentence about why you believe the research should go in this direction You may want to briefly mention how you plan to implement these research goals What would you do next time?

References In this section you do not want to include your entire reference list that is in your research paper It’s best to include 3-5 key references Be sure your references are in the proper format - APA

Acknowledgements This section is used to thank the people, programs and funding agencies that allowed you to perform your research. Be sure to thank:  * Your faculty mentor  * Any students that may have helped you  * And anyone else you may want to add

Preparing the presentation Prepare the slides in advance Show them to friends When you think you are done read them again Check all animations with the sound on 

Preparing the presentation Practice, practice, practice Give a practice talk to a general audience Give a practice talk to an audience of expert Time your presentation (allow for speed up effect caused by nervousness) Always assume technology will fail you. Have backups.

Delivering the talk Be enthusiastic! If you aren’t why should the audience be? Make eye contact with the audience Identify a few “nodders” and speak to them Watch for questions. Be prepare to digress or brush off when irrelevant

Delivering the talk Point at the screen not the computer Do not read directly from the PPT or your notes Have the “spill” for the first couple of slides memorized in case you go blank Finish in time

Handling questions Different types – handle accordingly Need clarification Suggest something helpful Want to engage in research dialog Show that he/she is better than you Anticipate questions (additional slides) Don’t let them highjack the talk (postpone)

ANY QUESTIONS?