Presentations

Presentation format:

Each student will present two papers over the course of the semester. Plan and practice each presentation, aiming for approximately 60 minutes to cover the paper if there’s only one presentation that day or 30 minutes if there are two presentations, thus allowing about 15 minutes for discussion. Try to bring thought-provoking questions to stimulate discussion.

Your presentations will follow a “Journal Club” model. The weekly Journal Club is a feature of nearly every graduate program in life science; a student or faculty member presents a journal article of interest. The presentation of scientific research is a highly structured endeavor — students should employ the following basic format:

• Introduction: What biological question is being addressed? What background information is absolutely necessary to understand this question? Is there an hypothesis, ether explicitly stated or implicit? What were the major findings that were reported? (Note: for many types of talks, major findings would be reported later. The primary goal in presenting science is clarity, and it really helps to give away the “punch line” early!)

• Experiments: Be able to explain the experimental approach taken, and the advantages and limitations of such an approach. What types of data were collected, and how do they look? “Walk” the audience through each experiment, methodically explaining and summarizing each experiment as you proceed through this section. (Note: the presentation and evaluation of the data are the most important components of a scientific presentation. Take the time to fully understand the data and to clearly present this section of the talk. You frequently will need to seek out additional sources to understand the techniques.)

• Conclusions: What were the authors’ conclusions? Are such conclusions valid? Are there other plausible explanations for the data? What would be the logical next-step experiments? How significant is this work in defining our view of the field? (Note: this is your chance to be both critical and creative. Have fun with it!)

Using PowerPoint: In these presentations we want to focus on the science — not on a glitzy presentation. It’s fine to use just overheads and the board. If you choose to use PowerPoint, you must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Give the complete article citation on the first slide.
• Use a plain white background — do not use any of the background schemes provided by PowerPoint. The exception is for slides that contain only a photograph, especially a fluorescent micrograph — for these, use a solid black background.
• Minimize text! Most slides should just have a single figure or table (or sometimes just one panel of a multi-part figure). Don’t put the figure legend on the slide. Add your own labels if it’s not clear what’s what. Don’t crowd the figure and distract the audience from the data by listing conclusions on the data slide — use a separate slide for conclusions. Keep all-text slides to an absolute minimum! If you do use text — most likely for the background and conclusions — use short phrases with bullets, not whole sentences or paragraphs.
• Don’t use animations or effects unless they serve a purpose.

A note on sources: Use credible scientific sources — no Wikipedia (or “How Things Work” etc.)! Review articles are a good source of figures for your introduction.

Resources for giving presentations:

Never presented a journal article before?
Just like to read some tips on presentations?
Check out the following:

• Pechenik, J. 2001. “Preparing oral presentations.” Ch. 13 in A Short Guide to Writing About Biology, 5^th ed., Addison-Wesley-Longman, New York.
• “Talking Science.” A 20-minute video from The USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies & The Annenberg School for Communication. The video is available on Reserve in the Seeley Mudd library, which also has a video player that you can use.
• “Tips for a Great Presentation!” — compiled by the Fall 2003 Bio 165A class.
• “Using PowerPoint in Your Presentation” — tips for an effective PowerPoint presentation.

Evaluations:

You will need to submit an online evaluation for each student presentation (except your own). The evaluations will be linked to the schedule page.

Using the format outline as your guide for evaluation, please put your thoughtful, substantive comment in the appropriate blank for at least one thing you think the presenter did particularly well and at least one way the presenter might improve. The boxes will expand to accommodate your comments is necessary. You do not need to fill in all the blanks! You do need to have at least two thoughtful comments. Note that evaluations must be submitted by the end of Saturday following the presentation.