Title (pictures or school logos are ok on the title slide as long as it is not cluttered!)

1. Title(pictures or school logos are ok on the title slide as long as it is not cluttered!) Authors Names Institution

2. First things… • Choose a background design and text color that is easy to read (plain white is boring, but don’t go overboard) • i.e.- black background and red text is not easy to read. • Make a quick outline of your presentation, either on paper or on you slide titles • Use pictures and less text! This keeps your presentation interesting. • The purpose of a PPT is to provide you with notes and your audience with an easy to understand visual. (Don’t type out your entire presentation in text on your slides and DO NOT read from them) • Use your slides as a reminder of what to talk about • You may put your school or organization logo on each slide- this is common in academic presentations.

3. Introduction • There are several different ways to begin your presentation… • Start with why you were interested in the topic • Was it for a course? • Will it apply to your career? • Why choose this topic? • An outline of what your talk will cover • General info about the topic relevance, you may know this, but your audience may not.

4. Introduction/ Review of Literature • Present the background information in this area. This should follow the same outline as your review of literature. • General to complex • Historical perspectives, theoretical concepts, or mechanisms should be first. • Use previous research to provide a rationale and set up for your study.

5. Review of Literature • Don’t go overboard with the ROL, focus on the purpose and results of previous studies • Explain how your research will enhance this existing body of knowledge. • You should build a case or argument for your study and connect the gap between previous research and your study. • Current and/or critical research should come towards the end. • Operationally define terms for your study (if necessary)

6. Purpose • List your purpose or research question and talk about your initial hypotheses.

7. Methods • Briefly describe your methods and procedures • Include all related and important points (who, what, when, where, how) • Subsections may include: subjects, instruments, procedures or test protocols, statistical tests used • Sometimes a timeline or figure can depict methods better than a graph. • Either include a table of your subject characteristics here or at the beginning of the results.

8. Results • Describe your subject characteristics in a table • Tables and figures tend to be the best way to present your results • Use very little text • Take time to explain the figures: explain the graph axes or table headings • Figure captions are acceptable, but should be very short • Only focus on the most important results or the summary of results, do not list all results and data points: summarize them coherently

9. Discussion • Where the results what you expected? • Why or why not?? • This is the part where you talk about other research, does it match yours? Why/why not? • Think about differences between research designs and what limitations your study might have • So what?? • What does all of this mean in the real world? • Can your results be applied in the field and how?

10. Conclusions • Summarize your conclusions (or your whole presentation) in a few bullet points • Give the “so what” factors from your research • Give implications or practical applications for your study • Can be on an additional slide • Provide suggestions for future research • Can be on an additional slide

11. References • Your references should be in proper APA format and listed in alphabetical order • Sometimes including full citations on the slides makes them look cluttered with text- use superscript numbers to denote sources. • Make sure the sources are appropriately numbered on your references page- the first alphabetical reference should be #1 when referred to in your slides.

12. Final Thoughts… • Review your slides, check for spelling and grammar mistakes- have someone else review them as well! • PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE your presentation. You will be less nervous and better at managing your time (if you have time constraints) • Use a stop watch or the timing feature in PPT to clock your presentation and see which slides take you the most time • As a rule of thumb: one minute per slide • If presenting with a group: PRACTICE so you know who will speak when! • Be prepared to answer questions about your research!!

13. Entertain questions from the audience…AND be prepared to answer them! Remember you know more about your study than anyone else! Thank you, Questions?