presented research work

Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

How to Make a Successful Research Presentation

Turning a research paper into a visual presentation is difficult; there are pitfalls, and navigating the path to a brief, informative presentation takes time and practice. As a TA for  GEO/WRI 201: Methods in Data Analysis & Scientific Writing this past fall, I saw how this process works from an instructor’s standpoint. I’ve presented my own research before, but helping others present theirs taught me a bit more about the process. Here are some tips I learned that may help you with your next research presentation:

More is more

In general, your presentation will always benefit from more practice, more feedback, and more revision. By practicing in front of friends, you can get comfortable with presenting your work while receiving feedback. It is hard to know how to revise your presentation if you never practice. If you are presenting to a general audience, getting feedback from someone outside of your discipline is crucial. Terms and ideas that seem intuitive to you may be completely foreign to someone else, and your well-crafted presentation could fall flat.

Less is more

Limit the scope of your presentation, the number of slides, and the text on each slide. In my experience, text works well for organizing slides, orienting the audience to key terms, and annotating important figures–not for explaining complex ideas. Having fewer slides is usually better as well. In general, about one slide per minute of presentation is an appropriate budget. Too many slides is usually a sign that your topic is too broad.

Limit the scope of your presentation

Don’t present your paper. Presentations are usually around 10 min long. You will not have time to explain all of the research you did in a semester (or a year!) in such a short span of time. Instead, focus on the highlight(s). Identify a single compelling research question which your work addressed, and craft a succinct but complete narrative around it.

You will not have time to explain all of the research you did. Instead, focus on the highlights. Identify a single compelling research question which your work addressed, and craft a succinct but complete narrative around it.

Craft a compelling research narrative

After identifying the focused research question, walk your audience through your research as if it were a story. Presentations with strong narrative arcs are clear, captivating, and compelling.

• Introduction (exposition — rising action)

Orient the audience and draw them in by demonstrating the relevance and importance of your research story with strong global motive. Provide them with the necessary vocabulary and background knowledge to understand the plot of your story. Introduce the key studies (characters) relevant in your story and build tension and conflict with scholarly and data motive. By the end of your introduction, your audience should clearly understand your research question and be dying to know how you resolve the tension built through motive.

• Methods (rising action)

The methods section should transition smoothly and logically from the introduction. Beware of presenting your methods in a boring, arc-killing, ‘this is what I did.’ Focus on the details that set your story apart from the stories other people have already told. Keep the audience interested by clearly motivating your decisions based on your original research question or the tension built in your introduction.

• Results (climax)

Less is usually more here. Only present results which are clearly related to the focused research question you are presenting. Make sure you explain the results clearly so that your audience understands what your research found. This is the peak of tension in your narrative arc, so don’t undercut it by quickly clicking through to your discussion.

• Discussion (falling action)

By now your audience should be dying for a satisfying resolution. Here is where you contextualize your results and begin resolving the tension between past research. Be thorough. If you have too many conflicts left unresolved, or you don’t have enough time to present all of the resolutions, you probably need to further narrow the scope of your presentation.

• Conclusion (denouement)

Return back to your initial research question and motive, resolving any final conflicts and tying up loose ends. Leave the audience with a clear resolution of your focus research question, and use unresolved tension to set up potential sequels (i.e. further research).

Use your medium to enhance the narrative

Visual presentations should be dominated by clear, intentional graphics. Subtle animation in key moments (usually during the results or discussion) can add drama to the narrative arc and make conflict resolutions more satisfying. You are narrating a story written in images, videos, cartoons, and graphs. While your paper is mostly text, with graphics to highlight crucial points, your slides should be the opposite. Adapting to the new medium may require you to create or acquire far more graphics than you included in your paper, but it is necessary to create an engaging presentation.

The most important thing you can do for your presentation is to practice and revise. Bother your friends, your roommates, TAs–anybody who will sit down and listen to your work. Beyond that, think about presentations you have found compelling and try to incorporate some of those elements into your own. Remember you want your work to be comprehensible; you aren’t creating experts in 10 minutes. Above all, try to stay passionate about what you did and why. You put the time in, so show your audience that it’s worth it.

For more insight into research presentations, check out these past PCUR posts written by Emma and Ellie .

— Alec Getraer, Natural Sciences Correspondent

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Home Blog Presentation Ideas How to Create and Deliver a Research Presentation

How to Create and Deliver a Research Presentation

Every research endeavor ends up with the communication of its findings. Graduate-level research culminates in a thesis defense , while many academic and scientific disciplines are published in peer-reviewed journals. In a business context, PowerPoint research presentation is the default format for reporting the findings to stakeholders.

Condensing months of work into a few slides can prove to be challenging. It requires particular skills to create and deliver a research presentation that promotes informed decisions and drives long-term projects forward.

Table of Contents

What is a Research Presentation

Key slides for creating a research presentation, tips when delivering a research presentation, how to present sources in a research presentation, recommended templates to create a research presentation.

A research presentation is the communication of research findings, typically delivered to an audience of peers, colleagues, students, or professionals. In the academe, it is meant to showcase the importance of the research paper , state the findings and the analysis of those findings, and seek feedback that could further the research.

The presentation of research becomes even more critical in the business world as the insights derived from it are the basis of strategic decisions of organizations. Information from this type of report can aid companies in maximizing the sales and profit of their business. Major projects such as research and development (R&D) in a new field, the launch of a new product or service, or even corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives will require the presentation of research findings to prove their feasibility.

Market research and technical research are examples of business-type research presentations you will commonly encounter.

In this article, we’ve compiled all the essential tips, including some examples and templates, to get you started with creating and delivering a stellar research presentation tailored specifically for the business context.

Various research suggests that the average attention span of adults during presentations is around 20 minutes, with a notable drop in an engagement at the 10-minute mark . Beyond that, you might see your audience doing other things.

How can you avoid such a mistake? The answer lies in the adage “keep it simple, stupid” or KISS. We don’t mean dumbing down your content but rather presenting it in a way that is easily digestible and accessible to your audience. One way you can do this is by organizing your research presentation using a clear structure.

Here are the slides you should prioritize when creating your research presentation PowerPoint.

1.  Title Page

The title page is the first thing your audience will see during your presentation, so put extra effort into it to make an impression. Of course, writing presentation titles and title pages will vary depending on the type of presentation you are to deliver. In the case of a research presentation, you want a formal and academic-sounding one. It should include:

• The full title of the report
• The date of the report
• The name of the researchers or department in charge of the report
• The name of the organization for which the presentation is intended

When writing the title of your research presentation, it should reflect the topic and objective of the report. Focus only on the subject and avoid adding redundant phrases like “A research on” or “A study on.” However, you may use phrases like “Market Analysis” or “Feasibility Study” because they help identify the purpose of the presentation. Doing so also serves a long-term purpose for the filing and later retrieving of the document.

Here’s a sample title page for a hypothetical market research presentation from Gillette .

2. Executive Summary Slide

The executive summary marks the beginning of the body of the presentation, briefly summarizing the key discussion points of the research. Specifically, the summary may state the following:

• The purpose of the investigation and its significance within the organization’s goals
• The methods used for the investigation
• The major findings of the investigation
• The conclusions and recommendations after the investigation

Although the executive summary encompasses the entry of the research presentation, it should not dive into all the details of the work on which the findings, conclusions, and recommendations were based. Creating the executive summary requires a focus on clarity and brevity, especially when translating it to a PowerPoint document where space is limited.

Each point should be presented in a clear and visually engaging manner to capture the audience’s attention and set the stage for the rest of the presentation. Use visuals, bullet points, and minimal text to convey information efficiently.

3. Introduction/ Project Description Slides

In this section, your goal is to provide your audience with the information that will help them understand the details of the presentation. Provide a detailed description of the project, including its goals, objectives, scope, and methods for gathering and analyzing data.

You want to answer these fundamental questions:

• What specific questions are you trying to answer, problems you aim to solve, or opportunities you seek to explore?
• Why is this project important, and what prompted it?
• What are the boundaries of your research or initiative? 
• How were the data gathered?

Important: The introduction should exclude specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

4. Data Presentation and Analyses Slides

This is the longest section of a research presentation, as you’ll present the data you’ve gathered and provide a thorough analysis of that data to draw meaningful conclusions. The format and components of this section can vary widely, tailored to the specific nature of your research.

For example, if you are doing market research, you may include the market potential estimate, competitor analysis, and pricing analysis. These elements will help your organization determine the actual viability of a market opportunity.

Visual aids like charts, graphs, tables, and diagrams are potent tools to convey your key findings effectively. These materials may be numbered and sequenced (Figure 1, Figure 2, and so forth), accompanied by text to make sense of the insights.

5. Conclusions

The conclusion of a research presentation is where you pull together the ideas derived from your data presentation and analyses in light of the purpose of the research. For example, if the objective is to assess the market of a new product, the conclusion should determine the requirements of the market in question and tell whether there is a product-market fit.

Designing your conclusion slide should be straightforward and focused on conveying the key takeaways from your research. Keep the text concise and to the point. Present it in bullet points or numbered lists to make the content easily scannable.

6. Recommendations

The findings of your research might reveal elements that may not align with your initial vision or expectations. These deviations are addressed in the recommendations section of your presentation, which outlines the best course of action based on the result of the research.

What emerging markets should we target next? Do we need to rethink our pricing strategies? Which professionals should we hire for this special project? — these are some of the questions that may arise when coming up with this part of the research.

Recommendations may be combined with the conclusion, but presenting them separately to reinforce their urgency. In the end, the decision-makers in the organization or your clients will make the final call on whether to accept or decline the recommendations.

7. Questions Slide

Members of your audience are not involved in carrying out your research activity, which means there’s a lot they don’t know about its details. By offering an opportunity for questions, you can invite them to bridge that gap, seek clarification, and engage in a dialogue that enhances their understanding.

If your research is more business-oriented, facilitating a question and answer after your presentation becomes imperative as it’s your final appeal to encourage buy-in for your recommendations.

A simple “Ask us anything” slide can indicate that you are ready to accept questions.

If you need a quick method to create a research presentation, check out our  AI presentation maker . A tool in which you add the topic, curate the outline, select a design, and let AI do the work for you.

1. Focus on the Most Important Findings

The truth about presenting research findings is that your audience doesn’t need to know everything. Instead, they should receive a distilled, clear, and meaningful overview that focuses on the most critical aspects.

You will likely have to squeeze in the oral presentation of your research into a 10 to 20-minute presentation, so you have to make the most out of the time given to you. In the presentation, don’t soak in the less important elements like historical backgrounds. Decision-makers might even ask you to skip these portions and focus on sharing the findings.

2. Do Not Read Word-per-word

Reading word-for-word from your presentation slides intensifies the danger of losing your audience’s interest. Its effect can be detrimental, especially if the purpose of your research presentation is to gain approval from the audience. So, how can you avoid this mistake?

• Make a conscious design decision to keep the text on your slides minimal. Your slides should serve as visual cues to guide your presentation.
• Structure your presentation as a narrative or story. Stories are more engaging and memorable than dry, factual information.
• Prepare speaker notes with the key points of your research. Glance at it when needed.
• Engage with the audience by maintaining eye contact and asking rhetorical questions.

3. Don’t Go Without Handouts

Handouts are paper copies of your presentation slides that you distribute to your audience. They typically contain the summary of your key points, but they may also provide supplementary information supporting data presented through tables and graphs.

The purpose of distributing presentation handouts is to easily retain the key points you presented as they become good references in the future. Distributing handouts in advance allows your audience to review the material and come prepared with questions or points for discussion during the presentation. Also, check our article about how to create handouts for a presentation .

4. Actively Listen

An equally important skill that a presenter must possess aside from speaking is the ability to listen. We are not just talking about listening to what the audience is saying but also considering their reactions and nonverbal cues. If you sense disinterest or confusion, you can adapt your approach on the fly to re-engage them.

For example, if some members of your audience are exchanging glances, they may be skeptical of the research findings you are presenting. This is the best time to reassure them of the validity of your data and provide a concise overview of how it came to be. You may also encourage them to seek clarification.

5. Be Confident

Anxiety can strike before a presentation – it’s a common reaction whenever someone has to speak in front of others. If you can’t eliminate your stress, try to manage it.

People hate public speaking not because they simply hate it. Most of the time, it arises from one’s belief in themselves. You don’t have to take our word for it. Take Maslow’s theory that says a threat to one’s self-esteem is a source of distress among an individual.

Now, how can you master this feeling? You’ve spent a lot of time on your research, so there is no question about your topic knowledge. Perhaps you just need to rehearse your research presentation. If you know what you will say and how to say it, you will gain confidence in presenting your work.

All sources you use in creating your research presentation should be given proper credit. The APA Style is the most widely used citation style in formal research.

In-text citation

Add references within the text of your presentation slide by giving the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number (if applicable) in parentheses after direct quotations or paraphrased materials. As in:

The alarming rate at which global temperatures rise directly impacts biodiversity (Smith, 2020, p. 27).

If the author’s name and year of publication are mentioned in the text, add only the page number in parentheses after the quotations or paraphrased materials. As in:

According to Smith (2020), the alarming rate at which global temperatures rise directly impacts biodiversity (p. 27).

Image citation

All images from the web, including photos, graphs, and tables, used in your slides should be credited using the format below.

Creator’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Image.” Website Name, Day Mo. Year, URL. Accessed Day Mo. Year.

Work cited page

A work cited page or reference list should follow after the last slide of your presentation. The list should be alphabetized by the author’s last name and initials followed by the year of publication, the title of the book or article, the place of publication, and the publisher. As in:

Smith, J. A. (2020). Climate Change and Biodiversity: A Comprehensive Study. New York, NY: ABC Publications.

When citing a document from a website, add the source URL after the title of the book or article instead of the place of publication and the publisher. As in:

Smith, J. A. (2020). Climate Change and Biodiversity: A Comprehensive Study. Retrieved from https://www.smith.com/climate-change-and-biodiversity.

1. Research Project Presentation PowerPoint Template

A slide deck containing 18 different slides intended to take off the weight of how to make a research presentation. With tons of visual aids, presenters can reference existing research on similar projects to this one – or link another research presentation example – provide an accurate data analysis, disclose the methodology used, and much more.

Use This Template

2. Research Presentation Scientific Method Diagram PowerPoint Template

Whenever you intend to raise questions, expose the methodology you used for your research, or even suggest a scientific method approach for future analysis, this circular wheel diagram is a perfect fit for any presentation study.

Customize all of its elements to suit the demands of your presentation in just minutes.

3. Thesis Research Presentation PowerPoint Template

If your research presentation project belongs to academia, then this is the slide deck to pair that presentation. With a formal aesthetic and minimalistic style, this research presentation template focuses only on exposing your information as clearly as possible.

Use its included bar charts and graphs to introduce data, change the background of each slide to suit the topic of your presentation, and customize each of its elements to meet the requirements of your project with ease.

4. Animated Research Cards PowerPoint Template

Visualize ideas and their connection points with the help of this research card template for PowerPoint. This slide deck, for example, can help speakers talk about alternative concepts to what they are currently managing and its possible outcomes, among different other usages this versatile PPT template has. Zoom Animation effects make a smooth transition between cards (or ideas).

5. Research Presentation Slide Deck for PowerPoint

With a distinctive professional style, this research presentation PPT template helps business professionals and academics alike to introduce the findings of their work to team members or investors.

By accessing this template, you get the following slides:

• Introduction
• Problem Statement
• Research Questions
• Conceptual Research Framework (Concepts, Theories, Actors, & Constructs)
• Study design and methods
• Population & Sampling
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis

Check it out today and craft a powerful research presentation out of it!

A successful research presentation in business is not just about presenting data; it’s about persuasion to take meaningful action. It’s the bridge that connects your research efforts to the strategic initiatives of your organization. To embark on this journey successfully, planning your presentation thoroughly is paramount, from designing your PowerPoint to the delivery.

Take a look and get inspiration from the sample research presentation slides above, put our tips to heart, and transform your research findings into a compelling call to action.

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How to Create a Powerful Research Presentation

Written by: Raja Mandal

Have you ever had to create a research presentation?

If yes, you know how difficult it is to prepare an effective presentation that perfectly explains your research.

Since it's a visual representation of your papers, a large chunk of its preparation goes into designing.

No one knows your research paper better than you. So, only you can create the presentation to communicate the core message perfectly.

We've developed a practical, step-by-step guide to help you prepare a stellar research presentation.

Let's get started!

Table of Contents

What is a research presentation, purpose of a research presentation, how to prepare an effective research presentation, research presentation design best practices, research presentation faqs.

• A research presentation visually showcases systematic investigation findings and allows presenters to get feedback. It's commonly used in academic settings, such as Higher Degree Research students presenting their papers.
• The purpose of a research presentation is to explain the significance of your research, clearly state your findings and methodology, get valuable feedback and make the audience learn more about your work or read your research paper.
• To prepare an effective research presentation, decide on your presentation’s goal, know your audience, create an outline, limit the amount of text on your slides, and spend more time explaining your research than summarizing old work.
• Some research presentation design tips include using an attractive background, utilizing a variety of layouts, using colors wisely, using font hierarchy and including high-quality images.
• Visme can help you create all kinds of research, corporate and creative presentations. Browse thousands of presentation templates , import a PowerPoint , whip up a custom presentation design using our AI presentation maker or create a slide deck from scratch using our drag-and-drop presentation software .

A research presentation is a visual representation of an individual's or organization's systematic investigation of a subject. It helps the presenter obtain feedback on their proposed research. For example, educational establishments require Higher Degree Research (HDR) students to present their research papers in a research presentation.

The purpose of a research presentation is to share the findings with the world. When done well, it helps achieve significant levels of impact in front of groups of people. Delivering the research paper as a presentation also communicates the subject matter in powerful ways.

A beautifully designed research presentation should:

• Explain the significance of your research.
• Clearly state your findings and the method of analysis.
• Get valuable feedback from others in your community to strengthen your research.
• Make the audience learn more about your work or read your research paper.

Create a stunning presentation in less time

• Hundreds of premade slides available
• Add animation and interactivity to your slides
• Choose from various presentation options

Sign up. It’s free.

Most research presentations can be boring, especially if your data is not presented in an engaging way. You should prepare your presentation in a way that attracts and persuades your audience while drawing attention to the main points.

Follow the steps below to do that.

Decide on Your Presentation’s Purpose

Beginning the design process without deciding on the purpose of your presentation is like crawling in the dark without knowing the destination. You should first know the purpose of your presentation before creating it.

The purpose of a research presentation can be defending a dissertation, an academic job interview, a conference, asking for funding, and various others. The rest of the process will depend on the purpose of your presentation.

Look at these 25 different presentation examples to get inspiration and find the one that best fits your needs.

Know Your Audience

You probably wouldn't speak to your lecturer like you talk to your friends. Creating a presentation is the same—you need to tailor your presentation's design, tone and content to make it appropriate for your audience.

To do that, you need to establish who your audience is. Your audience could be:

• Scientists/scholars in your field
• Graduate and undergraduate students
• Community members

Your target audience might be a mix of all of the above. In that case, it's better to have something for everyone. Once you know who your target audience is, ask yourself the following questions:

• Why are they here?
• What do they expect from your presentations?
• Are they willing to participate?
• What will keep them engaged?
• What do you want them to do and what's their part in your presentation?
• How do they prefer to receive information?

The answers to these questions will help you know your audience better and prepare your research presentation accordingly. Once you define your target audience, use these five traits of a highly engaging presentation to capture your audience's attention.

Create a Research Presentation Outline

Before crafting your presentation, it's crucial to create a presentation outline . Your outline will act as your guide to put your information in order and ensure you touch on all your major points.

Like other forms of academic writing, research presentations can be divided into several parts to make them more effective.

A research outline will:

• Guide you as you prepare your presentation
• Enable you to organize your ideas
• Present your research in a logical format
• Show the relationships among slides in your presentation
• Construct an order overview of your presentation
• Group ideas into main points

Though there is no universal formula for a research presentation outline, here's an example of what the outline should look like:

• Introduction and purpose
• Background and context
• Data and methodology
• Descriptive data
• Quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Future Research

Pro Tip: If your presentation needs to go through several rounds of edits or approvals, such as in the outline stage, streamline the process using Visme’s workflows . Instead of sending files back and forth, you can simply assign tasks and set up reviews or approvals.

Learn more about presentation structure to keep your audience engaged. Watch the video below for a better understanding.

Limit the Amount of Text on Your Slides

One of the most important things people often overlook is the amount of text on their presentation slides . Since the audience will be listening and watching, putting up a slide with lots of words will make them focus on reading instead of listening. As a result, they'll miss out on any critical points you are making.

The simpler you make your slides, the more your audience will grasp the meaning and retain the critical information. Here are a few ways to limit the amount of text on your slides.

1. Use Only Crucial Text on the Slides

Without making your point clear immediately, you will struggle to keep your audience's attention. Too much text can make your slides look cluttered and overwhelm the audience. Cut out waffle words, limiting content to the essentials.

If you’re struggling with summarizing your content or articulating your idea succinctly, use Visme’s AI Writer to create or shorten text into concise bullet points.

To avoid cognitive overload, combine text and images . Add animated graphics , icons , characters and gestures to bring your research presentation to life and capture your audience's attention.

2. Split up the Content Onto Multiple Slides

We recommend using one piece of information on a single slide. If you're talking about two or more topics, divide the topics into different slides to make your slides easily digestible and less daunting. The less information on each slide, the more your audience is likely to read.

3. Put Key Message Into the Heading

Use the slide headings of your presentation as a summary message. Think about the one key point you want the audience to take from each slide. And make the header short and impactful. This will ensure that your audience gets the main points immediately.

For example, you may have a statistic you want to really get across to your audience. Include that number in your heading so that it's the first point your audience reads.

But what if that statistic changes? Having to manually go back and update the number throughout your research presentation can be time-consuming.

With Visme's Dynamic Fields feature , updating important information throughout your presentation is a breeze. Take advantage of Dynamic Fields to ensure your data and research information is always up to date and accurate.

4. Visualize Data Instead of Writing Them

When adding facts and figures to your research presentation, harness the power of data visualization . Add charts and graphs to take out most of the text. You can also animate your charts and transform your slide deck into an interactive presentation .

Text with visuals causes a faster and stronger reaction than words alone, making your presentation more memorable. However, your data visualization should be straightforward to help create a narrative that further builds connections between information.

Have a look at these data visualization examples for inspiration. And here's an infographic explaining data visualization best practices.

Visme comes with a wide variety of charts and graphs templates you can use in your presentation.

5. Use Presenter Notes

Visme's Presenter Studio comes with a presenter notes feature that can help you keep your slides succinct. Use it to pull out any additional text that the audience needs to understand the content.

View your notes for each slide in the left sidebar of the presentation software to help you stay focused and on message throughout your presentation.

Explain Your Research

Some people spend nearly all of the presentation going over the existing research and giving background information on the particular case. Since you're preparing a research presentation, use more slides to explain the research papers you directly contributed to. This is also helpful to do when creating a grant proposal .

Your audience is there to learn about your new and exciting research, not to hear a summary of old work. So, if you create 20 slides for the presentation, spend at least 15 slides explaining your research, findings, and the key takeaways or recommendations.

Use Visme’s collaboration tools to work on your research presentation together with your team. This will help you create a well-rounded presentation that includes all the necessary points, even those that you did not work on directly.

Learn more about how to give a good presentation . This will help you explain your research more effectively.

A study shows that 91% of presenters feel more confident when presenting a well-designed slide deck. So, let's move on to the design part of your research presentation to boost your confidence.

1. Use an Attractive Background

The background of each presentation slide is a crucial design element for your presentation. So choose the background carefully. Try not to use backgrounds that are distracting or make the text difficult to read.

Use simple and relevant backgrounds to make the slide aesthetically appealing. Always use the same background for the slides throughout the presentation. Look at these presentation background templates and examples to get inspired.

2. Use a Variety of Layouts

Slide after slide of the same layout makes your presentation repetitive and boring. Mixing up the layout of your slides can help you avoid this issue and keep your audience engaged.

The presentation template below has a wide variety of images, texts, icons and other elements to create an interesting layout for your presentation slides.

Have a look at these 29 best presentation templates for inspiration.

3. Use Colors Wisely

Colors play an essential role in designing your presentation slides, regardless of the type of presentation you're working with. However, if you're a non-designer, you might be unsure about about how to use colors in a presentation . So, here are some tips for you:

• Use complementary colors to stay on the safe side.
• Use a text color that contrasts with the background to make the text pop.
• Use colors to emphasize a text or design element.
• Keep colors simple — less is more.

Don't be discouraged if you still find it difficult to choose colors for your presentation. All the presentation templates in Visme come with perfect color combinations to get the job done for you.

Below is an example of a research project presentation.

4. Use Fonts Hierarchy

Fonts are another design element that can make or break the design of your research presentation. If you struggle a lot while choosing fonts for a presentation , you aren't alone. Here are some tips that you can follow:

• Try not to use smaller fonts that make your text difficult to read.
• Use different font sizes for headings and body text. For example, you can use 20 points for the body text, 24 for the subheadings and 40 for the title.
• Learn about font pairing and use it in your design. For example, use sans-serif with serif fonts as they always go well together.
• Use two or three fonts max—ideally two. One should be for the headlines and the other for the body text. Anything more than that can make your slides cluttered.
• Handwritten fonts and script fonts may look tempting, but they are a big no. They could negatively affect the readability and legibility of your research presentation.

Here's a research presentation template from Visme designed with the points mentioned above in mind.

5. Include High-Resolution Images

Are there any images you can use in your research presentation slides to introduce or explain a topic? As the saying goes, "A picture tells a thousand words." Use pictures to help your audience listen to you more efficiently while viewing the slides.

Pictures can also help you reduce the text clutter in the presentation, as long as they prompt you to make the points you need to make. Upload your own photos or browse through Visme's high-resolution stock photo library . It features over 1,000,000 free stock photos.

If you can’t find the perfect image, don’t worry. Use Visme’s AI Image Generator to whip one up for you based on prompts. You can also use our AI Image Editing tools to unblur, upscale and remove unwanted backgrounds from your photos.

Have a look at the presentation template below. It includes only high-resolution images, like all the presentation templates in Visme.

Below is a video of 13 presentation design tips to help you design a research presentation that your audience will love.

How to do a 5 minute research presentation?

Here are some tips to wrap up a research presentation in 5 minutes:

• Focus on key points: Get to the meat of it quickly. Briefly introduce the topic, explain your methodology, present main findings and then conclude your presentation.
• Less is more: Keep your presentation to 3-5 slides max, and use bullet points and visuals over walls of text.
• Rehearse and refine: Practice delivering your presentation within the time limit before the big day. Trim content if you consistently run over, and aim to finish at 4:30 to allow for any unexpected pauses.

How long should a research presentation be?

According to Guy Kawaski’s 10/20/30 rule , your research presentation should be no more than 10 slides and take no longer than 20 minutes to present.

How do you introduce yourself in a research presentation?

Introduce yourself by clearly stating your name, institute and research focus. For example: "I'm Jane Doe from XYZ University. My research examines the impact of climate change on coral reefs."

How many slides should a research presentation have?

As a general rule, you should spend 1-2 minutes on each slide. This means you should aim for around 5-10 slides for a 10-minute research presentation.

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About the Author

Raja Antony Mandal is a Content Writer at Visme. He can quickly adapt to different writing styles, possess strong research skills, and know SEO fundamentals. Raja wants to share valuable information with his audience by telling captivating stories in his articles. He wants to travel and party a lot on the weekends, but his guitar, drum set, and volleyball court don’t let him.

Research Voyage

Research Tips and Infromation

12 Proven Tips to Make an Effective Research Presentation as an Invited Speaker

Guidance from an Experienced Mentor

The evolution of my presentation skills, what is there in this post for you, research presentation tip #1: start confidently, research presentation tip #2: eye to eye contact with the audience, research presentation tip #3: welcome your audience, research presentation tip #4: adjust your voice.

•  Research Presentation Tip #5: Memorize your Opening Line
• Research Presentation Tip #6:  Use the words  “ 'Think for while', 'Imagine', 'Think of', 'Close Your Eyes' ”

Research Presentation Tip #7: Story Telling

Research presentation tip #8: facts and statistics.

• Research Presentation Tip #9: Power of "Pause"

Research Presentation Tip #10: Quote a Great Researcher

Research presentation tip #11: begin with a video, research presentation tip #12: avoid using filler words, side benefits of giving great research presentations, how should i dress for my invited talk at a research conference, can i share my conference presentation slides after my talk with the audience, shall i entertain questions in between my presentation as an invited speaker to a research conference, can you give some tips for a successful q&a session:.

• How to handle questions where I don't know the answers in my presentation?

Introduction

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing with you some invaluable tips for delivering an effective research presentation, drawn from my own journey through academia. These tips are not just theoretical; they’re the result of my own experiences and the guidance I received along the way.

When I first embarked on my PhD journey, the prospect of presenting my research to an audience filled me with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Like many researchers, I was eager to share my findings and insights, but I lacked the confidence and experience to do so effectively.

It wasn’t until I had been immersed in my research for nearly a year, clarifying my domain, objectives, and problem statements, that I was presented with an opportunity to speak about my work. However, despite my preparation, I found myself struggling to convey my ideas with clarity and confidence.

Fortunately, I was not alone in this journey. At the event where I was scheduled to present my research, there was another presenter—an experienced professor—who took notice of my nerves and offered his guidance. He generously shared with me a set of tips that would not only improve my presentation that day but also become the foundation for my future presentations.

As I incorporated these tips into my presentations, I noticed a remarkable improvement in my ability to engage and inform my audience. Each tip—from starting confidently to utilizing storytelling and incorporating facts and statistics—contributed to a more polished and impactful presentation style.

As an invited speaker, delivering an effective research presentation is essential to engage and inform your audience. A well-crafted presentation can help you communicate your research findings, ideas, and insights in a clear, concise, and engaging manner.

However, many presenters face challenges when it comes to delivering a successful presentation. Some of these challenges include nervousness, lack of confidence, and difficulty connecting with the audience.

In this article, we will discuss tips to help you make an effective research presentation as an invited speaker. We will cover strategies to prepare for your presentation, ways to deliver your presentation with confidence and impact, and common mistakes to avoid.

By following these tips, you can improve your presentation skills and create a compelling and engaging talk that resonates with your audience.

Tips to Make an Effective Research Presentation

• Tip 1: Start confidently
• Tip 2: Eye To Eye Contact With the Audience
• Tip 3: Welcome Your Audience
• Tip 4: Adjust your Voice
• Tip 5: Memorize your Opening Line
• Tip 6:  Use the words  “ ‘Think for while’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Think of’, ‘Close Your Eyes’ ”
• Tip 7: Story Telling
• Tip 8: Facts and Statistics
• Tip 9: Power of “Pause”
• Tip 10: Quote a Great Researcher
• Tip 11: Begin with a Video
• Tip 12: Avoid using Filler Words

Starting your presentation confidently is essential as it sets the tone for the rest of your presentation. It will help you grab your audience’s attention and make them more receptive to your message. Here are a few ways you can start confidently.

• Begin with a self-introduction: Introduce yourself to the audience and establish your credibility. Briefly mention your educational background, your professional experience, and any relevant achievements that make you an authority on the topic. For example, “Good morning everyone, my name is John and I’m a researcher at XYZ University. I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology, and my research has been published in several reputable journals.”
• Introduce the topic: Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and provide a brief overview of what you’ll be discussing. This helps the audience understand the context of your research and what they can expect from your presentation. For example, “Today, I’ll be presenting my research on the role of DNA repair mechanisms in cancer development. I’ll be discussing the current state of knowledge in this field, the methods we used to conduct our research and the novel insights we’ve gained from our findings.”
• Start with a strong opening statement: Once you’ve introduced yourself and the topic, start your presentation confidently with a statement that captures the audience’s attention and makes them curious to hear more. As mentioned earlier, you could use a strong opening statement, a powerful visual aid, or show enthusiasm for your research. For example:
• “Have you ever wondered how artificial intelligence can be used to predict user behaviour? Today, I’ll be sharing my research on the latest AI algorithms and their potential applications in the field of e-commerce.”
• “Imagine a world where cybersecurity threats no longer exist. My research is focused on developing advanced security measures that can protect your data from even the most sophisticated attacks.”
• “Think for a moment about the amount of data we generate every day. My research focuses on how we can use machine learning algorithms to extract meaningful insights from this vast amount of data, and ultimately drive innovation in industries ranging from healthcare to finance.”

By following these steps, you’ll be able to start your research presentation confidently, establish your credibility and expertise, and create interest in your topic.

Speaking confidently as an invited speaker can be a daunting task, but there are ways to prepare and feel more confident. One such way is through practising yoga. Yoga is a great tool for reducing stress and anxiety, which can be major barriers to confident public speaking.

By practising yoga, you can learn to control your breathing, calm your mind, and increase your focus and concentration. All of these skills can help you feel more centred and confident when it’s time to give your presentation.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of yoga, check out our blog post on the subject YOGA: The Ultimate Productivity Hack for Ph.D. Research Scholars and Researchers .

If you’re ready to dive deeper and start your own yoga practice, be sure to download my e-book on :

Unlock Your Research Potential Through Yoga: A Research Scholar’s Companion

A large number of audiences in the presentation hall make you feel jittery and lose your confidence in no time. This happens because you are seeing many of the audience for the first time and you don’t know their background and their knowledge of the subject in which you are presenting.

The best way to overcome this fear is to go and attack the fear itself. That is come at least 10-15 minutes early to the conference room and start interacting with the people over there. This short span of connectivity with a few of the audience will release your tension.

When you occupy the stage for presenting,  the first thing you need to do is gaze around the room,  establish one-to-one eye contact, and give a confident smile to your audience whom you had just met before the start of the presentation.

Just gazing around the presentation hall will make you feel connected to everyone in the hall. Internally within your mind choose one of the audience and turn towards him/her make eye contact and deliver a few sentences, then proceed to the next audience and repeat the same set of steps.

This will make everyone in the room feel that you are talking directly to them. Make the audience feel that you are engaging with them personally for this topic, which makes them invest fully in your topic.

The third tip for making an effective research presentation is to welcome your audience. This means taking a few minutes to greet your audience, introduce yourself, and set the tone for your presentation. Here are a few ways you can welcome your audience:

• Greet your audience: Start by greeting your audience with a smile and a warm welcome. This will help you establish a connection with your audience and put them at ease.
• Introduce yourself: Introduce yourself to the audience and give a brief background on your expertise and how it relates to your presentation. This will help your audience understand your qualifications and why you’re the right person to be delivering the presentation.
• Explain the purpose of your presentation: Explain to your audience why you’re presenting your research and what they can expect to learn from your presentation. This will help your audience understand the context of your research and what they can expect from your presentation.
• Set the tone: Set the tone for your presentation by giving a brief overview of your presentation structure and what your audience can expect throughout your presentation. This will help your audience understand what to expect and keep them engaged.

Here are a few examples of how you can welcome your audience:

• If you’re presenting to a group of industry professionals, welcome them by acknowledging their expertise and experience. This will show that you value their knowledge and experience.
• If you’re presenting to a group of students or academics, welcome them by acknowledging their interest in your research area. This will help you establish a connection with your audience and show that you’re excited to share your research with them.
• If you’re presenting to a mixed audience, welcome them by acknowledging their diversity and the different perspectives they bring to the presentation. This will help you set an inclusive tone and show that you’re open to different viewpoints.

Overall, welcoming your audience is an important aspect of delivering an effective research presentation. It helps you establish a connection with your audience, set the tone for your presentation, and keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.

In my earlier days of presentations, I just used to go on stage and start my presentations without greeting anyone. Later I learned stage etiquette with the help of my fellow research scholars and underwent  professional etiquette courses .

The fourth tip for making an effective research presentation is to adjust your voice. This means using your voice effectively to convey your message and engage your audience. Here are a few ways you can adjust your voice during your research presentation:

• Speak clearly: Speak clearly and enunciate your words so that your audience can understand what you’re saying. Avoid speaking too fast or mumbling, which can make it difficult for your audience to follow your presentation.
• Use a varied pace: Use a varied pace to keep your audience engaged. Speak slowly and clearly when you’re making important points, and speed up when you’re discussing less important points. This will help you maintain your audience’s attention throughout your presentation.
• Use a varied pitch: Use a varied pitch to convey emotion and emphasize important points. Lower your pitch when you’re discussing serious or important topics, and raise your pitch when you’re excited or enthusiastic.
• Use pauses: Use pauses to emphasize important points and give your audience time to reflect on what you’re saying. Pausing also helps to break up your presentation and make it easier for your audience to follow.

Here are a few examples of how you can adjust your voice during your research presentation:

• If you’re discussing a complex or technical topic, speak slowly and clearly so that your audience can understand what you’re saying. Use pauses to emphasize important points and give your audience time to reflect on what you’re saying.
• If you’re discussing an exciting or enthusiastic topic, raise your pitch and use a varied pace to convey your excitement to your audience. This will help you engage your audience and keep them interested in your presentation.
• If you’re discussing a serious or emotional topic, lower your pitch and use a slower pace to convey the gravity of the situation. Use pauses to emphasize important points and give your audience time to process what you’re saying.

Overall, adjusting your voice is an important aspect of delivering an effective research presentation. It helps you convey your message clearly, engage your audience, and keep their attention throughout your presentation.

Many researchers are less talkative and speak with a very low voice and this makes their concepts unheard by other researchers. To overcome this drawback, they go for  vocal coaching  to improve their voice modulation.

 Research Presentation Tip #5: Memorize your Opening Line

The fifth tip for making an effective research presentation is to memorize your opening line. This means having a powerful and memorable opening line that will grab your audience’s attention and set the tone for your presentation. Here are a few ways you can create a memorable opening line:

• Use a quote or statistic: Start your presentation with a powerful quote or statistic that relates to your research. This will grab your audience’s attention and show them why your research is important.
• Use a story or anecdote: Use a personal story or anecdote to illustrate the importance of your research. This will help you connect with your audience on an emotional level and show them why your research is relevant to their lives.
• Ask a question: Ask your audience a thought-provoking question that relates to your research. This will help you engage your audience and get them thinking about your topic.

Once you’ve created a memorable opening line, it’s important to memorize it so that you can deliver it confidently and without hesitation. Here are a few examples of powerful opening lines:

• “In the United States, someone dies of a drug overdose every seven minutes. Today, I want to talk to you about the opioid epidemic and what we can do to prevent it.”
• “When I was a child, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Today, I want to share with you the latest research on Alzheimer’s and what we can do to slow its progression.”
• “Have you ever wondered why some people are more resilient than others? Today, I want to talk to you about the science of resilience and how we can use it to overcome adversity.”

Overall, memorizing your opening line is an important aspect of delivering an effective research presentation. It helps you grab your audience’s attention, set the tone for your presentation, and establish your credibility as a speaker.

Remembering the concepts at the right time and in the right sequence is critical for every researcher. Few of my research scholars face the problem of forgetting everything once they reach the stage for presentation. To overcome this difficulty I gift them with one of my favourite books on improving memory power:    “Limitless  by Jim Quick” .  This book has changed many lives. You can also try.

Research Presentation Tip #6:  Use the words  “ ‘Think for while’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Think of’, ‘Close Your Eyes’ ”

The sixth tip for making an effective research presentation is to use specific phrases that encourage your audience to think, imagine, and engage with your presentation. Here are a few examples of phrases you can use to encourage your audience to engage with your presentation:

• “Think for a moment about…” This phrase encourages your audience to reflect on a particular point or idea that you’ve just discussed. For example, “Think for a moment about the impact that climate change is having on our planet.”
• “Imagine that…” This phrase encourages your audience to visualize a particular scenario or idea. For example, “Imagine that you’re living in a world without access to clean water. How would your daily life be affected?”
• “Think of a time when…” This phrase encourages your audience to reflect on their own experiences and relate them to your presentation. For example, “Think of a time when you felt overwhelmed at work. How did you manage that stress?”
• “Close your eyes and picture…” This phrase encourages your audience to use their imagination to visualize a particular scenario or idea. For example, “Close your eyes and picture a world without poverty. What would that look like?”

By using these phrases, you can encourage your audience to actively engage with your presentation and think more deeply about your research. Here are a few examples of how you might incorporate these phrases into your presentation:

• “Think for a moment about the impact that our use of plastics is having on our environment. Each year, millions of tons of plastic end up in our oceans, harming marine life and polluting our planet.”
• “Imagine that you’re a scientist working to develop a cure for a deadly disease. What kind of research would you conduct, and what challenges might you face?”
• “Think of a time when you had to overcome a significant challenge. How did you persevere, and what lessons did you learn from that experience?”
• “Close your eyes and picture a world where renewable energy is our primary source of power. What benefits would this have for our planet, and how can we work together to make this a reality?”

Overall, using phrases that encourage your audience to think and engage with your presentation is an effective way to make your research presentation more impactful and memorable.

The seventh tip for making an effective research presentation is to incorporate storytelling into your presentation. Storytelling is a powerful way to connect with your audience, illustrate your points, and make your research more engaging and memorable.

People love stories, but your story has to be relevant to your research. You can craft a story about an experience you had and tell how you could able to define your research problem based on the experience you had.  This makes your presentation both interesting and incorporates information about the work you are carrying out. 

Storytelling or sharing your own experience is the best way to connect with your audience.  Many researchers use this technique and it remains one of the most critical pieces to becoming an effective presenter.

Here are a few examples of how you can incorporate storytelling into your presentation:

• Personal stories: Use a personal story to illustrate the importance of your research. For example, if you’re researching a new cancer treatment, you might share a story about a friend or family member who has been affected by cancer. This personal connection can help your audience relate to your research on a more emotional level.
• Case studies: Use a case study to illustrate how your research has been applied in the real world. For example, if you’re researching the impact of a new educational program, you might share a case study about a school that has implemented the program and seen positive results.
• Historical examples: Use a historical example to illustrate the significance of your research. For example, if you’re researching the impact of climate change, you might share a story about the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to illustrate the devastating effects of drought and soil erosion.
• Analogies: Use an analogy to explain complex concepts or ideas. For example, if you’re researching the workings of the brain, you might use the analogy of a computer to help your audience understand how neurons communicate with each other.

By incorporating storytelling into your presentation, you can help your audience connect with your research on a more personal level and make your presentation more memorable. Here are a few examples of how you might incorporate storytelling into your presentation:

• “When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I felt helpless and afraid. But thanks to the groundbreaking research that is being done in this field, we now have more treatment options than ever before. Today, I want to share with you the latest research on cancer treatments and what we can do to support those who are fighting this disease.”
• “Imagine for a moment that you’re a small business owner trying to grow your online presence. You’ve heard that search engine optimization (SEO) is important for driving traffic to your website, but you’re not sure where to start. That’s where my research comes in. By analyzing millions of search queries, I’ve identified the key factors that search engines use to rank websites. Using this information, I’ve developed a new algorithm that can help businesses like yours optimize their websites for better search engine rankings. Imagine being able to reach more customers and grow your business, all thanks to this new algorithm. That’s the power of my research.”

In these examples, the speaker is using storytelling to help the audience understand the real-world impact of their research in a relatable way. By framing the research in terms of a relatable scenario, the speaker is able to engage the audience and make the research feel more relevant to their lives. Additionally, by highlighting the practical applications of the research, the speaker is able to demonstrate the value of the research in a tangible way.

Here I recommend without any second thought “ Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals  ” by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. This is one of the powerful techniques to showcase data in the form of graphs and charts.

The eighth tip for making an effective research presentation is to incorporate facts and statistics into your presentation. Facts and statistics can help you communicate the significance of your research and make it more compelling to your audience.

Make your audience curious about your topic with a fact they didn’t know. Explaining the importance of your topic to your audience is essential. Showcasing data and statistics to prove a point remains a critical strategy not just at the beginning but also throughout.  Statistics can be mind-numbing but if there is some compelling information that can help further the conversation.

Here are a few examples of how you might use facts and statistics in your research presentation:

• Contextualize your research: Use statistics to provide context for your research. For example, if you’re presenting on the prevalence of a particular disease, you might start by sharing statistics on how many people are affected by the disease worldwide.
• Highlight key findings: Use facts and statistics to highlight the key findings of your research. For example, if you’re presenting on new drug therapy, you might share statistics on the success rate of the therapy and how it compares to existing treatments.
• Support your arguments: Use facts and statistics to support your arguments. For example, if you’re arguing that a particular policy change is needed, you might use statistics to show how the current policy is failing and why a change is necessary.
• Visualize your data: Use graphs, charts, and other visual aids to help illustrate your data. This can make it easier for your audience to understand the significance of your research. For example, if you’re presenting on the impact of climate change, you might use a graph to show the rise in global temperatures over time.

Here’s an example of how you might use facts and statistics in a research presentation:

“Did you know that over 80% of internet users own a smartphone? That’s a staggering number when you think about it. And with the rise of mobile devices, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have a mobile-friendly website. That’s where my research comes in.

By analyzing user behaviour and website performance data, I’ve identified the key factors that make a website mobile-friendly. And the results are clear: mobile-friendly websites perform better in search engine rankings, have lower bounce rates, and are more likely to convert visitors into customers. By implementing the recommendations from my research, businesses can improve their online presence and reach more customers than ever before.”

In this example, the speaker is using statistics to provide context for their research (the high prevalence of smartphone ownership) and to support their argument (that businesses need to have mobile-friendly websites).

By emphasizing the benefits of mobile-friendly websites (better search engine rankings, lower bounce rates, and higher conversion rates), the speaker is able to make the research more compelling to their audience. Finally, by using concrete examples (implementing the recommendations from the research), the speaker is able to make the research feel actionable and relevant to the audience.

In my blog posts on the benefits of using graphs and tables in research presentations, I have presented different ways that these tools can enhance the impact and effectiveness of your research presentation. By incorporating graphs and tables, you can help your audience to engage more deeply with your research and better grasp the significance of your findings. To learn more about the benefits of using graphs and tables in research presentations, check out my blog posts listed below, on the subject.

• Maximizing the Impact of Your Research Paper with Graphs and Charts
• Best Practices for Designing and Formatting Tables in Research Papers

You can also refer the book “Information Visualization: An Introduction” for getting more clarity on the representation of facts and statistics.

Research Presentation Tip #9: Power of “Pause”

The ninth tip for making an effective research presentation is to use the power of “pause.” Pausing at key moments in your presentation can help you emphasize important points, allow your audience to process information, and create a sense of anticipation.

We are all uncomfortable when there is a pause.  Yet incorporating pause into your presentation can be a valuable tool causing the audience to be attentive to what you are going to say next.

A pause is an effective way to grab attention. There are two ways you might use this technique. After you are introduced, walk on stage and say nothing. Simply pause for three to five seconds and wait for the full attention of the audience. It’s a powerful opening. Depending on the audience, you might need to pause for longer than five seconds.

At another point in your presentation, you might be discussing the results or you are about to provide important information, that’s when you pause to grab attention. You’ll probably feel uncomfortable when you first try this technique, but it’s worth mastering.

Here are a few examples of how you might use the power of the pause in your research presentation:

• Emphasize key points: Pause briefly after making an important point to allow your audience to absorb the information. For example, if you’re presenting on the benefits of a new product, you might pause after stating the most compelling benefits to give your audience time to reflect on the information.
• Create anticipation: Pause before revealing a key piece of information or making a surprising statement. This can create a sense of anticipation in your audience and keep them engaged. For example, if you’re presenting on the results of a study, you might pause before revealing the most surprising or unexpected finding.
• Allow time for reflection: Pause after asking a thought-provoking question to give your audience time to reflect on their answer. This can help create a more interactive and engaging presentation. For example, if you’re presenting on the impact of social media on mental health, you might pause after asking the audience to reflect on their own social media use.
• Control the pace: Use pauses to control the pace of your presentation. Pausing briefly before transitioning to a new topic can help you signal to your audience that you’re about to move on. This can help prevent confusion and make your presentation more organized.

Here’s an example of how you might use the power of the pause in a research presentation:

“Imagine being able to reduce the risk of heart disease by 50%. That’s the potential impact of my research. By analyzing the diets and lifestyles of over 10,000 participants, I’ve identified the key factors that contribute to heart disease. And the results are clear: by making a few simple changes to your diet and exercise routine, you can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. So, what are these changes? Pause for effect. It turns out that the most important factors are a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, regular exercise, and limited alcohol consumption.”

In this example, the speaker is using the pause to create anticipation before revealing the most important findings of their research. By pausing before revealing the key factors that contribute to heart disease, the speaker is able to create a sense of anticipation and emphasize the importance of the information. By using the power of the pause in this way, the speaker is able to make their research presentation more engaging and memorable for the audience.

The tenth tip for making an effective research presentation is to quote a great researcher. By including quotes from respected researchers or experts in your field, you can add credibility to your presentation and demonstrate that your research is supported by other respected professionals.

Quoting someone who is a well-known researcher in your field is a great way to start any presentation.  Just be sure to make it relevant to the purpose of your speech and presentation.  If you are using slides, adding a picture of the person you are quoting will add more value to your presentation.

Here are a few examples of how you might use quotes in your research presentation:

• Begin with a quote: Starting your presentation with a quote from a respected researcher can help set the tone and establish your credibility. For example, if you’re presenting on the benefits of exercise for mental health, you might begin with a quote from a well-known psychologist or psychiatrist who has researched the topic.
• Use quotes to support your argument: Including quotes from experts who support your argument can help reinforce your ideas and add credibility to your presentation. For example, if you’re presenting on the importance of early childhood education, you might include a quote from a respected educational psychologist who has studied the topic.
• Challenge conventional wisdom: Including quotes from experts who challenge conventional wisdom can help you make a more compelling argument and stand out from other presenters. For example, if you’re presenting on the effects of technology on social interaction, you might include a quote from a respected sociologist who argues that technology can actually improve social connections.
• Add a personal touch: Including quotes from researchers who have inspired you personally can help you connect with your audience and add a more personal touch to your presentation. For example, if you’re presenting on the importance of diversity in the workplace, you might include a quote from a researcher who has inspired you to pursue your own research on the topic.

Here’s an example of how you might use a quote in a research presentation:

“As the great psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, ‘What a man can be, he must be.’ This quote perfectly captures the essence of my research on human potential. By analyzing the lives of highly successful individuals, I’ve identified the key factors that contribute to success. And the results are clear: by cultivating a growth mindset, setting ambitious goals, and surrounding yourself with supportive people, you can unlock your full potential and achieve greatness.”

In this example, the speaker is using a quote from a respected psychologist to support their argument about human potential. By including the quote, the speaker is able to add credibility to their presentation and demonstrate that their research is supported by other respected professionals in the field. By using quotes in this way, the speaker is able to make their research presentation more engaging and persuasive for the audience.

The eleventh tip for making an effective research presentation is to begin with a video. Using a video at the beginning of your presentation can capture the audience’s attention and help establish the theme of your talk

Video remains a powerful mechanism to begin a presentation.  Limit your videos to 2–3 minutes. People like video, and it can capture their attention, but they can also tire of it easily.  It gives the presenter and the attendees a break from each other. Sometimes, you just look for visible reactions from the audience that might provide a transition from video back to speaking. Conversely, for the attendees, the video provides a break from the speaker.

Here are a few examples of how you might use a video in your research presentation:

• Introduce a new technology: Use a video to introduce a new technology or innovation that is related to your research. For example, if you’re presenting on the potential of artificial intelligence in healthcare, you might use a video that shows how AI is being used to detect cancer early.
• Demonstrate a problem: Use a video to demonstrate a problem or challenge that your research is trying to solve. For example, if you’re presenting on the importance of cybersecurity in the finance industry, you might use a video that shows how easily hackers can gain access to sensitive financial information.
• Showcase your research: Use a video to showcase your own research and the methods you used to conduct it. For example, if you’re presenting on a new algorithm for image recognition, you might use a video that shows how the algorithm works in action.
• Add a personal touch: Use a video to share a personal story or experience that relates to your research. For example, if you’re presenting on the impact of technology on society, you might use a video that shows how technology has changed your own life.

Here’s an example of how you might use a video at the beginning of a research presentation in computer science:

“Before I dive into my research on the potential of blockchain technology in supply chain management, I want to show you a video that demonstrates the challenges that the industry currently faces. As you’ll see, there are numerous pain points that blockchain could help to address, from tracking the provenance of goods to reducing fraud and counterfeiting. By leveraging the power of blockchain, we can create a more transparent, efficient, and secure supply chain for everyone involved.”

In this example, the speaker is using a video to demonstrate a problem or challenge that their research is trying to solve. By showing the audience the current pain points in supply chain management, the speaker is able to establish the need for blockchain technology and capture the audience’s attention. By using a video in this way, the speaker is able to make their research presentation more engaging and impactful for the audience.

One sincere piece of advice while preparing the video is not to install the full video and start searching for the clip to be displayed to the audience. If you show this side or that side of the video content not relevant to the context, the audience may lose patience and drift away from the presentation. This shows your unpreparedness for the presentation.  I suggest you go ahead with professional video editing software to edit your video before showing it to your audience.

When giving a research presentation, it’s important to sound confident and knowledgeable. However, using too many filler words such as “ok”, “so”, and “umms” can make you sound unsure of yourself and can distract from the content of your presentation.

Here are a few tips to help you avoid using too many filler words:

• Practice your presentation: One of the best ways to reduce the use of filler words is to practice your presentation. By rehearsing what you want to say, you’ll become more comfortable with the content and won’t need to rely on filler words as much.
• Use a script: If you’re prone to using filler words, consider writing out a script for your presentation. This will help you stay on track and avoid unnecessary pauses or verbal crutches.
• Record yourself: Another helpful strategy is to record yourself giving your presentation. By listening back to the recording, you can identify any filler words or other verbal tics and work on eliminating them in future presentations.
• Take pauses: Instead of relying on filler words to fill pauses in your presentation, try taking intentional pauses. This will help you gather your thoughts and emphasize important points.

Here’s an example of how to avoid using too many filler words in a research presentation:

“Today, I want to talk to you about the impact of machine learning on cybersecurity. Ok, so, umm, as you all know, cybersecurity is a critical issue for businesses and organizations. But did you know that machine learning can help to identify and mitigate cyber threats before they become a major problem? By using algorithms to analyze data, we can create more effective security protocols and protect sensitive information from being compromised. So, in conclusion, machine learning has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach cybersecurity.”

In this example, the speaker is using several filler words throughout the presentation, which can detract from the content and make them sound less confident. By practising their presentation and focusing on eliminating filler words, the speaker can deliver a more polished and engaging presentation that highlights the important points.

Many presenters, though have good content fail to impress the audience by using too many  “ok” “so” and “umms” which shows a lack of good communication skills.  This can be due to stage fear/poor preparation/happen unconsciously.

Such filler words can ruin your credibility despite how innocent they look. One tip for avoiding this annoying habit is to practice your speech or presentation multiple times beforehand in front of your supervisor/research scholars / yourself in front of the mirror.  If you are hesitant then the best option is to  record your speech on your mobile  and check for the mistakes unconsciously you make.

Giving a good research presentation as a keynote speaker is an excellent opportunity to showcase your expertise and knowledge in your research domain. As a keynote speaker, you can communicate your research findings, methodologies, and the impact of your research to a wider audience.

A well-delivered presentation can also demonstrate your ability to engage with diverse stakeholders and effectively communicate complex ideas. This can be an advantage when looking for research consultancy work, as potential clients or employers can assess your ability to deliver quality work, understand their needs, and provide innovative solutions to their problems.

If you are interested in exploring research consultancy jobs, check out the link Research Consultancy: An Alternate Career for Researchers to discover some exciting opportunities in your research domain.

Delivering a successful research presentation requires careful planning, practice, and attention to detail. By starting confidently, making eye contact with your audience, and using effective communication techniques like storytelling and statistics, you can engage your audience and communicate your research findings in a compelling way.

Remember to adjust your voice, avoid filler words, and take intentional pauses to keep your audience engaged and focused. By following these tips and incorporating your own unique style and perspective, you can deliver a powerful and memorable research presentation that showcases your expertise and leaves a lasting impression.

Frequently Asked Questions

As a speaker at a research conference, it’s important to dress professionally and appropriately to make a positive impression on the audience and fellow researchers. Here are some general guidelines for what to wear: Business Formal Attire : Most research conferences have a business formal dress code. This typically means wearing a suit or dress pants/skirt with a collared shirt/blouse. For men, a suit with a tie is appropriate, and for women, a pantsuit or a skirt/dress with a blazer is a good choice. Neutral and Classic Colors : Stick to neutral and classic colours like black, navy, grey, or beige for a polished and sophisticated look. Avoid loud or overly bright colors and patterns that may distract from your presentation. Comfortable and Well-Fitted Clothing : Ensure that your clothing fits well and is comfortable to wear for an extended period. This will help you feel more at ease during your presentation. Appropriate Footwear : Wear closed-toe shoes that are comfortable and complement your outfit. For men, dress shoes are ideal, and for women, low-heeled pumps or flats are a good choice. Minimal Accessories : Keep your accessories simple and minimal. A wristwatch, small earrings, and a modest necklace can add a touch of elegance without being distracting. Grooming and Hygiene : Pay attention to personal grooming and hygiene. Make sure your hair is well-groomed, and avoid heavy cologne or perfume, as some attendees may be sensitive to strong scents. Bring Layers : Conference venues can sometimes be chilly due to air conditioning, so consider bringing a light sweater or jacket that complements your outfit. Check the Conference Theme : Occasionally, research conferences may have specific themes or cultural considerations. In such cases, you can subtly incorporate elements related to the theme or culture into your outfit if appropriate. You can visit my blog post on ” How to dress for academic / research conferences ” for further details.

Absolutely! Sharing your conference presentation slides with the audience after your talk can be a great way to provide additional value to those who attended your presentation and those who couldn’t make it to the event.

As an invited speaker at a research conference, it is generally expected and encouraged to entertain questions from the audience during or after your presentation. Q&A sessions are a valuable part of academic conferences as they allow attendees to engage with the speaker, seek clarifications, and gain further insights into the research being presented. However, a few speakers as well as the audience may get distracted by the questions asked during the presentation. Check your preparedness and the mood of the audience and then decide.

Tips for a Successful Q&A Session: Be Prepared : Anticipate potential questions that may arise from your presentation and be prepared to answer them. This will boost your confidence during the Q&A. Encourage Questions : After your presentation, let the audience know that you welcome their questions. Creating a supportive and inclusive environment will encourage more participation. Active Listening : Listen carefully to each question and ensure you understand it before responding. If a question is unclear, ask for clarification to provide the best possible answer. Be Respectful and Professional : Even if you receive challenging or critical questions, respond in a respectful and professional manner. Avoid becoming defensive and maintain a positive tone. Manage Time : If there’s a specific time allocated for the Q&A session, manage it effectively so that you can address as many questions as possible without exceeding the allocated time.

How to handle questions where I don’t know the answers in my presentation?

Handling a question during your presentation when you don’t know the answer is a common scenario, and it’s essential to respond gracefully and professionally. Here’s how to handle such situations: Stay Calm and Composed : Take a deep breath and remain calm. It’s okay not to know the answer to every question, and the audience understands that. Acknowledge the Question : Show appreciation for the question and the person who asked it. You can say something like, “Thank you for the question; that’s an interesting point to consider.” Be Honest : It’s best to be honest if you don’t know the answer. Avoid making up information or guessing as it can harm your credibility. Admit You Don’t Know : You can respond with a polite acknowledgement that you don’t have the information at hand. For example, say, “I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that question right now.” Offer to Follow Up : Express your willingness to find the answer later. You can say, “I’ll make sure to look into this further and get back to you with an answer.” Redirect the Question : If appropriate, you can redirect the question to the audience or to someone who might have more expertise on the topic. Stay Positive : Maintain a positive tone throughout your response. Avoid apologizing excessively or sounding defensive. Bridge to Related Topics : If you can’t answer the specific question, try to bridge it to related topics you are familiar with. This way, you can still contribute to the discussion. Use It as a Learning Opportunity : If the question raises a valid point you haven’t considered before, acknowledge it as a learning opportunity. You can say, “That’s an excellent question, and it gives me something to think about.” Learn for the Future : After the presentation, take note of the questions you couldn’t answer and use them as a basis for further research or study. This will help you better prepare for similar situations in the future.

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How to make a scientific presentation

Scientific presentation outlines

Questions to ask yourself before you write your talk, 1. how much time do you have, 2. who will you speak to, 3. what do you want the audience to learn from your talk, step 1: outline your presentation, step 2: plan your presentation slides, step 3: make the presentation slides, slide design, text elements, animations and transitions, step 4: practice your presentation, final thoughts, frequently asked questions about preparing scientific presentations, related articles.

A good scientific presentation achieves three things: you communicate the science clearly, your research leaves a lasting impression on your audience, and you enhance your reputation as a scientist.

But, what is the best way to prepare for a scientific presentation? How do you start writing a talk? What details do you include, and what do you leave out?

It’s tempting to launch into making lots of slides. But, starting with the slides can mean you neglect the narrative of your presentation, resulting in an overly detailed, boring talk.

The key to making an engaging scientific presentation is to prepare the narrative of your talk before beginning to construct your presentation slides. Planning your talk will ensure that you tell a clear, compelling scientific story that will engage the audience.

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to make a good oral scientific presentation, including:

• The different types of oral scientific presentations and how they are delivered;
• How to outline a scientific presentation;
• How to make slides for a scientific presentation.

Our advice results from delving into the literature on writing scientific talks and from our own experiences as scientists in giving and listening to presentations. We provide tips and best practices for giving scientific talks in a separate post.

There are two main types of scientific talks:

• Your talk focuses on a single study . Typically, you tell the story of a single scientific paper. This format is common for short talks at contributed sessions in conferences.
• Your talk describes multiple studies. You tell the story of multiple scientific papers. It is crucial to have a theme that unites the studies, for example, an overarching question or problem statement, with each study representing specific but different variations of the same theme. Typically, PhD defenses, invited seminars, lectures, or talks for a prospective employer (i.e., “job talks”) fall into this category.

➡️ Learn how to prepare an excellent thesis defense

The length of time you are allotted for your talk will determine whether you will discuss a single study or multiple studies, and which details to include in your story.

The background and interests of your audience will determine the narrative direction of your talk, and what devices you will use to get their attention. Will you be speaking to people specializing in your field, or will the audience also contain people from disciplines other than your own? To reach non-specialists, you will need to discuss the broader implications of your study outside your field.

The needs of the audience will also determine what technical details you will include, and the language you will use. For example, an undergraduate audience will have different needs than an audience of seasoned academics. Students will require a more comprehensive overview of background information and explanations of jargon but will need less technical methodological details.

Your goal is to speak to the majority. But, make your talk accessible to the least knowledgeable person in the room.

This is called the thesis statement, or simply the “take-home message”. Having listened to your talk, what message do you want the audience to take away from your presentation? Describe the main idea in one or two sentences. You want this theme to be present throughout your presentation. Again, the thesis statement will depend on the audience and the type of talk you are giving.

Your thesis statement will drive the narrative for your talk. By deciding the take-home message you want to convince the audience of as a result of listening to your talk, you decide how the story of your talk will flow and how you will navigate its twists and turns. The thesis statement tells you the results you need to show, which subsequently tells you the methods or studies you need to describe, which decides the angle you take in your introduction.

➡️ Learn how to write a thesis statement

The goal of your talk is that the audience leaves afterward with a clear understanding of the key take-away message of your research. To achieve that goal, you need to tell a coherent, logical story that conveys your thesis statement throughout the presentation. You can tell your story through careful preparation of your talk.

Preparation of a scientific presentation involves three separate stages: outlining the scientific narrative, preparing slides, and practicing your delivery. Making the slides of your talk without first planning what you are going to say is inefficient.

Here, we provide a 4 step guide to writing your scientific presentation:

• Outline your presentation
• Plan your presentation slides
• Make the presentation slides
• Practice your presentation

Writing an outline helps you consider the key pieces of your talk and how they fit together from the beginning, preventing you from forgetting any important details. It also means you avoid changing the order of your slides multiple times, saving you time.

Plan your talk as discrete sections. In the table below, we describe the sections for a single study talk vs. a talk discussing multiple studies:

The following tips apply when writing the outline of a single study talk. You can easily adapt this framework if you are writing a talk discussing multiple studies.

Introduction: Writing the introduction can be the hardest part of writing a talk. And when giving it, it’s the point where you might be at your most nervous. But preparing a good, concise introduction will settle your nerves.

The introduction tells the audience the story of why you studied your topic. A good introduction succinctly achieves four things, in the following order.

• It gives a broad perspective on the problem or topic for people in the audience who may be outside your discipline (i.e., it explains the big-picture problem motivating your study).
• It describes why you did the study, and why the audience should care.
• It gives a brief indication of how your study addressed the problem and provides the necessary background information that the audience needs to understand your work.
• It indicates what the audience will learn from the talk, and prepares them for what will come next.

A good introduction not only gives the big picture and motivations behind your study but also concisely sets the stage for what the audience will learn from the talk (e.g., the questions your work answers, and/or the hypotheses that your work tests). The end of the introduction will lead to a natural transition to the methods.

Give a broad perspective on the problem. The easiest way to start with the big picture is to think of a hook for the first slide of your presentation. A hook is an opening that gets the audience’s attention and gets them interested in your story. In science, this might take the form of a why, or a how question, or it could be a statement about a major problem or open question in your field. Other examples of hooks include quotes, short anecdotes, or interesting statistics.

Why should the audience care? Next, decide on the angle you are going to take on your hook that links to the thesis of your talk. In other words, you need to set the context, i.e., explain why the audience should care. For example, you may introduce an observation from nature, a pattern in experimental data, or a theory that you want to test. The audience must understand your motivations for the study.

Supplementary details. Once you have established the hook and angle, you need to include supplementary details to support them. For example, you might state your hypothesis. Then go into previous work and the current state of knowledge. Include citations of these studies. If you need to introduce some technical methodological details, theory, or jargon, do it here.

Conclude your introduction. The motivation for the work and background information should set the stage for the conclusion of the introduction, where you describe the goals of your study, and any hypotheses or predictions. Let the audience know what they are going to learn.

Methods: The audience will use your description of the methods to assess the approach you took in your study and to decide whether your findings are credible. Tell the story of your methods in chronological order. Use visuals to describe your methods as much as possible. If you have equations, make sure to take the time to explain them. Decide what methods to include and how you will show them. You need enough detail so that your audience will understand what you did and therefore can evaluate your approach, but avoid including superfluous details that do not support your main idea. You want to avoid the common mistake of including too much data, as the audience can read the paper(s) later.

Results: This is the evidence you present for your thesis. The audience will use the results to evaluate the support for your main idea. Choose the most important and interesting results—those that support your thesis. You don’t need to present all the results from your study (indeed, you most likely won’t have time to present them all). Break down complex results into digestible pieces, e.g., comparisons over multiple slides (more tips in the next section).

Summary: Summarize your main findings. Displaying your main findings through visuals can be effective. Emphasize the new contributions to scientific knowledge that your work makes.

Conclusion: Complete the circle by relating your conclusions to the big picture topic in your introduction—and your hook, if possible. It’s important to describe any alternative explanations for your findings. You might also speculate on future directions arising from your research. The slides that comprise your conclusion do not need to state “conclusion”. Rather, the concluding slide title should be a declarative sentence linking back to the big picture problem and your main idea.

It’s important to end well by planning a strong closure to your talk, after which you will thank the audience. Your closing statement should relate to your thesis, perhaps by stating it differently or memorably. Avoid ending awkwardly by memorizing your closing sentence.

By now, you have an outline of the story of your talk, which you can use to plan your slides. Your slides should complement and enhance what you will say. Use the following steps to prepare your slides.

• Write the slide titles to match your talk outline. These should be clear and informative declarative sentences that succinctly give the main idea of the slide (e.g., don’t use “Methods” as a slide title). Have one major idea per slide. In a YouTube talk on designing effective slides , researcher Michael Alley shows examples of instructive slide titles.
• Decide how you will convey the main idea of the slide (e.g., what figures, photographs, equations, statistics, references, or other elements you will need). The body of the slide should support the slide’s main idea.
• Under each slide title, outline what you want to say, in bullet points.

In sum, for each slide, prepare a title that summarizes its major idea, a list of visual elements, and a summary of the points you will make. Ensure each slide connects to your thesis. If it doesn’t, then you don’t need the slide.

Slides for scientific presentations have three major components: text (including labels and legends), graphics, and equations. Here, we give tips on how to present each of these components.

• Have an informative title slide. Include the names of all coauthors and their affiliations. Include an attractive image relating to your study.
• Make the foreground content of your slides “pop” by using an appropriate background. Slides that have white backgrounds with black text work well for small rooms, whereas slides with black backgrounds and white text are suitable for large rooms.
• The layout of your slides should be simple. Pay attention to how and where you lay the visual and text elements on each slide. It’s tempting to cram information, but you need lots of empty space. Retain space at the sides and bottom of your slides.
• Use sans serif fonts with a font size of at least 20 for text, and up to 40 for slide titles. Citations can be in 14 font and should be included at the bottom of the slide.
• Use bold or italics to emphasize words, not underlines or caps. Keep these effects to a minimum.
• Use concise text . You don’t need full sentences. Convey the essence of your message in as few words as possible. Write down what you’d like to say, and then shorten it for the slide. Remove unnecessary filler words.
• Text blocks should be limited to two lines. This will prevent you from crowding too much information on the slide.
• Include names of technical terms in your talk slides, especially if they are not familiar to everyone in the audience.
• Proofread your slides. Typos and grammatical errors are distracting for your audience.
• Include citations for the hypotheses or observations of other scientists.
• Good figures and graphics are essential to sustain audience interest. Use graphics and photographs to show the experiment or study system in action and to explain abstract concepts.
• Don’t use figures straight from your paper as they may be too detailed for your talk, and details like axes may be too small. Make new versions if necessary. Make them large enough to be visible from the back of the room.
• Use graphs to show your results, not tables. Tables are difficult for your audience to digest! If you must present a table, keep it simple.
• Label the axes of graphs and indicate the units. Label important components of graphics and photographs and include captions. Include sources for graphics that are not your own.
• Explain all the elements of a graph. This includes the axes, what the colors and markers mean, and patterns in the data.
• Use colors in figures and text in a meaningful, not random, way. For example, contrasting colors can be effective for pointing out comparisons and/or differences. Don’t use neon colors or pastels.
• Use thick lines in figures, and use color to create contrasts in the figures you present. Don’t use red/green or red/blue combinations, as color-blind audience members can’t distinguish between them.
• Arrows or circles can be effective for drawing attention to key details in graphs and equations. Add some text annotations along with them.
• Write your summary and conclusion slides using graphics, rather than showing a slide with a list of bullet points. Showing some of your results again can be helpful to remind the audience of your message.
• If your talk has equations, take time to explain them. Include text boxes to explain variables and mathematical terms, and put them under each term in the equation.
• Combine equations with a graphic that shows the scientific principle, or include a diagram of the mathematical model.
• Use animations judiciously. They are helpful to reveal complex ideas gradually, for example, if you need to make a comparison or contrast or to build a complicated argument or figure. For lists, reveal one bullet point at a time. New ideas appearing sequentially will help your audience follow your logic.
• Slide transitions should be simple. Silly ones distract from your message.
• Decide how you will make the transition as you move from one section of your talk to the next. For example, if you spend time talking through details, provide a summary afterward, especially in a long talk. Another common tactic is to have a “home slide” that you return to multiple times during the talk that reinforces your main idea or message. In her YouTube talk on designing effective scientific presentations , Stanford biologist Susan McConnell suggests using the approach of home slides to build a cohesive narrative.

To deliver a polished presentation, it is essential to practice it. Here are some tips.

• For your first run-through, practice alone. Pay attention to your narrative. Does your story flow naturally? Do you know how you will start and end? Are there any awkward transitions? Do animations help you tell your story? Do your slides help to convey what you are saying or are they missing components?
• Next, practice in front of your advisor, and/or your peers (e.g., your lab group). Ask someone to time your talk. Take note of their feedback and the questions that they ask you (you might be asked similar questions during your real talk).
• Edit your talk, taking into account the feedback you’ve received. Eliminate superfluous slides that don’t contribute to your takeaway message.
• Practice as many times as needed to memorize the order of your slides and the key transition points of your talk. However, don’t try to learn your talk word for word. Instead, memorize opening and closing statements, and sentences at key junctures in the presentation. Your presentation should resemble a serious but spontaneous conversation with the audience.
• Practicing multiple times also helps you hone the delivery of your talk. While rehearsing, pay attention to your vocal intonations and speed. Make sure to take pauses while you speak, and make eye contact with your imaginary audience.
• Make sure your talk finishes within the allotted time, and remember to leave time for questions. Conferences are particularly strict on run time.
• Anticipate questions and challenges from the audience, and clarify ambiguities within your slides and/or speech in response.
• If you anticipate that you could be asked questions about details but you don’t have time to include them, or they detract from the main message of your talk, you can prepare slides that address these questions and place them after the final slide of your talk.

➡️ More tips for giving scientific presentations

An organized presentation with a clear narrative will help you communicate your ideas effectively, which is essential for engaging your audience and conveying the importance of your work. Taking time to plan and outline your scientific presentation before writing the slides will help you manage your nerves and feel more confident during the presentation, which will improve your overall performance.

A good scientific presentation has an engaging scientific narrative with a memorable take-home message. It has clear, informative slides that enhance what the speaker says. You need to practice your talk many times to ensure you deliver a polished presentation.

First, consider who will attend your presentation, and what you want the audience to learn about your research. Tailor your content to their level of knowledge and interests. Second, create an outline for your presentation, including the key points you want to make and the evidence you will use to support those points. Finally, practice your presentation several times to ensure that it flows smoothly and that you are comfortable with the material.

Prepare an opening that immediately gets the audience’s attention. A common device is a why or a how question, or a statement of a major open problem in your field, but you could also start with a quote, interesting statistic, or case study from your field.

Scientific presentations typically either focus on a single study (e.g., a 15-minute conference presentation) or tell the story of multiple studies (e.g., a PhD defense or 50-minute conference keynote talk). For a single study talk, the structure follows the scientific paper format: Introduction, Methods, Results, Summary, and Conclusion, whereas the format of a talk discussing multiple studies is more complex, but a theme unifies the studies.

Ensure you have one major idea per slide, and convey that idea clearly (through images, equations, statistics, citations, video, etc.). The slide should include a title that summarizes the major point of the slide, should not contain too much text or too many graphics, and color should be used meaningfully.

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• How to present a research paper in PPT: best practices

A research paper presentation is frequently used at conferences and other events where you have a chance to share the results of your research and receive feedback from colleagues. Although it may appear as simple as summarizing the findings, successful examples of research paper presentations show that there is a little bit more to it.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the basic outline and steps to create a good research paper presentation. We’ll also explain what to include and what not to include in your presentation of research paper and share some of the most effective tips you can use to take your slides to the next level.

Research paper PowerPoint presentation outline

Creating a PowerPoint presentation for a research paper involves organizing and summarizing your key findings, methodology, and conclusions in a way that encourages your audience to interact with your work and share their interest in it with others. Here’s a basic research paper outline PowerPoint you can follow:

1. Title (1 slide)

Typically, your title slide should contain the following information:

• Title of the research paper
• Affiliation or institution
• Date of presentation

2. Introduction (1-3 slides)

On this slide of your presentation, briefly introduce the research topic and its significance and state the research question or objective.

3. Research questions or hypothesis (1 slide)

This slide should emphasize the objectives of your research or present the hypothesis.

4. Literature review (1 slide)

Your literature review has to provide context for your research by summarizing relevant literature. Additionally, it should highlight gaps or areas where your research contributes.

5. Methodology and data collection (1-2 slides)

This slide of your research paper PowerPoint has to explain the research design, methods, and procedures. It must also Include details about participants, materials, and data collection and emphasize special equipment you have used in your work.

6. Results (3-5 slides)

On this slide, you must present the results of your data analysis and discuss any trends, patterns, or significant findings. Moreover, you should use charts, graphs, and tables to illustrate data and highlight something novel in your results (if applicable).

7. Conclusion (1 slide)

Your conclusion slide has to summarize the main findings and their implications, as well as discuss the broader impact of your research. Usually, a single statement is enough.

8. Recommendations (1 slide)

If applicable, provide recommendations for future research or actions on this slide.

9. References (1-2 slides)

The references slide is where you list all the sources cited in your research paper.

10. Acknowledgments (1 slide)

On this presentation slide, acknowledge any individuals, organizations, or funding sources that contributed to your research.

11. Appendix (1 slide)

If applicable, include any supplementary materials, such as additional data or detailed charts, in your appendix slide.

The above outline is just a general guideline, so make sure to adjust it based on your specific research paper and the time allotted for the presentation.

Steps to creating a memorable research paper presentation

Creating a PowerPoint presentation for a research paper involves several critical steps needed to convey your findings and engage your audience effectively, and these steps are as follows:

Step 1. Understand your audience:

• Identify the audience for your presentation.
• Tailor your content and level of detail to match the audience’s background and knowledge.

Step 2. Define your key messages:

• Clearly articulate the main messages or findings of your research.
• Identify the key points you want your audience to remember.

Step 3. Design your research paper PPT presentation:

• Use a clean and professional design that complements your research topic.
• Choose readable fonts, consistent formatting, and a limited color palette.
• Opt for PowerPoint presentation services if slide design is not your strong side.

Step 4. Put content on slides:

• Follow the outline above to structure your presentation effectively; include key sections and topics.
• Organize your content logically, following the flow of your research paper.

Step 5. Final check:

• Proofread your slides for typos, errors, and inconsistencies.
• Ensure all visuals are clear, high-quality, and properly labeled.

Step 6. Save and share:

• Save your presentation and ensure compatibility with the equipment you’ll be using.
• If necessary, share a copy of your presentation with the audience.

By following these steps, you can create a well-organized and visually appealing research paper presentation PowerPoint that effectively conveys your research findings to the audience.

What to include and what not to include in your presentation

In addition to the must-know PowerPoint presentation recommendations, which we’ll cover later in this article, consider the following do’s and don’ts when you’re putting together your research paper presentation:

• Focus on the topic.
• Be brief and to the point.
• Attract the audience’s attention and highlight interesting details.
• Use only relevant visuals (maps, charts, pictures, graphs, etc.).
• Use numbers and bullet points to structure the content.
• Make clear statements regarding the essence and results of your research.

Don’ts:

• Don’t write down the whole outline of your paper and nothing else.
• Don’t put long, full sentences on your slides; split them into smaller ones.
• Don’t use distracting patterns, colors, pictures, and other visuals on your slides; the simpler, the better.
• Don’t use too complicated graphs or charts; only the ones that are easy to understand.
• Now that we’ve discussed the basics, let’s move on to the top tips for making a powerful presentation of your research paper.

8 tips on how to make research paper presentation that achieves its goals

You’ve probably been to a presentation where the presenter reads word for word from their PowerPoint outline. Or where the presentation is cluttered, chaotic, or contains too much data. The simple tips below will help you summarize a 10 to 15-page paper for a 15 to 20-minute talk and succeed, so read on!

Tip #1: Less is more

You want to provide enough information to make your audience want to know more. Including details but not too many and avoiding technical jargon, formulas, and long sentences are always good ways to achieve this.

Tip #2: Be professional

Avoid using too many colors, font changes, distracting backgrounds, animations, etc. Bullet points with a few words to highlight the important information are preferable to lengthy paragraphs. Additionally, include slide numbers on all PowerPoint slides except for the title slide, and make sure it is followed by a table of contents, offering a brief overview of the entire research paper.

Tip #3: Strive for balance

PowerPoint slides have limited space, so use it carefully. Typically, one to two points per slide or 5 lines for 5 words in a sentence are enough to present your ideas.

Tip #4: Use proper fonts and text size

The font you use should be easy to read and consistent throughout the slides. You can go with Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, or a combination of these three. An ideal text size is 32 points, while a heading size is 44.

Tip #5: Concentrate on the visual side

A PowerPoint presentation is one of the best tools for presenting information visually. Use graphs instead of tables and topic-relevant illustrations instead of walls of text. Keep your visuals as clean and professional as the content of your presentation.

Tip #6: Practice your delivery

Always go through your presentation when you’re done to ensure a smooth and confident delivery and time yourself to stay within the allotted limit.

Tip #7: Get ready for questions

Anticipate potential questions from your audience and prepare thoughtful responses. Also, be ready to engage in discussions about your research.

Tip #8: Don’t be afraid to utilize professional help

If the mere thought of designing a presentation overwhelms you or you’re pressed for time, consider leveraging professional PowerPoint redesign services . A dedicated design team can transform your content or old presentation into effective slides, ensuring your message is communicated clearly and captivates your audience. This way, you can focus on refining your delivery and preparing for the presentation.

Lastly, remember that even experienced presenters get nervous before delivering research paper PowerPoint presentations in front of the audience. You cannot know everything; some things can be beyond your control, which is completely fine. You are at the event not only to share what you know but also to learn from others. So, no matter what, dress appropriately, look straight into the audience’s eyes, try to speak and move naturally, present your information enthusiastically, and have fun!

If you need help with slide design, get in touch with our dedicated design team and let qualified professionals turn your research findings into a visually appealing, polished presentation that leaves a lasting impression on your audience. Our experienced designers specialize in creating engaging layouts, incorporating compelling graphics, and ensuring a cohesive visual narrative that complements content on any subject.

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11 Tips to Make an Effective Research Presentation

Home » Presenting Your Research » 11 Tips to Make an Effective Research Presentation

The purpose of a presentation is to tell your audience a story. To achieve this goal, the person giving the presentation must place themselves in the shoes of their listeners and determine what they need to know to understand the story. Telling a great story is more important than any embellishments or technology you use to do it. Below are 11 tips for giving an effective research presentation.

1. Decide what your most important messages are, tailored to your specific audience.

Research can be messy, and so can the results of research. Your audience does not usually need to know every tiny detail about your work or results. Try to narrow down your findings to two or three of the most important takeaways that would resonate with the people in attendance. These takeaways are the messages of your presentation.

2. Start at the beginning and keep it simple.

Now that you have your messages, think about how you got to that point. What question did you ask that led you to do this research, and why did you ask it? Tell your audience this information, just enough of it for them to understand why the story is important and why you’re telling it. Use language that is tailored to the level of understanding of your audience.

3. Tell them how you addressed your question.

This part of any presentation usually involves the greatest risk of being dull. Tell your audience how you address your question, but don’t overwhelm them with detail they don’t need. Tell them what they need to know to get a basic idea of how you got your results.

4. Tell them your most important findings.

Again, do not overwhelm your listeners with noisy data or too much information. Give them a streamlined version of your results, using as your guide what you might include in an abstract of the work.

5.  Give them the payoff—your main messages.

Link your results to the main or most important conclusions from your work. Make sure that the results you talk about directly connect with these final messages.

6. Hint at where you’re going next.

If appropriate, you can also tell your audience the new questions that your findings open up, leaving them a little intrigued about where things will go next.

7. Do not go over your time.

No one wants to listen to anyone talk longer than they are supposed to talk. If you’ve been given a 10-minute limit for your presentation, do not take more than 10 minutes. Your best bet is to practice it beforehand, timing yourself, to make sure that you have the right pace to stay within limits. Don’t make it too short, either, although that is almost never a problem.

8. Think about questions people might ask.

If a question-and-answer session is to follow your presentation, go through your talk and put yourself again in your audience’s shoes. What questions would you have if you were listening to this research presentation? Try to anticipate what people might ask and how you’ll answer. If you have friends or family you can use for practice, encourage them to ask questions so you can gain experience answering them.

9. Do not overwhelm with too much text, busy images, tables, or charts.

Having too much text on a slide or busy, illegible images is a major fault of many academic research presentations. Consider the people in your audience and what they’ll be able to see from where they sit. Keep text limited and plain and figures simple and clear. Explain each image that you show, including axis labels and their meaning, and don’t just assume your audience will understand with a quick glance. Also, you do not need to use the tricks that some digital software allows for slides to fade in or out or advance automatically. In fact, you should avoid the latter entirely.

10. Do not read text word for word.

If you are using some form of presentation that involves slides or words on a screen, do not read these words verbatim. Your best approach is to use short phrases in the slides and then add your own expansion as you talk. That way, your audience sees an important, brief phrase and hears you add context around it. Listening to someone read a slide packed with text while reading along with them is mind numbing.

11. Engage with your audience.

If you are comfortable, you can always present your research in a way that invites audience engagement, asking questions as you go that anticipate a slide you are about to show, a result you are about to introduce, or a conclusion you will present.

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Making a short presentation based on your research: 11 tips

Markus goldstein, david evans.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve both spent a fair amount of time at conferences. Given that many conferences ask researchers to summarize their work in 15 to 20 minutes, we thought we’d reflect on some ideas for how to do this, and – more importantly – how to do it well.

• You have 15 minutes. That’s not enough time to use the slides you used for that recent 90-minute academic seminar. One recent presentation one of us saw had 52 slides for 15 minutes.    No amount of speed talking will get you through this in anything resembling coherence. (And quit speed talking, anyway. This isn’t a FedEx commercial !) There is no magic number of slides since the content you’ll have and how you talk will vary. But if you have more than 15 slides, then #2 is doubly important.
• Practice. This is the great thing about a 15-minute talk: You can actually afford to run through it, out loud. Running through it once in advance can reveal to you – wow! – that it’s actually a 25-minute talk and you need to cut a bunch. Of course, the first time through the presentation it may take a bit longer than you will when you present, but if you have any doubts, practice again (bringing your prep time to a whopping 30 minutes plus a little bit).
• You need a (short) narrative. What is the main story you are trying to tell with this paper? Fifteen minutes works better for communicating a narrative then for taking an audience through every twist and turn of your econometric grandeur. Deciding on your narrative will help with the discipline in the points that follow.
• A model or results? Even if your audience is all academics, you don’t have academic seminar time. So the first thing to do is to figure out which is more important to get across – your model or your empirical results. Then trim the other one down to one slide, max. If the results are your focus (usually the case for us), give the audience a sense of how the model is set up, and what the main implications are as they pertain to the results you will show. Conversely, if it’s the model that’s more important, the empirical results will come later and you can just give the very brief highlights that bolster the key points.
• The literature. Really, really minimal. If you do it at all, choose only the papers that you are either going to build on in a major way or contradict. For some types of discussants, it may help to include them, even if they don’t meet the other criteria. Marc Bellemare takes an even stronger stance: “Never, ever have a literature review in your slides. If literature reviews are boring to read in papers, they are insanely boring to listen to during presentations.”
• Program details. Here it’s a bit of a balance. The audience needs a flavor for the program, they need to understand what it did and how it’s different from other things (particularly other things with some kinds of evidence). But only in exceptional cases (as in, it’s a really different program for theoretical reasons, or you don’t have more than process results yet) do you want this to eat up a lot of your time.
• You don’t have time to go through the nitty gritty of the data.   We get that every detail about the survey was fascinating (we spend a lot of our lives thinking about this).   But if it’s not key to the story, save it for a longer presentation (or another paper). And if you’re doing a primarily theoretical paper, this is a bullet on one slide.
• Balance and summary stats. Key summary stats that tell the audience who the people are might make the cut, but 3 slides of every variable that you’ll use are going to be slides you either rip through (telling the audience nothing) or waste most of your time on. Summarize the summary stats. On balance tests: you are either balanced or not.  If you are, this gets a bullet at most (you can also just say that). If you’re not, tell us what’s up and why we should or should not worry.  
• Pre-analysis plan. If you had it, mention it (quickly). If not, don’t. It’s not critical here.
• A picture may be worth 1,000 numbers. Sometimes, taking that really packed table which is currently in 12 point font and turning it into a graph is going to help you with self-control and help your audience with comprehension. Put the significant results in a bar chart, and use asterisks to tell folks which are significant.  
• A special warning about presenting your job market paper. When I (Markus) submitted my job market paper to a journal, the referee report came back noting that this was surely a job market paper since it had 40(!) tables. Key example of how everything matters when you just spent four years of your life collecting each observation. Discipline. You have (or will have) an elevator pitch from the job market – use this to trim your presentation. 
• Marc Bellemare has a great series of “22 tips for conference and seminar presentations,” many of which apply to short presentations: “Always provide a preview of your results. This isn’t a murder mystery: it’s only when people know where you’re taking them that they can enjoy the scenery along the way.”
• Jeff Leek has a great guide to giving presentations of different lengths, and what your goal should be: “As a scientist, it is hard to accept that the primary purpose of a talk is advertising, not science.” This is doubly true for a 15-minute talk.
• The AEA Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession has a top 10 list. “Never cut and paste a table from your paper onto a slide. These tables are never easy to read and only irritate your audience. Instead, choose a few results that you want to highlight and present them on a slide in no smaller than 28 font.” We’ve pretty much all done this. It’s bad practice. (“I’m sorry you can’t read this table.” “Oh really, then why did you cut and paste that giant table from your paper into the presentation?!”)
• I (Dave) go back and re-read Jesse Shapiro’s guide on “ How to Give an Applied Micro Talk ” from time to time. It’s more geared toward a full-length seminar, but the advice is so good I can’t resist plugging it here.

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Presenting your Research

Presenting your research is a culmination of the process of scientific discovery. Being able to clearly communicate your research to both general and scientific audiences is a key skill to develop. Below are some links to materials about poster presentations and oral presentations.

42″ by 42″ Poster Template

How to Design a Poster Presentation

How to Create a Poster using PowerPoint

Poster Format Example (courtesy of MARC student, Jessica Jimenez)

Gallery of posters to use for ideas for your own poster

Advice on poster making from PSU

Tips on oral presentations from Swarthmore College

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Presenting your research effectively and with confidence

Advice from winners of the vitae three minute thesis® competition.

However much experience you have of public speaking, we can all continue to improve by learning from others. That’s why we we’ve collected some of the best presentation advice from previous winners of the Vitae Three Minute Thesis® competition. They’ve each had to explain their work under the pressure of a strict time limit and in front of hundreds of people, so they know what they’re talking about.

Your abstract has been accepted for an upcoming  academic conference  or perhaps you’ve been asked to present your research at an in-house event. Does that thought provoke a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach or fill you with excitement?

Today it’s essential for all researchers to be able to deliver effective and confident presentations about their work, to various audiences.

Seize the opportunity

Firstly, don’t let nerves or other priorities stop you from accepting speaking invitations.

“I remember the first time I presented in my first year at university, I was so nervous my legs wouldn’t stop shaking. Being scared of public speaking is normal – you become the center of attention and don’t want to look foolish, but you shouldn’t let this stop you. This moment is special, and you will rarely get the opportunity to talk about something you care or are passionate about with people listening intently. It’s an opportunity to get people thinking in your mindset which can have huge impact on others work, especially if they are from different disciplines and wouldn’t normally see your work.” – Thomas Fudge, 3MT Judges’ Choice Winner 2017

  “You should throw yourself at any opportunity to present – every time you do it you’ll learn something new and improve. It can be intimidating to begin with, but eventually you’ll be more at ease and appreciate your work and the opportunity to share it.” – Euan Doidge, 3MT People’s Choice Winner 2017

“And honestly, your nerves will stop jangling after the first time you do it.” –  Owen Gwydion James, 3MT Judges’ Choice Winner 2018

Post information

Related posts, insights topics, engage the audience with a real-world example they can relate to.

Whether you’re speaking to fellow academics or members of the public, an accessible example is a great way to get your audience’s attention. This hook should help them understand why your research is relevant to them, and will make your talk more memorable.

“Coming up with a hook is helpful; a nice analogy that your audience can relate to.” – Owen Gwydion James

“Once you get their attention, you can start to go into more depth, but you need to relate to experiences or scenarios that the audience can understand as non-experts in the field. This can be one of the biggest challenges when communicating research – we need to excite people (including future researchers), and involve them at a level that taps into their imagination.” –  Thomas Fudge

  “I created a list of the most important aspects of my research and based on that came up with an analogy that is common to most people.” – Nazira Albargothy, 3MT Judges’ Choice Winner 2016 

Remember the bigger picture

Your presentation will usually need to include some details about methodology or results but don’t forget to set these in context.

“The biggest challenge is in un-learning a lot of what has become second nature, and putting it back together for someone with no training in this area at all. Many times, I think, we probably even struggle to articulate to  ourselves  what our research is actually about.

It is easy to get caught up in complex, abstract theories or infinitesimal details of our data. We can then start to lose the bigger picture of what we’re actually doing and why.” –  Jamie Khoo, 3MT People’s Choice Winner 2018

 “When presenting your research, I think it’s useful to remember that you don’t have to talk about absolutely everything you’ve done or discovered. It’s sometimes better to talk about less material that has a better story. Try to identify the take-home message, and make sure the story gets to that point.” –  Euan Doidge

Tell a story

Our brains process and store information in the form of stories. Stories captivate us and help us to understand information. Therefore, to produce an engaging and memorable presentation, you want to immerse your audience in your story.

 “I ensured that my three minute presentation was composed of a story that captivated the listener by taking them on a journey through my research, first introducing them to the background of the disease, raising the research question in the middle, and then using an analogy in different parts of the presentation to deliver the research idea. I also utilized the slide by adding details to it that I wouldn’t have time to discuss and to give a visual representation of my analogy.” – Nazira Albargothy

Practice, practice, practice

“I tweaked the presentation to make it more appealing and relevant to an audience of all ages and backgrounds, testing it out on friends, family, and acquaintances. I practiced the talk in a variety of different settings, which made me feel more comfortable presenting in any type of environment.” –  Maddie Long, 3MT People’s Choice Winner 2016

“Unfortunately, practice really does make perfect and I feel pretty bad for my girlfriend. She helped me a lot and after the number of times I went over it at home; her party trick is now performing my 3MT® word for word! But all this work meant that I grew in confidence each time I did it. I ended up really enjoying each presentation.” – Owen Gwydion James

  Preparation prior to the event is crucial and I practiced the three minute talk at least 50 times before the final, and took feedback from friends and family. –  Zaid Janjua, 3MT People’s Choice Winner 2015

Finally, don’t forget that this is an opportunity to share something you’re passionate about with others. If you set out to enjoy the experience, then that will be infectious.

  “Let your enthusiasm for the subject reflect in the way you present. Remember that the audience wants to be engaged and your enthusiasm for the topic will make for a captivating presentation.” – Maddie Long 

Watch: top tips for research communication

Where to next.

If you’ve found these tips helpful make sure you look at:

Academic conference tips – Tips to get the most out of your next conference.

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Writing an Abstract

Oral presentation, compiling a powerpoint.

Abstract : a short statement that describes a longer work.

• Indicate the subject.
• Describe the purpose of the investigation.
• Briefly discuss the method used.
• Make a statement about the result.

Oral presentations usually introduce a discussion of a topic or research paper. A good oral presentation is focused, concise, and interesting in order to trigger a discussion.

• Be well prepared; write a detailed outline.
• Introduce the subject.
• Talk about the sources and the method.
• Indicate if there are conflicting views about the subject (conflicting views trigger discussion).
• Make a statement about your new results (if this is your research paper).
• Use visual aids or handouts if appropriate.

An effective PowerPoint presentation is just an aid to the presentation, not the presentation itself .

• Be brief and concise.
• Focus on the subject.
• Attract attention; indicate interesting details.
• If possible, use relevant visual illustrations (pictures, maps, charts graphs, etc.).
• Use bullet points or numbers to structure the text.
• Make clear statements about the essence/results of the topic/research.
• Don't write down the whole outline of your paper and nothing else.
• Don't write long full sentences on the slides.
• Don't use distracting colors, patterns, pictures, decorations on the slides.
• Don't use too complicated charts, graphs; only those that are relatively easy to understand.
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How to Make an Effective Research Presentation

Presentation software programs have advanced to the point where you no longer need to be an experienced designer to put together a compelling piece of collateral that conveys your findings about academic research in exactly the right way. With the right materials, the right presentation software, and a little bit of time, you can visualize any data that you have in the form of a terrific presentation that sells your research better than numbers alone ever could. However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t keep in mind a few things. As both a marketing tool and a means to convey information, presentations are helpful because they are malleable—the format can essentially be anything you need it to be at any given time. The other side of this, however, is that there are certain traps that are all too easy for even experts to fall into that will harm your ultimate message, not help it. If you wish to learn how to make a professional research presentation as an author, or a researcher, then you should avoid some mistakes at all costs.

Mistakes to Avoid

As a researcher or a student, your number one goal isn’t just to provide insight into a topic—it’s to do so in a compelling way. It is important to communicate ideas in a way that is both easy to understand for people who haven’t completed the work you have and to do so in a compelling and engaging way. In many ways, it’s a lot like telling a story—albeit one that is heavily research-oriented. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end and you need to ensure that the content in the presentation has a proper narrative flow.

In many ways, your presentation will operate exactly along the same lines. To that end, always remember to make sure that the information is presented not only in the right manner but also in the right order to complement intent and maximize impact. If you have three subtopics within a presentation, all of which are related but are still different ideas, don’t mix and match the content. Don’t jump from one topic to the other and back again—you’re only going to lose focus and eventually, the attention of your reader.

If you start preparing your presentation and realize that you’re actually kind of covering two distinct and different topics, don’t be afraid to break one presentation into two. You’ll be able to devote more attention to promoting each idea and you’ll walk away with two great pieces of research presentations instead of one “okay” one.

Length of Your Presentation

Another element of your presentation that you need to pay extremely close attention to is the length. This goes back to another one of the old rules of storytelling: “Whatever you do, don’t overstay your welcome.” While it is true that presentations are naturally designed to be a longer form than something like an Infographic, it’s important to recognize when you’re asking too much of your reader/viewer. A presentation isn’t just a visualized form of something like a white paper. It’s a unique medium all unto itself.

When you start preparing your presentation for the first time, feel free to include as many slides or as much information as you want. Also, don’t forget that there are three versions of your presentation that will exist—the initial outline, the “first draft” of the presentation and the final edited version that you release. Make an effort to only include information that A) is needed to understand your research topic, and B) is necessary to contextualize your findings or the points you’re trying to make. Go through your presentation from start to finish and really try to experience it with fresh eyes—the same way your audience will.

Does it feel like the end of your presentation is getting a little sluggish? You feel that it should be over but there are ten slides to go still. Be precise in your editing process —rest assured that you’ll thank yourself when the end result is much more powerful than it would be if it had remained bloated.

The Power of Presentations

In many ways, presentations provide a unified experience where you can have text, images, video, and more. Remember that human beings are visual learners— visuals are processed up to 60,000 times faster than text and people have a much easier time understanding complex information when it is paired with relevant images as opposed to just text. As an author, researcher, or student, your job is to take complicated ideas and present them in a way that is appealing to a larger audience. Presentations are one of the most essential ways for you to do exactly that. The central message you are trying to convey—the thesis, if you will—needs to be strong enough to justify the creation of a presentation in the first place.

It needs to be a big enough topic to warrant a lengthy experience and a compelling enough story that demands to be told in this particular format above all others. If you start from that simple foundation and build outward, you’ll be left with the best type of marketing tool—one that promotes your research for you and one that people can’t wait to share with their friends and colleagues.

About the Author

Payman Taei is the founder of Visme , an easy-to-use online tool to create engaging presentations, infographics, and other forms of visual content. He is also the founder of HindSite Interactive , an award-winning Maryland based digital agency specializing in website design, user experience, and web app development.

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How to Present Your Research (Guidelines and Tips)

Published on 01 Feb 2023

Presenting at a conference can be stressful, but can lead to many opportunities, which is why coming prepared is super beneficial.

The internet is full to the brim with tips for making a good presentation. From what you wear to how you stand to good slide design, there’s no shortage of advice to make any old presentation come to life. 

But, not all presentations are created equal. Research presentations, in particular, are unique. 

Communicating complex concepts to an audience with a varied range of awareness about your research topic can be tricky. A lack of guidance and preparation can ruin your chance to share important information with a conference community. This could mean lost opportunities in collaboration or funding or lost confidence in yourself and your work.

So, we’ve put together a list of tips with research presentations in mind. Here’s our top to-do’s when preparing to present your research.

Take every research presentation opportunity

The worst thing you could do for your research is to not present it at all. As intimidating as it can be to get up in front of an audience, you shouldn’t let that stop you from seizing a good opportunity to share your work with a wider community.

These contestants from the Vitae Three Minute Thesis Competition have some great advice to share on taking every possible chance to talk about your research. 

Double-check your research presentation guidelines

Before you get started on your presentation, double-check if you’ve been given guidelines for it. 

If you don’t have specific guidelines for the context of your presentation, we’ve put together a general outline to help you get started. It’s made with the assumption of a 10-15 minute presentation time. So, if you have longer to present, you can always extend important sections or talk longer on certain slides:

• Title Slide (1 slide) - This is a placeholder to give some visual interest and display the topic until your presentation begins.
• Short Introduction (2-3 slides) - This is where you pique the interest of your audience and establish the key questions your presentation covers. Give context to your study with a brief review of the literature (focus on key points, not a full review). If your study relates to any particularly relevant issues, mention it here to increase the audience's interest in the topic.
• Hypothesis (1 slide) - Clearly state your hypothesis.
• Description of Methods (2-3 slides) - Clearly, but briefly, summarize your study design including a clear description of the study population, the sample size and any instruments or manipulations to gather the data.
• Results and Data Interpretation (2-4 slides) - Illustrate your results through simple tables, graphs, and images. Remind the audience of your hypothesis and discuss your interpretation of the data/results.
• Conclusion (2-3 slides) - Further interpret your results. If you had any sources of error or difficulties with your methods, discuss them here and address how they could be (or were) improved. Discuss your findings as part of the bigger picture and connect them to potential further outcomes or areas of study.
• Closing (1 slide) - If anyone supported your research with guidance, awards, or funding, be sure to recognize their contribution. If your presentation includes a Q&A session, open the floor to questions.

Plan for about one minute for each slide of information that you have. Be sure that you don’t cram your slides with text (stick to bullet points and images to emphasize key points).

And, if you’re looking for more inspiration to help you in scripting an oral research presentation. University of Virginia has a helpful oral presentation outline script .

A PhD Student working on an upcoming oral presentation.

Put yourself in your listeners shoes

As mentioned in the intro, research presentations are unique because they deal with specialized topics and complicated concepts. There’s a good chance that a large section of your audience won’t have the same understanding of your topic area as you do. So, do your best to understand where your listeners are at and adapt your language/definitions to that.

There’s an increasing awareness around the importance of scientific communication. Comms experts have even started giving TED Talks on how to bridge the gap between science and the public (check out Talk Nerdy to Me ). A general communication tip is to find out what sort of audience will listen to your talk. Then, beware of using jargon and acronyms unless you're 100% certain that your audience knows what they mean. 

On the other end of the spectrum, you don’t want to underestimate your audience. Giving too much background or spending ages summarizing old work to a group of experts in the field would be a waste of valuable presentation time (and would put you at risk of losing your audience's interest). 

Finally, if you can, practice your presentation on someone with a similar level of topic knowledge to the audience you’ll be presenting to.

Use scientific storytelling in your presentation

In scenarios where it’s appropriate, crafting a story allows you to break free from the often rigid tone of scientific communications. It helps your brain hit the refresh button and observe your findings from a new perspective. Plus, it can be a lot of fun to do!

If you have a chance to use scientific storytelling in your presentation, take full advantage of it. The best way to weave a story for your audience into a presentation is by setting the scene during your introduction. As you set the context of your research, set the context of your story/example at the same time. Continue drawing those parallels as you present. Then, deliver the main message of the story (or the “Aha!”) moment during your presentation’s conclusion.

If delivered well, a good story will keep your audience on the edge of their seats and glued to your entire presentation.

Emphasize the “Why” (not the “How”) of your research

Along the same lines as using storytelling, it’s important to think of WHY your audience should care about your work. Find ways to connect your research to valuable outcomes in society. Take your individual points on each slide and bring things back to the bigger picture. Constantly remind your listeners how it’s all connected and why that’s important.

One helpful way to get in this mindset is to look back to the moment before you became an expert on your topic. What got you interested? What was the reason for asking your research question? And, what motivated you to power through all the hard work to come? Then, looking forward, think about what key takeaways were most interesting or surprised you the most. How can these be applied to impact positive change in your research field or the wider community?

Be picky about what you include

It’s tempting to discuss all the small details of your methods or findings. Instead, focus on the most important information and takeaways that you think your audience will connect with. Decide on these takeaways before you script your presentation so that you can set the scene properly and provide only the information that has an added value.

When it comes to choosing data to display in your presentation slides, keep it simple. Wherever possible, use visuals to communicate your findings as opposed to large tables filled with numbers. This article by Richard Chambers has some great tips on using visuals in your slides and graphs.

Hide your complex tables and data in additional slides

With the above tip in mind: Just because you don’t include data and tables in your main presentation slides, doesn’t mean you can’t keep them handy for reference. If there’s a Q&A session after your presentation (or if you’ll be sharing your slides to view on-demand after) one great trick is to include additional slides/materials after your closing slide. You can keep these in your metaphorical “back pocket” to refer to if a specific question is asked about a data set or method. They’re also handy for people viewing your presentation slides later that might want to do a deeper dive into your methods/results.

However, just because you have these extra slides doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the effort to make that information more accessible. A research conference platform like Fourwaves allows presenters to attach supplementary materials (figures, posters, slides, videos and more) that conference participants can access anytime.

Leave your audience with (a few) questions

Curiosity is a good thing. Whether you have a Q&A session or not, you should want to leave your audience with a few key questions. The most important one:

“Where can I find out more?”

Obviously, it’s important to answer basic questions about your research context, hypothesis, methods, results, and interpretation. If you answer these while focusing on the “Why?” and weaving a good story, you’ll be setting the stage for an engaging Q&A session and/or some great discussions in the halls after your presentation. Just be sure that you have further links or materials ready to provide to those who are curious. 

Conclusion: The true expert in your research presentation

Throughout the entire process of scripting, creating your slides, and presenting, it’s important to remember that no one knows your research better than you do. If you’re nervous, remind yourself that the people who come to listen to your presentation are most likely there due to a genuine interest in your work. The pressure isn’t to connect with an uninterested audience - it’s to make your research more accessible and relevant for an already curious audience.

Finally, to practice what we preached in our last tip: If you’re looking to learn more about preparing for a research presentation, check out our articles on how to dress for a scientific conference and general conference presentation tips .

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation of Your Research Paper

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Table of Contents

A research paper presentation is often used at conferences and in other settings where you have an opportunity to share your research, and get feedback from your colleagues. Although it may seem as simple as summarizing your research and sharing your knowledge, successful research paper PowerPoint presentation examples show us that there’s a little bit more than that involved.

In this article, we’ll highlight how to make a PowerPoint presentation from a research paper, and what to include (as well as what NOT to include). We’ll also touch on how to present a research paper at a conference.

Purpose of a Research Paper Presentation

The purpose of presenting your paper at a conference or forum is different from the purpose of conducting your research and writing up your paper. In this setting, you want to highlight your work instead of including every detail of your research. Likewise, a presentation is an excellent opportunity to get direct feedback from your colleagues in the field. But, perhaps the main reason for presenting your research is to spark interest in your work, and entice the audience to read your research paper.

So, yes, your presentation should summarize your work, but it needs to do so in a way that encourages your audience to seek out your work, and share their interest in your work with others. It’s not enough just to present your research dryly, to get information out there. More important is to encourage engagement with you, your research, and your work.

Tips for Creating Your Research Paper Presentation

In addition to basic PowerPoint presentation recommendations, which we’ll cover later in this article, think about the following when you’re putting together your research paper presentation:

• Know your audience : First and foremost, who are you presenting to? Students? Experts in your field? Potential funders? Non-experts? The truth is that your audience will probably have a bit of a mix of all of the above. So, make sure you keep that in mind as you prepare your presentation.

Know more about: Discover the Target Audience .

• Your audience is human : In other words, they may be tired, they might be wondering why they’re there, and they will, at some point, be tuning out. So, take steps to help them stay interested in your presentation. You can do that by utilizing effective visuals, summarize your conclusions early, and keep your research easy to understand.
• Running outline : It’s not IF your audience will drift off, or get lost…it’s WHEN. Keep a running outline, either within the presentation or via a handout. Use visual and verbal clues to highlight where you are in the presentation.
• Where does your research fit in? You should know of work related to your research, but you don’t have to cite every example. In addition, keep references in your presentation to the end, or in the handout. Your audience is there to hear about your work.
• Plan B : Anticipate possible questions for your presentation, and prepare slides that answer those specific questions in more detail, but have them at the END of your presentation. You can then jump to them, IF needed.

What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Effective?

You’ve probably attended a presentation where the presenter reads off of their PowerPoint outline, word for word. Or where the presentation is busy, disorganized, or includes too much information. Here are some simple tips for creating an effective PowerPoint Presentation.

• Less is more: You want to give enough information to make your audience want to read your paper. So include details, but not too many, and avoid too many formulas and technical jargon.
• Clean and professional : Avoid excessive colors, distracting backgrounds, font changes, animations, and too many words. Instead of whole paragraphs, bullet points with just a few words to summarize and highlight are best.
• Know your real-estate : Each slide has a limited amount of space. Use it wisely. Typically one, no more than two points per slide. Balance each slide visually. Utilize illustrations when needed; not extraneously.
• Keep things visual : Remember, a PowerPoint presentation is a powerful tool to present things visually. Use visual graphs over tables and scientific illustrations over long text. Keep your visuals clean and professional, just like any text you include in your presentation.

Know more about our Scientific Illustrations Services .

Another key to an effective presentation is to practice, practice, and then practice some more. When you’re done with your PowerPoint, go through it with friends and colleagues to see if you need to add (or delete excessive) information. Double and triple check for typos and errors. Know the presentation inside and out, so when you’re in front of your audience, you’ll feel confident and comfortable.

How to Present a Research Paper

If your PowerPoint presentation is solid, and you’ve practiced your presentation, that’s half the battle. Follow the basic advice to keep your audience engaged and interested by making eye contact, encouraging questions, and presenting your information with enthusiasm.

We encourage you to read our articles on how to present a scientific journal article and tips on giving good scientific presentations .

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The Power of Presentation: Strategies for Presenting Your Research Like a Pro

The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Research Presentations: Proven Strategies for a Winning Delivery

Presenting your research work is an essential part of the academic and scientific process. It allows you to communicate your findings to a wider audience, receive feedback on your work, and potentially open doors for future collaborations or opportunities.

However, presenting your research can also be a challenging task, especially if you’re not used to public speaking or presenting your work to others. Here at iLovePhD , you can find out everything you need to know to prepare and present your research work.

The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Thesis Research Presentations: Proven Strategies for a Winning Delivery

7 Types of Research Presentations

There are several types of research presentations that are commonly used in academic and professional settings. Some of the most common types of research presentations are:

• Conference presentation : This type of presentation is delivered at a conference or symposium where researchers and academics share their work and ideas with a wider audience.
• Poster presentation: This type of presentation is a visual display of research findings that are typically presented at conferences or other academic events. Posters can be used to present research in a concise and visually appealing way.
• Oral presentation: This type of presentation is delivered in person, usually using visual aids such as slides or handouts. Oral presentations are often used to share research findings or to persuade an audience of a particular point of view.
• Webinar presentation: This type of presentation is delivered online, typically using video conferencing software. Webinars are a convenient way to reach a large audience and to facilitate discussion and collaboration among participants.
• Video presentation: This type of presentation is a pre-recorded video that can be shared online or shown at an event. Video presentations are a useful way to present research findings or to explain complex concepts in a visually engaging way.
• Ignite presentation: This type of presentation consists of a series of 20 slides, each displayed for 15 seconds, for a total presentation time of five minutes. Ignite presentations are designed to be fast-paced and engaging and can be used to share research findings or to pitch a new idea or project.
• Lightning talk: This type of presentation is a brief, focused presentation that typically lasts between 5 and 10 minutes. Lightning talks are often used to introduce a new concept or to provide an overview of research findings.

8 Strategies to Improve Spoken Technical English

Improving your spoken technical English can be made easy with dedication and practice. Here are some strategies that you can use to improve your spoken technical English:

• Expand Your Vocabulary: One of the best ways to improve your spoken technical English is to increase your vocabulary. You can do this by reading technical articles and books, listening to technical podcasts, and watching technical videos.
• Practice with Native Speakers: One of the best ways to improve your spoken technical English is to practice with native speakers. This will help you to become more comfortable with the language, and you will also get feedback on your pronunciation and grammar.
• Listen to Technical English: To improve your spoken technical English, it’s important to listen to others speak the language. This will help you to become familiar with the tone, rhythm, and intonation of technical English. You can listen to technical podcasts, watch technical videos, and attend technical seminars.
• Speak Slowly and Clearly: When speaking technical English, it’s important to speak slowly and clearly. This will help ensure that your message is understood and that your pronunciation is correct.
• Use Technical Vocabulary : Using technical vocabulary is important when speaking technical English. This will help you to communicate more effectively and show your understanding of technical concepts.
• Record Yourself: Recording yourself can help you to identify areas where you need to improve. You can listen to your recordings and identify areas where you need to work on your pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
• Join Technical English Groups: Joining technical English groups can be a great way to practice your spoken technical English. You can join online groups, attend meetups or conferences, and participate in technical forums.
• Seek Professional Help: Finally, if you’re struggling to improve your spoken technical English, seek professional help. A language tutor or speech coach can provide you with personalized feedback and help you to improve your spoken technical English.

11 Best Practices for a Good Presentation

iLovePhD presented you with some useful tips and guidelines on how to present your research work effectively so that you can confidently share your findings with your peers and colleagues. Presenting your research work can be done in various ways depending on the context and audience. Here are some best practices for creating and delivering effective presentations:

• Determine your audience: Consider who will be attending your presentation and what their background knowledge is. This will help you tailor your presentation to their needs and interests.
• Choose your presentation format: There are several formats to choose from such as oral presentation, poster presentation, or written report. Choose the format that best suits your research and your audience.
• Create an outline: Develop an outline of your presentation. It will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your presentation flows logically.
• Define your objective: Define the purpose and objective of your presentation. What message do you want to convey? Once you have a clear objective in mind, you can structure your presentation accordingly.
• Structure your presentation: Start with an introduction that includes a brief overview of your research question, followed by the methods you used, the results you obtained, and finally, your conclusions.
• Use visual aids: Use visuals such as images, videos, and graphs to help convey your message. Visuals can help keep your audience engaged and make complex information easier to understand.
• Keep it simple: Avoid using jargon or technical terms that your audience may not understand. Keep your language simple and straightforward, and use examples and anecdotes to illustrate your points.
• Practice your delivery: Practice your presentation several times before you present it. This will help you feel more comfortable and confident, and it will help you identify any areas where you need to improve. Engage your audience: Engage your audience by asking questions, soliciting feedback, or using interactive elements such as polls or quizzes.
• Be mindful of your body language: Be aware of your body language when presenting. Make eye contact with your audience, use appropriate hand gestures, and try to avoid nervous movements such as pacing or fidgeting.
• Stay within your time limit: Be mindful of your time limit and try to stay within it. Keep your presentation focused and avoid going off on tangents.
• Close with a call to action: End your presentation with a clear call to action. What do you want your audience to do next? Encourage them to take action and follow up with you if they have any questions. This will help reinforce the main takeaways of your research for your audience.

By following these best practices, you can create and deliver effective presentations that engage your audience and help you achieve your objectives. Presenting your research work is an opportunity to share your findings and knowledge with others, so be enthusiastic and confident in your delivery.

In conclusion, presenting research work effectively is a crucial skill for researchers, students, and professionals alike.

To deliver a successful presentation, one should start with a clear and concise introduction that captures the audience’s attention, and then provide a thorough and organized overview of the research problem, methodology, and findings.

Visual aids such as graphs, charts, and images can enhance the presentation and help convey complex information effectively.

It is also important to practice the presentation beforehand, keeping in mind the audience’s background and interests, and to anticipate potential questions or challenges.

Engaging with the audience, answering questions confidently, and being open to feedback can help create a positive impression and facilitate knowledge exchange.

Overall, a well-structured, engaging, and informative presentation can help disseminate research findings, establish credibility, and facilitate collaborations and partnerships in the scientific community.

Also Read: Tips to Prepare PhD viva-voce Presentation Slides

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Research Guide

Chapter 7 presenting your findings.

Now that you have worked so hard in your project, how to ensure that you can communicate your findings in an effective and efficient way? In this section, I will introduce a few tips that could help you prepare your slides and preparing for your final presentation.

7.1 Sections of the Presentation

When preparing your slides, you need to ensure that you have a clear roadmap. You have a limited time to explain the context of your study, your results, and the main takeaways. Thus, you need to be organized and efficient when deciding what material will be included in the slides.

You need to ensure that your presentation contains the following sections:

• Motivation : Why did you choose your topic? What is the bigger question?
• Research question : Needs to be clear and concise. Include secondary questions, if available, but be clear about what is your research question.
• Literature Review : How does your paper fit in the overall literature? What are your contributions?
• Context : Give an overview of the issue and the population/countries that you analyzed
• Study Characteristics : This section is key, as it needs to include your model, identification strategy, and introduce your data (sources, summary statistics, etc.).
• Results : In this section, you need to answer your research question(s). Include tables that are readable.
• Additional analysis : Here, include any additional information that your public needs to know. For instance, did you try different specifications? did you find an obstacle (i.e. your data is very noisy, the sample is very small, something else) that may bias your results or create some issues in your analysis? Tell your audience! No research project is perfect, but you need to be clear about the imperfections of your project.
• Conclusion : Be repetitive! What was your research question? How did you answer it? What did you find? What is next in this topic?

7.2 How to prepare your slides

When preparing your slides, remember that humans have a limited capacity to pay attention. If you want to convey your convey your message in an effective way, you need to ensure that the message is simple and that you keep your audience attention. Here are some strategies that you may want to follow:

• Have a clear roadmap at the beginning of the presentation. Tell your audience what to expect.
• Number your slides. This will help you and your audience to know where you are in your analysis.
• Ensure that each slide has a purpose
• Ensure that each slide is connected to your key point.
• Make just one argument per slide
• State the objective of each slide in the headline
• Use bullet points. Do not include more than one sentence per bullet point.
• Choose a simple background.
• If you want to direct your audience attention to a specific point, make it more attractive (using a different font color)
• Each slide needs to have a similar structure (going from the general to the particular detauls).
• Use images/graphs when possible. Ensure that the axes for the graphs are clear.
• Use a large font for your tables. Keep them as simple as possible.
• If you can say it with an image, choose it over a table.
• Have an Appendix with slides that address potential questions.

7.3 How to prepare your presentation

One of the main constraints of having simple presentations is that you cannot rely on them and read them. Instead, you need to have extra notes and memorize them to explain things beyond what is on your slides. The following are some suggestions on how to ensure you communicate effectively during your presentation.

• Practice, practice, practice!
• Keep the right volume (practice will help you with that)
• Be journalistic about your presentation. Indicate what you want to say, then say it.
• Ensure that your audience knows where you are going
• Avoid passive voice.
• Be consistent with the terms you are using. You do not want to confuse your audience, even if using synonyms.
• Face your audience and keep an eye contact.
• Do not try reading your slides
• Ensure that your audience is focused on what you are presenting and there are no other distractions that you can control.
• Do not rush your presentation. Speak calmly and controlled.
• Be comprehensive when answering questions. Avoid yes/no answers. Instead, rephrase question (to ensure you are answering the right question), then give a short answer, then develop.
• If you lose track, do not panick. Go back a little bit or ask your audience for assistance.
• Again, practice is the secret.

You have worked so hard in your final project, and the presentation is your opportunity to share that work with the rest of the world. Use this opportunity to shine and enjoy it.

Since this is the first iteration of the Guide, I expect that there are going to be multiple typos and structure issues. Please feel free to let me know, and I will correct accordingly. ↩︎

Note that you would still need to refine some of the good questions even more. ↩︎

Presenting papers

You’ll present one or more research papers during class. Critically reading research papers is a skill! Here are some tips, ideas, and techniques to help learn it.

Reading the paper

This may be the first time you’re reading research papers, or even the first time you’re reading research papers in the systems area. Welcome!

Research papers are parts of a big conversation among the researchers and practitioners that make up the “research community.” Many papers are best understood as reactions to, and participants in, that conversation, and the ongoing determination of the research community’s values. An important, and often implicit, part of paper reading is learning those values. It’s hard to pick this up in advance. Instead, you just have to dive in and read papers critically. An understanding of the community will come.

The style of most papers is dense (and often just plain bad). But you can get through the density by reading critically.

Don’t try to understand every word of the paper on first read. Instead, try to pick up the most important points by skimming. Then go back in more depth.

On the first read, focus on the paper’s overall goals and techniques. First, read to develop a paper summary in your own words. Here are four questions the summary should answer:

• What is the goal of the paper’s research area? The goal can be something nebulous, like “improving security,” or something concrete, like “improving network utilization.” But in systems the goal usually ties back to something like “spending less money” or “handling more data.” Usually this comes out in the first couple sentences of the abstract and in the introduction. Often those sentences are clichés.
• What is the technical problem the paper is trying to solve? The problem is usually an obstacle to achieving the goal, and it should be concrete; for instance, “Big Data computations in the cloud are delayed too much by stragglers (nodes that complete their portion of the computation much slower than other nodes).” This also is found in the abstract or introduction, but it may be best explained in the conclusion section.
• What is the technical contribution that the paper uses to solve this problem? Is this contribution a new idea, or a combination of old ideas? A good introduction will present the contribution(s), but sometimes you have to dig deeper—into a section called “Design” or “Architecture”—to get to the technical meat.
• What is the evidence that proves the contribution actually addresses the problem? This is presented in depth in the “Evaluation” section, and should be previewed in the abstract and introduction.

Once you have answers to those questions, you can already think critically.

• How far apart are the goal and the problem? For instance, many security papers describe a large, society-level goal, using terms like “Security breaches are estimated to cost US commerce $10B a year,” but then actually address just a tiny slice of that overall goal.
• How much of the problem does the contribution address? Could you have achieved similar improvements using a simpler technique?
• How interesting is the technical contribution on its own? Sometimes a paper is interesting because it identifies and solves a new technical problem, even though its solution techniques seem obvious in retrospect. Sometimes a paper is interesting because it uses new solution techniques, even though those techniques address a problem that’s more easily solved in another way. The best papers do both, but that’s rare. The worst papers do neither.
• How much evidence is provided that the contribution works? Are the experiments well chosen?
• Does the paper actually advance the state of the art? How does it compare to related work ? This is usually addressed in a separate “Related Work” section, which might come second (I prefer it there) or right before the conclusion.

With thoughts about these questions in mind, you can now go back and read the paper in more depth.

• The paper will usually present many techniques and ideas. Which of them seem most important, and which are filler?
• Are there any cool tricks and techniques that you could use in your own systems?
• What would you do differently?

The aim of reading papers critically is not to prove the paper wrong. Always remember that the authors spent much more time working on the paper than you did, and authors rarely lie. (But it does happen!) Instead, read actively , as if you’re in dialogue with the paper. Ask the paper tough questions, and then read to get the responses. If you don’t get a response, that is a flaw in the paper; then ask, is that flaw technical or in the exposition?

Presenting the paper

First share the summary with us. Assume we’ve read the paper, but that we need to be reminded of its contents. Use slides if you need to. (In computer systems most papers are presented at conferences, and the authors’ slides from the conference are often available on the Web. Use them!) Then talk about its coolest ideas and its biggest gaps. Share with us what you might have done differently. Your critical thinking will engage the class more and help us all to better understand the work.

Presenting someone else’s research paper isn’t too different from presenting your own. Check out How to give a good research talk by Simon Peyton-Jones et al.

There’s some advice online about how to present at a journal club. Much of this advice applies specifically to medical papers, but some is good general advice. Some tips from Johns Hopkins

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Presenting your research effectively

Here's how to home in on your key message and present it in a clear, engaging way.

By Richard Chambers

Print version: page 28

For many graduate students, presenting their research is a daunting task. How do you cram your months' worth of data collection and analysis into a 10- to 20-minute presentation? Deciding what information to include and how to organize it can be more stressful than actually giving the presentation.

But anyone filled with presentation anxiety should remember that the difficult part is already over once it comes time to present. No one knows your research better than you, and those who come to listen to your presentation are probably there because they are interested in your research, not because they are required to be there. Taking this perspective can make presenting your research much less stressful because the focus of the task is no longer to engage an uninterested audience: It is to keep an already interested audience engaged.

Here are some suggestions for constructing a presentation using various multimedia tools, such as PowerPoint, Keynote and Prezi.

Planning: What should be included?

First, it is always important to refer to the APA Publication Manual as well as to your specific conference's guidelines. Second, before you start building any presentation, consider your audience. Will it be scientists who are familiar with your research area or will it be people who may never have had a class in psychology? Based on the answer, you will want to make sure you structure your presentation with the appropriate depth and terminology.

Determining the main messages you want to communicate in your presentation is often the next step in organizing your thoughts. As you create your presentation, sometimes it is difficult to determine whether a particular piece of information is important or necessary. Consider the value added by each piece of content as you determine whether to include it or not. Often, the background and theory for your research must be presented concisely so that you have time to present your study and findings. Ten minutes is not much time, so emphasize the main points so that your audience has a clear understanding of your take-home messages. When you start planning, writing out content on individual Post-it Notes can be a great way to visually organize your thoughts and, ultimately, your presentation.

Building slides: The do's and don'ts

After you've decided on your content, the real fun begins: designing slides. There are no rules for how to build a slide, but here are a few suggestions to keep in mind:

Tell your story simply

Remember that you want to tell a story, not lecture people. The oral presentation as a whole should be the work of art, and the slides should be supplementary to the story you are trying to convey. When laying out content and designing slides, remember that less is more. Having more slides with less content on each will help keep your audience focused more on what you are saying and prevent them from staring blankly at your slides.

Consider the billboard

Marketers try to use only three seconds' worth of content, the same amount of time a driver has to view a billboard. Your audience may not be driving cars, but you want them to stay engaged with your story, and this makes the three-seconds rule a good one to apply when building a slide. If it takes more than three seconds to read the slide, consider revising it.

Keep it clean

White space will help the slide appear cleaner and more aesthetically appealing. It is important to note that white space may not always be white. Each presentation should have its own color palette that consists of approximately three complementary colors. Try not to use more than three colors, and be aware of the emotion certain colors may evoke. For example, blue is the color of the sky and the ocean and is typically a soothing and relaxing color; red, on the other hand, is a bold, passionate color that may evoke more aggressive feelings.

Don't get too lively

Animation is another customizable option of presentations, but it may not be worth the effort. Animation can be distracting, making it difficult for the audience to stay with the story being told. When in doubt about animation, remember to ask what value is being added. There may be times when you really want to add emphasis to a specific word or phrase. If this is the case, and you deem it necessary, animation may be an acceptable choice. For example, the "grow" feature may be useful for adding emphasis to a word or phrase.

It is important to have highly readable slides with good contrast between the words and background. Choose a font that is easy to read, and be aware that each font has a different personality and sends a different message. The personality of some fonts may even be considered inappropriate for certain settings. For example, the font Comic Sans is a "lighter" font and would most likely not be a wise choice for a presentation at a conference.

Other important considerations include typesetting and the spacing of letters, words and lines. These all affect readability but can also be used as a way to add emphasis. Sometimes you may feel a need to use bullet points. Do not. Typesetting can replace bullet points and add extra distinction to each line of content without cluttering the slide with bullets. For example, consider bolding and increasing the font size of parent lines and indenting child lines.

If you find that your slides contain mainly words, remember that a picture, chart or diagram can augment the text. People often depend on vision as their primary sense; this means your audience has a potential preference for visual information other than just words on the screen.

Presenting data: Think about what kind of graph is best

When you share information, specifically about data, bar graphs should usually be your first choice, with scatter plots a close second because they are simple. The same suggestion about having more slides with less content on each applies to charts and graphs. If the graph or chart will look cleaner as two graphs instead of one, use two graphs.

Accuracy of a graph is, of course, important. For example, it is easy to convey the wrong message simply by altering the range of the y-axis. A restricted y-axis can make the differences between groups look much larger than they actually are to those audience members who do not look closely. It is always important to be ethical and to ensure that information, especially about data, is not being misrepresented. Strive to make charts and graphs easily interpretable, and try not to clutter them with additional numbers.

Building presentations does not need to be a challenge. Presenting should be an opportunity to share with others something very important to you — your research. These suggestions can be used as a starting point to guide the development of future research presentations and to help relieve some of the stress surrounding them.

Richard Chambers is the industrial/organizational psychology representative on the APA Student Science Council. He is a doctoral student at Louisiana Tech University. 

Letters to the Editor

• Chapter Seven: Presenting Your Results

This chapter serves as the culmination of the previous chapters, in that it focuses on how to present the results of one's study, regardless of the choice made among the three methods. Writing in academics has a form and style that you will want to apply not only to report your own research, but also to enhance your skills at reading original research published in academic journals. Beyond the basic academic style of report writing, there are specific, often unwritten assumptions about how quantitative, qualitative, and critical/rhetorical studies should be organized and the information they should contain. This chapter discusses how to present your results in writing, how to write accessibly, how to visualize data, and how to present your results in person.  

• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Understanding the distinctions among research methods
• Chapter Three: Ethical research, writing, and creative work
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 1)
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 2 - Doing Your Study)
• Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods (Part 3 - Making Sense of Your Study)
• Chapter Five: Qualitative Methods (Part 1)
• Chapter Five: Qualitative Data (Part 2)
• Chapter Six: Critical / Rhetorical Methods (Part 1)
• Chapter Six: Critical / Rhetorical Methods (Part 2)

Written Presentation of Results

Once you've gone through the process of doing communication research – using a quantitative, qualitative, or critical/rhetorical methodological approach – the final step is to  communicate  it.

The major style manuals (the APA Manual, the MLA Handbook, and Turabian) are very helpful in documenting the structure of writing a study, and are highly recommended for consultation. But, no matter what style manual you may use, there are some common elements to the structure of an academic communication research paper.

Title Page :

This is simple: Your Paper's Title, Your Name, Your Institutional Affiliation (e.g., University), and the Date, each on separate lines, centered on the page. Try to make your title both descriptive (i.e., it gives the reader an idea what the study is about) and interesting (i.e., it is catchy enough to get one's attention).

For example, the title, "The uncritical idealization of a compensated psychopath character in a popular book series," would not be an inaccurate title for a published study, but it is rather vague and exceedingly boring. That study's author fortunately chose the title, "A boyfriend to die for: Edward Cullen as compensated psychopath in Stephanie Meyer's  Twilight ," which is more precisely descriptive, and much more interesting (Merskin, 2011). The use of the colon in academic titles can help authors accomplish both objectives: a catchy but relevant phrase, followed by a more clear explanation of the article's topic.

In some instances, you might be asked to write an abstract, which is a summary of your paper that can range in length from 75 to 250 words. If it is a published paper, it is useful to include key search terms in this brief description of the paper (the title may already have a few of these terms as well). Although this may be the last thing your write, make it one of the best things you write, because this may be the first thing your audience reads about the paper (and may be the only thing read if it is written badly). Summarize the problem/research question, your methodological approach, your results and conclusions, and the significance of the paper in the abstract.

Quantitative and qualitative studies will most typically use the rest of the section titles noted below. Critical/rhetorical studies will include many of the same steps, but will often have different headings. For example, a critical/rhetorical paper will have an introduction, definition of terms, and literature review, followed by an analysis (often divided into sections by areas of investigation) and ending with a conclusion/implications section. Because critical/rhetorical research is much more descriptive, the subheadings in such a paper are often times not generic subheads like "literature review," but instead descriptive subheadings that apply to the topic at hand, as seen in the schematic below. Because many journals expect the article to follow typical research paper headings of introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion, we discuss these sections briefly next.

Introduction:

As you read social scientific journals (see chapter 1 for examples), you will find that they tend to get into the research question quickly and succinctly. Journal articles from the humanities tradition tend to be more descriptive in the introduction. But, in either case, it is good to begin with some kind of brief anecdote that gets the reader engaged in your work and lets the reader understand why this is an interesting topic. From that point, state your research question, define the problem (see Chapter One) with an overview of what we do and don't know, and finally state what you will do, or what you want to find out. The introduction thus builds the case for your topic, and is the beginning of building your argument, as we noted in chapter 1.

By the end of the Introduction, the reader should know what your topic is, why it is a significant communication topic, and why it is necessary that you investigate it (e.g., it could be there is gap in literature, you will conduct valuable exploratory research, or you will provide a new model for solving some professional or social problem).

Literature Review:

The literature review summarizes and organizes the relevant books, articles, and other research in this area. It sets up both quantitative and qualitative studies, showing the need for the study. For critical/rhetorical research, the literature review often incorporates the description of the historical context and heuristic vocabulary, with key terms defined in this section of the paper. For more detail on writing a literature review, see Appendix 1.

The methods of your paper are the processes that govern your research, where the researcher explains what s/he did to solve the problem. As you have seen throughout this book, in communication studies, there are a number of different types of research methods. For example, in quantitative research, one might conduct surveys, experiments, or content analysis. In qualitative research, one might instead use interviews and observations. Critical/rhetorical studies methods are more about the interpretation of texts or the study of popular culture as communication. In creative communication research, the method may be an interpretive performance studies or filmmaking. Other methods used sometimes alone, or in combination with other methods, include legal research, historical research, and political economy research.

In quantitative and qualitative research papers, the methods will be most likely described according to the APA manual standards. At the very least, the methods will include a description of participants, data collection, and data analysis, with specific details on each of these elements. For example, in an experiment, the researcher will describe the number of participants, the materials used, the design of the experiment, the procedure of the experiment, and what statistics will be used to address the hypotheses/research questions.

Critical/rhetorical researchers rarely have a specific section called "methods," as opposed to quantitative and qualitative researchers, but rather demonstrate the method they use for analysis throughout the writing of their piece.

Helping your reader understand the methods you used for your study is important not only for your own study's credibility, but also for possible replication of your study by other researchers. A good guideline to keep in mind is  transparency . You want to be as clear as possible in describing the decisions you made in designing your study, gathering and analyzing your data so that the reader can retrace your steps and understand how you came to the conclusions you formed. A research study can be very good, but if it is not clearly described so that others can see how the results were determined or obtained, then the quality of the study and its potential contributions are lost.

After you completed your study, your findings will be listed in the results section. Particularly in a quantitative study, the results section is for revisiting your hypotheses and reporting whether or not your results supported them, and the statistical significance of the results. Whether your study supported or contradicted your hypotheses, it's always helpful to fully report what your results were. The researcher usually organizes the results of his/her results section by research question or hypothesis, stating the results for each one, using statistics to show how the research question or hypothesis was answered in the study.

The qualitative results section also may be organized by research question, but usually is organized by themes which emerged from the data collected. The researcher provides rich details from her/his observations and interviews, with detailed quotations provided to illustrate the themes identified. Sometimes the results section is combined with the discussion section.

Critical/rhetorical researchers would include their analysis often with different subheadings in what would be considered a "results" section, yet not labeled specifically this way.

Discussion:

In the discussion section, the researcher gives an appraisal of the results. Here is where the researcher considers the results, particularly in light of the literature review, and explains what the findings mean. If the results confirmed or corresponded with the findings of other literature, then that should be stated. If the results didn't support the findings of previous studies, then the researcher should develop an explanation of why the study turned out this way. Sometimes, this section is called a "conclusion" by researchers.

References:

In this section, all of the literature cited in the text should have full references in alphabetical order. Appendices: Appendix material includes items like questionnaires used in the study, photographs, documents, etc. An alphabetical letter is assigned for each piece (e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B), with a second line of title describing what the appendix contains (e.g. Participant Informed Consent, or  New York Times  Speech Coverage). They should be organized consistently with the order in which they are referenced in the text of the paper. The page numbers for appendices are consecutive with the paper and reference list.

Tables/Figures:

Tables and figures are referenced in the text, but included at the end of the study and numbered consecutively. (Check with your professor; some like to have tables and figures inserted within the paper's main text.) Tables generally are data in a table format, whereas figures are diagrams (such as a pie chart) and drawings (such as a flow chart).

Accessible Writing

As you may have noticed, academic writing does have a language (e.g., words like heuristic vocabulary and hypotheses) and style (e.g., literature reviews) all its own. It is important to engage in that language and style, and understand how to use it to  communicate effectively in an academic context . Yet, it is also important to remember that your analyses and findings should also be written to be accessible. Writers should avoid excessive jargon, or—even worse—deploying jargon to mask an incomplete understanding of a topic.

The scourge of excessive jargon in academic writing was the target of a famous hoax in 1996. A New York University physics professor submitted an article, " Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity ," to a special issue of the academic journal  Social Text  devoted to science and postmodernism. The article was designed to point out how dense academic jargon can sometimes mask sloppy thinking. As the professor, Alan Sokal, had expected, the article was published. One sample sentence from the article reads:

It has thus become increasingly apparent that physical "reality", no less than social "reality", is at bottom a social and linguistic construct; that scientific "knowledge", far from being objective, reflects and encodes the dominant ideologies and power relations of the culture that produced it; that the truth claims of science are inherently theory-laden and self-referential; and consequently, that the discourse of the scientific community, for all its undeniable value, cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counter-hegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities. (Sokal, 1996. pp. 217-218)

According to the journal's editor, about six reviewers had read the article but didn't suspect that it was phony. A public debate ensued after Sokal revealed his hoax. Sokal said he worried that jargon and intellectual fads cause academics to lose contact with the real world and "undermine the prospect for progressive social critique" ( Scott, 1996 ). The APA Manual recommends to avoid using technical vocabulary where it is not needed or relevant or if the technical language is overused, thus becoming jargon. In short, the APA argues that "scientific jargon...grates on the reader, encumbers the communication of information, and wastes space" (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 68).

Data Visualization

Images and words have long existed on the printed page of manuscripts, yet, until recently, relatively few researchers possessed the resources to effectively combine images combined with words (Tufte, 1990, 1983). Communication scholars are only now becoming aware of this dimension in research as computer technologies have made it possible for many people to produce and publish multimedia presentations.

Although visuals may seem to be anathema to the primacy of the written word in research, they are a legitimate way, and at times the best way, to present ideas. Visual scholar Lester Faigley et al. (2004) explains how data visualizations have become part of our daily lives:

Visualizations can shed light on research as well. London-based David McCandless specializes in visualizing interesting research questions, or in his words "the questions I wanted answering" (2009, p. 7). His images include a graph of the  peak times of the year for breakups  (based on Facebook status updates), a  radiation dosage chart , and some  experiments with the Google Ngram Viewer , which charts the appearance of keywords in millions of books over hundreds of years.

The  public domain image  below creatively maps U.S. Census data of the outflow of people from California to other states between 1995 and 2000.

Visualizing one's research is possible in multiple ways. A simple technology, for example, is to enter data into a spreadsheet such as Excel, and select  Charts  or  SmartArt  to generate graphics. A number of free web tools can also transform raw data into useful charts and graphs.  Many Eyes , an open source data visualization tool (sponsored by IBM Research), says its goal "is to 'democratize' visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis" (IBM, 2011). Another tool,  Soundslides , enables users to import images and audio to create a photographic slideshow, while the program handles all of the background code. Other tools, often open source and free, can help visual academic research into interactive maps; interactive, image-based timelines; interactive charts; and simple 2-D and 3-D animations. Adobe Creative Suite (which includes popular software like Photoshop) is available on most computers at universities, but open source alternatives exist as well.  Gimp  is comparable to Photoshop, and it is free and relatively easy to use.

One online performance studies journal,  Liminalities , is an excellent example of how "research" can be more than just printed words. In each issue, traditional academic essays and book reviews are often supported photographs, while other parts of an issue can include video, audio, and multimedia contributions. The journal, founded in 2005, treats performance itself as a methodology, and accepts contribution in html, mp3, Quicktime, and Flash formats.

For communication researchers, there is also a vast array of visual digital archives available online. Many of these archives are located at colleges and universities around the world, where digital librarians are spearheading a massive effort to make information—print, audio, visual, and graphic—available to the public as part of a global information commons. For example, the University of Iowa has a considerable digital archive including historical photos documenting American railroads and a database of images related to geoscience. The University of Northern Iowa has a growing Special Collections Unit that includes digital images of every UNI Yearbook between 1905 and 1923 and audio files of UNI jazz band performances. Researchers at he University of Michigan developed  OAIster , a rich database that has joined thousands of digital archives in one searchable interface. Indeed, virtually every academic library is now digitizing all types of media, not just texts, and making them available for public viewing and, when possible, for use in presenting research. In addition to academic collections, the  Library of Congress  and the  National Archives  offer an ever-expanding range of downloadable media; commercial, user-generated databases such as Flickr, Buzznet, YouTube and Google Video offer a rich resource of images that are often free of copyright constraints (see Chapter 3 about Creative Commons licenses) and nonprofit endeavors, such as the  Internet Archive , contain a formidable collection of moving images, still photographs, audio files (including concert recordings), and open source software.

Presenting your Work in Person

As Communication students, it's expected that you are not only able to communicate your research project in written form but also in person.

Before you do any oral presentation, it's good to have a brief "pitch" ready for anyone who asks you about your research. The pitch is routine in Hollywood: a screenwriter has just a few minutes to present an idea to a producer. Although your pitch will be more sophisticated than, say, " Snakes on a Plane " (which unfortunately was made into a movie), you should in just a few lines be able to explain the gist of your research to anyone who asks. Developing this concise description, you will have some practice in distilling what might be a complicated topic into one others can quickly grasp.

Oral presentation

In most oral presentations of research, whether at the end of a semester, or at a research symposium or conference, you will likely have just 10 to 20 minutes. This is probably not enough time to read the entire paper aloud, which is not what you should do anyway if you want people to really listen (although, unfortunately some make this mistake). Instead, the point of the presentation should be to present your research in an interesting manner so the listeners will want to read the whole thing. In the presentation, spend the least amount of time on the literature review (a very brief summary will suffice) and the most on your own original contribution. In fact, you may tell your audience that you are only presenting on one portion of the paper, and that you would be happy to talk more about your research and findings in the question and answer session that typically follows. Consider your presentation the beginning of a dialogue between you and the audience. Your tone shouldn't be "I have found everything important there is to find, and I will cram as much as I can into this presentation," but instead "I found some things you will find interesting, but I realize there is more to find."

Turabian (2007) has a helpful chapter on presenting research. Most important, she emphasizes, is to remember that your audience members are listeners, not readers. Thus, recall the lessons on speech making in your college oral communication class. Give an introduction, tell them what the problem is, and map out what you will present to them. Organize your findings into a few points, and don't get bogged down in minutiae. (The minutiae are for readers to find if they wish, not for listeners to struggle through.) PowerPoint slides are acceptable, but don't read them. Instead, create an outline of a few main points, and practice your presentation.

Turabian  suggests an introduction of not more than three minutes, which should include these elements:

• The research topic you will address (not more than a minute).
• Your research question (30 seconds or less)
• An answer to "so what?" – explaining the relevance of your research (30 seconds)
• Your claim, or argument (30 seconds or less)
• The map of your presentation structure (30 seconds or less)

As Turabian (2007) suggests, "Rehearse your introduction, not only to get it right, but to be able to look your audience in the eye as you give it. You can look down at notes later" (p. 125).

Poster presentation

In some symposiums and conferences, you may be asked to present at a "poster" session. Instead of presenting on a panel of 4-5 people to an audience, a poster presenter is with others in a large hall or room, and talks one-on-one with visitors who look at the visual poster display of the research. As in an oral presentation, a poster highlights just the main point of the paper. Then, if visitors have questions, the author can informally discuss her/his findings.

To attract attention, poster presentations need to be nicely designed, or in the words of an advertising professor who schedules poster sessions at conferences, "be big, bold, and brief" ( Broyles , 2011). Large type (at least 18 pt.), graphics, tables, and photos are recommended.

A poster presentation session at a conference, by David Eppstein (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 ( www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 )], via Wikimedia Commons]

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has a  template for making an effective poster presentation . Many universities, copy shops, and Internet services also have large-scale printers, to print full-color research poster designs that can be rolled up and transported in a tube.

Judging Others' Research

After taking this course, you should have a basic knowledge of research methods. There will still be some things that may mystify you as a reader of other's research. For example, you may not be able to interpret the coefficients for statistical significance, or make sense of a complex structural equation. Some specialized vocabulary may still be difficult.

But, you should understand how to critically review research. For example, imagine you have been asked to do a blind (i.e., the author's identity is concealed) "peer review" of communication research for acceptance to a conference, or publication in an academic journal. For most  conferences  and  journals , submissions are made online, where editors can manage the flow and assign reviews to papers. The evaluations reviewers make are based on the same things that we have covered in this book. For example, the conference for the AEJMC ask reviewers to consider (on a five-point scale, from Excellent to Poor) a number of familiar research dimensions, including the paper's clarity of purpose, literature review, clarity of research method, appropriateness of research method, evidence presented clearly, evidence supportive of conclusions, general writing and organization, and the significance of the contribution to the field.

Beyond academia, it is likely you will more frequently apply the lessons of research methods as a critical consumer of news, politics, and everyday life. Just because some expert cites a number or presents a conclusion doesn't mean it's automatically true. John Allen Paulos, in his book  A Mathematician reads the newspaper , suggests some basic questions we can ask. "If statistics were presented, how were they obtained? How confident can we be of them? Were they derived from a random sample or from a collection of anecdotes? Does the correlation suggest a causal relationship, or is it merely a coincidence?" (1997, p. 201).

Through the study of research methods, we have begun to build a critical vocabulary and understanding to ask good questions when others present "knowledge." For example, if Candidate X won a straw poll in Iowa, does that mean she'll get her party's nomination? If Candidate Y wins an open primary in New Hampshire, does that mean he'll be the next president? If Candidate Z sheds a tear, does it matter what the context is, or whether that candidate is a man or a woman? What we learn in research methods about validity, reliability, sampling, variables, research participants, epistemology, grounded theory, and rhetoric, we can consider whether the "knowledge" that is presented in the news is a verifiable fact, a sound argument, or just conjecture.

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Broyles, S. (2011). "About poster sessions." AEJMC.  http://www.aejmc.org/home/2013/01/about-poster-sessions/ .

Faigley, L., George, D., Palchik, A., Selfe, C. (2004).  Picturing texts . New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

IBM (2011). Overview of Many Eyes.  http://www.research.ibm.com/social/projects_manyeyes.shtml .

McCandless, D. (2009).  The visual miscellaneum . New York: Collins Design.

Merskin, D. (2011). A boyfriend to die for: Edward Cullen as compensated psychopath in Stephanie Meyer's  Twilight. Journal of Communication Inquiry  35: 157-178. doi:10.1177/0196859911402992

Paulos, J. A. (1997).  A mathematician reads the newspaper . New York: Anchor.

Scott, J. (1996, May 18). Postmodern gravity deconstructed, slyly.  New York Times , http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/15/specials/sokal-text.html .

Sokal, A. (1996). Transgressing the boundaries: towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity.  Social Text  46/47, 217-252.

Tufte, E. R. (1990).  Envisioning information . Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Tufte, E. R. (1983).  The visual display of quantitative information . Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Turabian, Kate L. (2007).  A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style guide for students and researchers  (7th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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• Research paper

How to Write a Research Paper | A Beginner's Guide

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays , but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

This step-by-step guide takes you through the entire writing process, from understanding your assignment to proofreading your final draft.

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Table of contents

Understand the assignment, choose a research paper topic, conduct preliminary research, develop a thesis statement, create a research paper outline, write a first draft of the research paper, write the introduction, write a compelling body of text, write the conclusion, the second draft, the revision process, research paper checklist, free lecture slides.

Completing a research paper successfully means accomplishing the specific tasks set out for you. Before you start, make sure you thoroughly understanding the assignment task sheet:

• Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.
• Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
• Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write, and edit.

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There are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, from brainstorming with pen and paper to talking it through with a fellow student or professor.

You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

You can also gain inspiration from other research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, m eets the criteria of your assignment, and i s possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific:

• A paper following the chronology of World War II would not be original or specific enough.
• A paper on the experience of Danish citizens living close to the German border during World War II would be specific and could be original enough.

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources , including journals, books, and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything glaring.

Do not only verify the ideas you have in mind, but look for sources that contradict your point of view.

• Is there anything people seem to overlook in the sources you research?
• Are there any heated debates you can address?
• Do you have a unique take on your topic?
• Have there been some recent developments that build on the extant research?

In this stage, you might find it helpful to formulate some research questions to help guide you. To write research questions, try to finish the following sentence: “I want to know how/what/why…”

A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two, make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis, and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments, and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

A structure outline can help make the writing process much more efficient, so it’s worth dedicating some time to create one.

Your first draft won’t be perfect — you can polish later on. Your priorities at this stage are as follows:

• Maintaining forward momentum — write now, perfect later.
• Paying attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.
• Expressing your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

You do not need to start by writing the introduction. Begin where it feels most natural for you — some prefer to finish the most difficult sections first, while others choose to start with the easiest part. If you created an outline, use it as a map while you work.

Do not delete large sections of text. If you begin to dislike something you have written or find it doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, but don’t lose it completely — you never know if it might come in useful later.

Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

Example paragraph

George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” has had an enduring impact on thought about the relationship between politics and language. This impact is particularly obvious in light of the various critical review articles that have recently referenced the essay. For example, consider Mark Falcoff’s 2009 article in The National Review Online, “The Perversion of Language; or, Orwell Revisited,” in which he analyzes several common words (“activist,” “civil-rights leader,” “diversity,” and more). Falcoff’s close analysis of the ambiguity built into political language intentionally mirrors Orwell’s own point-by-point analysis of the political language of his day. Even 63 years after its publication, Orwell’s essay is emulated by contemporary thinkers.

Citing sources

It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism . Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from.

You can use our free citation generators to automatically create citations and save your reference list as you go.

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The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? After finishing the introduction, the reader should know what the paper is about, why it is worth reading, and how you’ll build your arguments.

What? Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

Why? This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

How? To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. However, remember that the outline is only a guide and, when writing, you can be flexible with the order in which the information and arguments are presented.

One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences . Check:

• topic sentences against the thesis statement;
• topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;
• and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You might also discuss the more general consequences of the argument, outline what the paper offers to future students of the topic, and suggest any questions the paper’s argument raises but cannot or does not try to answer.

You should not :

• Offer new arguments or essential information
• Take up any more space than necessary
• Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (e.g. “In conclusion”)

There are four main considerations when it comes to the second draft.

• Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.
• Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.
• Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.
• If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

The goal during the revision and proofreading process is to ensure you have completed all the necessary tasks and that the paper is as well-articulated as possible. You can speed up the proofreading process by using the AI proofreader .

Global concerns

• Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.
• Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.
• Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Fine-grained details

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

• each sentence helps support the topic sentence.
• no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.
• all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure , grammatical errors, and formatting . Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words, and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings .

Finally, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted according to the rules of the citation style you are using. For example, you might need to include an MLA heading  or create an APA title page .

Scribbr’s professional editors can help with the revision process with our award-winning proofreading services.

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Checklist: Research paper

I have followed all instructions in the assignment sheet.

My introduction presents my topic in an engaging way and provides necessary background information.

My introduction presents a clear, focused research problem and/or thesis statement .

My paper is logically organized using paragraphs and (if relevant) section headings .

Each paragraph is clearly focused on one central idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .

Each paragraph is relevant to my research problem or thesis statement.

I have used appropriate transitions  to clarify the connections between sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

My conclusion provides a concise answer to the research question or emphasizes how the thesis has been supported.

My conclusion shows how my research has contributed to knowledge or understanding of my topic.

My conclusion does not present any new points or information essential to my argument.

I have provided an in-text citation every time I refer to ideas or information from a source.

I have included a reference list at the end of my paper, consistently formatted according to a specific citation style .

I have thoroughly revised my paper and addressed any feedback from my professor or supervisor.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (page numbers, headers, spacing, etc.).

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