Making presentations: What you need to know Part 2: How to prepare a seminar

Research papers Sections Abstract/Summary Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion Literature cited

Research seminars Sections Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion/Summary Acknowledgements

The paper outline What do I want to say in each section? What are the main points to include? Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion/Summary Acknowledgements

Title Don’t simply read the title and move on Begin by saying why you are interested in the work, what motivated you etc.

Outline/Summary slide Optional Don’t simply read it Briefly mention what it is you will discuss in each section (1 or 2 sentences) Helps keep you and the audience on track Use the same headings in your seminar Thus far, no more than 10% of your time should be used

Introduction What is currently known about your topic A synopsis of the current literature Should not occupy more than 30% of total time Conclude with aims and objectives of the study (no more than 4). Use same headings for aims in the conclusions section

Materials and methods Tailor to your audience (avoid scientific jargon) Keep simple (abbreviated) Tailor all terminology to the level of your audience Use flow diagrams and illustrations carefully Should occupy no more 20% of your time

Results Speak about each result in the same order as the methods 20 - 30% of the seminar time should be devoted to this section Results in papers often do not lend themselves to seminars easily

Results

Results

Results

Results

Results The speaker says: “I’m apologize about the quality of this slide” “I hope people in the back can read this” “This is from a larger experiment, but note data in row 6, columns 4 and 7 ONLY” Speakers should reconstruct their slides to suit the seminar format How not to prepare a slide - demonstration slide

Discussion Often you can title the slide “conclusions” and have each point as a separate bullet You should relate your results back to your aims in the introduction 10 - 20% of the seminar time should be devoted to this section

Acknowledgements You should acknowledge anyone who helped with the study (supervisor, colleagues, friends etc.)