Research Presentations

1. Research Presentations

2. Know your audience • Keep in mind • Who you’re talking to. • They can read  • People tune out after 2 minutes. • What can you do?

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 tobe creativecan alsobe bad

9. Background - Good • Attractive but simple. • Same background consistently throughout your presentation.

10. Background – Bad • Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from • Always be consistent with the background that you use

11. How do I know if my sources are credible? • 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

12. How do I know if my sources are credible? • You can automatically rule out: • Wikipedia • Myspace • Geocities • Blogs • Friendster • Personal sites

13. Credible Internet Sources • 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Include a Bibliography An alphabetized listing of all your sources.

17. Works Cited 1776: 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.: National Geographic 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.

18. 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.

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

20. 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).

21. 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).

22. 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 >