Research Presentations

Know your audience

Keep in mindWho you’re talking to.They can read People tune out after 2 minutes.

What can you do?

What can you do?

Hook attention. Make eye contact. Talk more than read. Visuals.

Illustrate your idea with images and media.Show where you are in the presentations.

Don’t put all of your points up at once. They’ll read ahead and stop listening.

Preparing the presentation

Less is more. You fill in the gaps and narrate.

Use animation sparingly. Use color to emphasize some points but

don’t be excessive. Have same font and design throughout.

Slide layout - Bad

This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

Fonts - Bad

If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written

CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ

Don’t use a complicated font

Color - Good

Use font color that contrasts sharply with the background.

Blue font on white background

Use color to emphasize a point. But only use this occasionally

Color - Bad

Using a font color that does not contrast with the background color is hard to read

Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying.

Using a different color for each point is unnecessary

Same for secondary points

Trying to be creative can also be bad

Background - Good

Attractive but simple. Same background consistently throughout

your presentation.

Background – Bad

Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from

Always be consistent with the background that you use

Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible. Most large newspapers are credible.

◦ New York Times◦ Charlotte Observer◦ Washington Post

Scholarly journals are usually credible.◦ JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

Most government publications are credible. Reputable organizations are usually credible.

◦ American Cancer Society◦ World Health Organization◦ American Red Cross

Most information from colleges is credible.◦ .edu websites

How do I know if my sources are credible?

You can automatically rule out:WikipediaMyspaceGeocitiesBlogsFriendsterPersonal sites

How do I know if my sources are credible?

Ways to tell a credible internet source:Looks professional

The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4-year-old with a crayon

All or most links are working

Information offered is easy to verify The website offers links to where they found their

information The sources of their information is also credible

Credible Internet Sources

It is easy to contact the owners of the website for more information or to ask questions

The site is up to date Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent”

There are no errors The site uses proper spelling and grammar

The website is appropriate There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or

photos

Credible Internet Sources

These guidelines are not 100% When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or

librarian If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it Be careful with .com sites

All .com sites are trying to sell something, which means they are all biased in some way

Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less credible

Credible Internet Sources

Include a Bibliography

An alphabetized listing of all your sources.

Works Cited1776: The Year America was Born. Chicago: New Haven Press, 1985.

Allen, Robert C., ed. The Hopi Way. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.

Allen, Thomas B. Vanishing Wildlife of North America. Washingtion D. C.: NationalGeographic Society, 1974.

Bouchette, Ed. “Porter May Face Bengals Sunday.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 17 September 2003 <http://www.post-gazette.com>.

“Japan.” Encarta. 1998ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 1998.

“Judy Blume.” UXL Discovering Authors. Online. Student Resource Center.15 September 2003.

Kanfer, Stefan. “Heard Any Good Books Lately?” Time 21 July 1986: 64-71.

Pettingill, Olin Sewall, Jr. “Falcon and Falconry.” World Book Encyclopedia. 1980.

Ridge, Jeffrey P. “Tax Increase Promises Hard Times.” Chicago Tribune. 15 Dec. 2002 nat.ed., sec. A : 2.

Searles, Baird and, Martin Last. A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction. New York:

Facts on File, Inc., 1979.

Book Entry

Author’s last name, first name. Book Title. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.

Important: you must indent the second and third lines of any entry.

Online Encyclopedia

“Title of article.” Title of Encyclopedia. Version. <URL>. (Date you accessed the website).

Online Source

Author’s name, if known (last, first). “Title of Article.” [Online] Document date (if available).Website address (URL) (Visited: Date you accessed the website).

Image Source

Artist/Photographer’s name, if known, (last,first). “Image/Photo Title.” Image Description. Web Page Title. Update/Last Date. Date you accessed the website. Website address (URL).

Citing an Image Source

Right click on an image. Go to “properties” and copy the URL that is given.

Image Description: URL. Red or North Pyramid:

<http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/redp1.jpg >