Title slide for a research presentation

Your name

McNair Scholar

As a general guideline, plan a presentation of ~15 slides in length for 12 min.

Overview

• Provide an overview of the talk (e.g., Introduction, background, methods, etc.)

• Make this a preview of what the next 14 slides will convey.

Background slides

• Provide no more than 2-4 slides summarizing the background relevant to your research

• Provide sufficient detail that individuals in other areas understand the relevance and context of your work.

• Know your audience and present your information at the appropriate level

“pretty picture slides”

• Presentations are more effective if they include graphics or photos.

• Include from 1-3 slides containing images to enhance your presentation

• Use these slides as key points in the talk for emphasis, either clustered together or scattered through the talk

Objectives slide

• Summarize the overarching objectives of your research

• Keep the focus of the objective to what specifically your research project intends to do.

Approach and/or hypotheses

• To augment the objectives, provide a slide that summarizes the approach you took to achieve your objectives.

• If appropriate, this slide can also be used to state specific hypotheses you will be testing

• Use no more than 1-2 slides

Methods or ApproachesDepending on your major

• In 2 or 3 slides (or more depending on your research), summarize the primary methods you will use to accomplish the objectives of your study.

• Examples of methods to mention include lab, field, and statistical analyses

• Provide sufficient detail to understand what the methods are, but without extraneous detail.

Results

• Given your objectives and hypotheses, use 3-5 slides to describe the results and outcomes that were derived from your research.

Implications of your work

• In 1-2 slides, describe how your study and the specific results you obtained will advance your particular field of research.

• In other words, explain why anyone should care about this particular research

FUTURE STUDIES

• This section is optional

• Describe the direction your research will go given the results you obtained….what research do you want to do from here

Acknowledgements

• Provide credit to individuals, groups, or agencies that have or will support your work

• Make special note of financial support for your research via grants, awards, etc.

Presentation Tips• Do’s

– Use contrasting colors for maximum impact• Red and green• Blue and orange• Yellow and purple• Black and white• Dark background w/ light lettering• Light background w/ dark lettering

– Indented section lettering should be lighter than top section

– Indented font should be smaller than the top

Presentation Tips• Know your audience• Keep it simple• Use fewer than 24 words per slide• Use the slides as a discussion rather than

reading it directly if you can• Practice, practice, practice• Be consistent with punctuation• Use your academic voice• Set up a binder with your outlined

presentation from the print preview

Presentation Tips

• Don’ts– Use flying lettering or distracting animation– Misspell– Use distracting backgrounds that are

irrelevant to your presentation• i.e. images of puppies and kitties unless your

research is based on puppies and kitties

– Use all CAPITAL LETTERS• Viewers will think you are yelling at them

Power Point Tools

• Inserting objects

• Drawing tools

• Images

• Video

• Smart Art Graphics

• Clip Art