Overview:

Over the course of the semester each student give two presentations: (1) a detailed presentation of a single journal article and (2) an overview of the molecular mechanisms underly pathogenesis of particular bacterial disease. Here are a few guidelines for each:

Presentation 1
“Journal Club”:

Most graduate programs have a weekly “Journal Club”, in which a student or faculty member presents to the group a journal article of interest. Your first presentation is to follow this model. Although this presentation does not need to be highly polished, do plan out what your are going to say. Your presenation should take about 40-45 min, so we will have time for discussion of the paper and the general topic. Try to bring thought-provoking questions to stimulate discussion.

The most important task for the presenter is to explain the experiments and results clearly, and the presenter will frequently need to look up information that is not in the paper, for example, an explanation of a particular technique or general background on the disease.

In presenting the paper follow the following basic format:

• Introduction: What question is being addressed? What led up to this question? What background information is necessary to understand the problem? Is there an hypothesis, ether explicitly stated or implicit?

  In addition, it’s common in scientific talks to give the major findings in the introduction. The primary goal in presenting science is clarity, and most scientists think it helps to give away the “punch line” early.

• Experiments: Be able to explain the experimental approach and the advantages and limitations of such an approach. Frequently it will help to show a diagram or draw one on the board. Show each of the results tables or figures on an overhead or slide. Add your own annotation to help the audience know what’s what. “Walk” the audience through each experiment, methodically explaining the data and summarizing the conclusion. The presentation and evaluation of the data are the most important components of a scientific presentation. Take the time to fully understand the experiments and to clearly present this section of the talk.

• Conclusions: What were the authors’ conclusions? Are their 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?

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, espcially a fluorescent micrograph -- for these, use a solid black backgourn.
• Minimize text! Most slides should just be a single figure or table (or even just a part of one) -- often with your added annotation. If you do use text -- most likely for the background and conclusions -- use short phrases with bullets, not whole sentences or paragraphs. But keep those bulleted list to a minimum!
• Use a plain white background -- do not use any of the background schemes provided by PowerPoint

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.

Presentation 2
Case Study:

In your second presentation, you will give an overview of the pathogenic mechanisms of a particular disease. Unlike your first presentation, in which you cover essentially everything in a single journal article, in this presentation you will synthesize your talk from a number of sources, selecting key experiments from different articles to support interesting or important points; you will need to pick and choose. Include the following in your talk:

• Introduction: Give some basic information about the nature the pathogenic bacterium and the disease it causes. How important is the disease in the big picture? Is the disease incidence increasing? Are there aspects of the bacterium’s structure or life style that relate to it’s pathogenicity?
  
  
• Molecular basis of pathogenesis: Explain at a molecular and cellular level how the bacterium causes the disease. As you learn about the pathogenic mechanisms, ask how we know them. Locate the primary scientific references that document those findings and include key experiments and their results in your presentation and paper.
  
  
• The future: What’s forthcoming? What avenues of research are currently being pursued? What are the future prospects?

Resources for giving presentations:

Never presented a journal article before?
Just like 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. [ERes]
  
  
• “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.