Good Presentation and Research

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Good Presentation and Research

• Xiaofei Lu
• APLNG 083S
• August 28, 2008

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Agenda

• Research 101
• Presentation 101

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Research 101

• Finding a good research topic
• Research goals and motivations
• Literature review
• Research design
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Writing style

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Research topic

• A good research topic is one that is
• Novel
• Significant
• Interesting to you
• Doable given your time and resources
• A topic may come to you through
• Reading literature
• Interaction with others
• Observations and personal experience

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Research goals

• Your topic may be general
• Your goals should be
• Specific
• Significant

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Literature review

• What has been done
• What went well or wrong
• What you can learn
• How your research will differ
• Quoting authoritative literature

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Research design

• Research questions and hypotheses
• Data collection
• Survey
• Textual data
• Statistical data
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Qualitative analysis
• Quantitative analysis

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Writing style

• Understand the genre
• Research paper vs. literature paper
• Structure and language
• Follow the MLA style

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Presentation 101

• Plan, prepare, practice, present
• Elements of a good presentation
• Content
• Organization
• Packaging
• Style

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Element one Content

• Summarize the reading
• Goals and motivations
• Methods
• Findings and implications
• Conclusions
• Be concrete

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Beyond the reading

• Be critical
• Prioritize/Comment/Challenge
• Be curious
• Verify/Extend
• Be engaging
• Relate/Interact
• Be inspiring
• Solicit/Suggest

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Element two Organization

• Outline your presentation
• Title each section and slide
• Cue the audience with key phrases
• Add illustrations and graphics

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Element three Packaging

• Effective power point presentation
• Consistency
• Readability

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Consistency

• Consistency minimizes distraction
• Use a template
• Use a consistent format
• Use animation sparingly
• Title each slide clearly
• Use a set font and color scheme

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Readability

• Make it easy to read and follow
• Clear font high-contrast color
• Text size
• Keep each bullet to one line
• Use short, meaningful phrases
• Less than 6 bullets per slide

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Things to avoid

• Fancy fonts with narrow lines
• More than 2 fonts
• italics and underlines
• ALL CAPITAL LETTERS

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Element four Style

• Voice
• Body language
• Nerves and habits
• Interaction
• Personality

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Voice

• Volume
• Tone
• Pitch
• Pace
• Color

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Body language

• Eye contact
• Facial expressions
• Gestures
• Posture and body orientation

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Nerves and habits

• Relax
• You are the expert
• You have done your work
• Habits
• Uh, you know, like
• Reading off your handout/slides

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Interaction

• Proximity
• Active listening
• Answering questions

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Personality

• Be humorous
• Be energetic
• Be confident
• Be enthusiastic

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