- © 2022
Giving an Academic Presentation in English
Intermediate Level
- Adrian Wallwork 0
English for Academics, Pisa, Italy
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
- Insights based on the author’s presentations as well as observing of thousands of congress presentations
- Exercises based on 1000+ hours of teaching scientific English and English for Academic Purposes
- Simple, practical, informative, and fun
Part of the book series: English for Academic Research (EAR)
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- Table of contents
About this book
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
Front matter, the key aims of a presentation.
Adrian Wallwork
Resources: Presentations on TED and YouTube
Preparing a script before you create the slides, pronunciation, intonation, and speed of voice, starting your presentation: giving the big picture, explaining technical slides, the visual aspect of slides, the conclusions and final slide, q&a session, doing presentations online, practising, improving, and getting feedback, back matter.
This book is for university students, with at least a mid-intermediate level of English.
It can be used as part of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, either alone or with the companion volume Writing an Academic Paper in English.
The chapters are independent so that EAP teachers and students can choose those sections that best fit their needs. This means that a course could range from a minimum of 20 hours, up to 60 hours or more.
There is an introductory chapter that includes what role academics play in today’s world, where success is not just measured in terms of paper output and presentations at conferences, but also in involvement interdisciplinary projects and supporting society at large.
Each chapter covers either a particular skill (e.g. preparing a script, pronunciation, visuals, how to begin and end a presentation) or the particular purpose of a specific moment in a presentation. For example, the final slide is designed not just to conclude and thank the audience, but is an opportunity to reach out for collaborations and assistance. The aims of each part of a presentation are also highlighted by comparisons with non-academic situations where similar skills are required.
The course is highly practical with screenshots from real presentations given by PhD students. It is also designed to be fun to use.
Other books in the series:
Writing an Academic Paper in English
Essential English Grammar and Communication Strategies
Adrian Wallwork is the author of more than 40 ELT and EAP textbooks. He has trained several thousand PhD students and researchers from around 50 countries to write research papers and give presentations. He is also the co-founder of e4ac.com, an editing agency for non-native English-speaking researchers.
- presentation skills
- international conferences
- non-native audiences
Adrian Wallwork is the co-founder of English for Academics (e4ac.com), which specializes in editing and revising scientific papers, as well as teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to PhD students. He has written course books for Oxford University Press, discussion books for Cambridge University Press, and other books for BEP and Scholastic and several publishers in Italy. Adrian also self-publishes discussion books for the TEFL market (tefldiscussions.com).
For SpringerNature, he has written three series of books on Academic English, Business English and General English.
His passion is teaching PhD students and researchers how to write and present their research.
Book Title : Giving an Academic Presentation in English
Book Subtitle : Intermediate Level
Authors : Adrian Wallwork
Series Title : English for Academic Research
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95609-7
Publisher : Springer Cham
eBook Packages : Education , Education (R0)
Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Softcover ISBN : 978-3-030-95608-0 Published: 24 June 2022
eBook ISBN : 978-3-030-95609-7 Published: 23 June 2022
Series ISSN : 2625-3445
Series E-ISSN : 2625-3453
Edition Number : 1
Number of Pages : XI, 238
Number of Illustrations : 275 b/w illustrations, 102 illustrations in colour
Topics : Linguistics, general , Language Education
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Academic presentations: Structure
- Presentation Design
- Slide design
- Conferences
- Group presentations
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“A solid structure is the foundation of a coherent presentation, and shows the relationship between the parts and whole.” Nancy Duarte, Resonate
A presentation that has a strong, clear structure is a presentation that is easy to follow. Without structure, a presentation can be confusing to an audience. How do they know if you are going to cover what they need to know? How can they tell which slides contain the most important points? This page considers some ways that you can organise your slides to give shape to your presentation as a whole.
Basic presentation structure
Every presentation should flow like a good story. It should involve the audience directly.
- The beginning section is where you hook them. Start with the general picture then explain the specific problem and how by listening to your presentation you can solve it for them.
- The middle section should contain the main detail of your presentation, and can be organised in a number of ways (two good ones are explained below).
- Finally your end section should summarise the presentation and lead the audience to the next step.
Design your slides so that these sections look distinctive and any key points stand out.
Beginning section
This section is all about drawing the audience in; giving them a reason to want to listen to the main part of your presentation.
You can include any or all of the following:
- A really well designed title slide that grabs the attention
- A slide that gives the audience the big picture
- A slide that shows what you will be focusing on
- A slide that uses the word 'you' or 'your' in the title to connect with the audience
- A slide that tells the audience what is to come in your presentation (its structure)
After your title slide, you need slides covering these areas
Middle section structure option 1 - key points
Several authors suggest using a structure that involves an introduction followed by a middle section containing key point slides (usually 3).
The ideas is that there is a hierarchy of slides so that after each key point you have other slides that explain or add detail to that key point.
Cliff Atkinson (writer of the book Beyond Bullet Points ) suggested using a table in MSWord (similar to the one in the template that is available to download at the bottom of this page) to help you structure and plan your presentation before you even open PowerPoint. This means you can concentrate on your story before getting distracted by design and content issues. We have copy of the book in our library: Beyond Bullet Points: Beyond Bullet Points .
Middle section option 2 - sparkline
For her book Resonate Nancy Duarte looked in detail at the structure of successful presentations throughout history (even back to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address). She discovered that many have the same structural form which she calls a 'sparkline'.
This structure makes a clear distinction between what is (the position before the presentation is seen and acted upon) and what could be (the position after the presentation is seen and acted upon). The audience is introduced to the what is state at the beginning of the presentation and then switched back and forth between what could be and what is several times before ending in the what could be condition, which she calls Reward:New Bliss .
Nancy explains this better here: Sparkline Overview .
In terms of academic work the what is is the current level of knowledge or previous thinking on a subject and the what could be is the new knowledge or new thinking. The new bliss is what the audience could do or learn next now that they are aware of the change.
End section
The end of your presentation is a very powerful part because it contains your final words, the ones that the audience will take away with them. After you have finished your middle section, have at least one slide that summarises your main points and one slide that leaves the audience with the most important point of your presentation - the one you would like them to remember even if they forget everything else.
Include slides that show these in your end section
DO NOT finish with a slide that says Any Questions? or Thanks for Listening as this a waste of your final slide and does not need a visual image to help the audience understand your words. This slide could potentially be viewed longer than any other slide (whilst you answer your questions or receive feedback) and so you want to make sure it contains something that is important to both you and the audience.
These slides are a waste of your last slide - use the final slide for your most important point not a throwaway.
Template for structuring an academic presentation
This MSWord document is a template for structuring a typical academic presentation, it can be adapted and changed if necessary depending on how long the presentation you need to give is. Try to fill it in using full sentences as these will become your slide titles .
The blue sections are optional. The NEED and TASK sections are most suited to research presentations.
This is designed for a presentation between 20-30 minutes long. Shorter presentations will have no explanatory points and longer presentations will need more explanatory points.
This is adapted from Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points template. See the link to the book above.
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Introduction - Examples should include the topic of the presentation, why it is important for the audience to learn about it, a brief outline of the presentation's major points, and possibly a greeting and/or introduction. Specific introduction examples showing a presentation starting with: An interesting/amazing fact An engaging story
4 Tips for Communicating with Your Audience. 3. Variety. vary the oral content of your presentation. (information with stories, jokes, questions, etc.) vary the visual content of your presentation. (text with pictures, charts, graphs, etc.) vary your physical behaviors. (gestures, movements, etc.)
Be neat. 2. Avoid trying to cram too much into one slide. y Don't be a slave to your slides. 3. Be brief. y use keywords rather than long sentences. 4. Avoid covering up slides.
Presentation nerves can be positive! To do the bestpossible presentation, you need some energy, some 'edge'. Totally nerveless performances can be flat. Preparation is key! If you have prepared an interesting presentation with a clear structure and lots of examples, your anxiety will decrease. Think positively. Your lecturer,
Associate Director for Student Academic Services & Learning Design and a research librarian. ... • Choose a deck template and stick with it • Don't recreate the wheel - ... Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53(2), 225-234 ...
Academic Presentations A presentation is any situation which involves speaking to a group of people in order to make a point, educate or share information. ... The type of audience might well influence the format of your presentation and its content, for example, a technical presentation to a specialist audience might be ...
Don'tclutter and distract from your presentation with too many fonts and colors. 3. Pick a Simple Template. Templates are included in both PowerPoint and Keynote Try to pick a simple style that is appropriate for academic work. 4. 3 4. Create a Stand-Out Title Slide.
For example, what proportion of the mark will be given for the style and delivery of your talk, and what ... An academic guide to giving presentations 7 TO DO DOING NOW DONE In the weeks or days before the talk 11 Remind yourself of the simple but vital rules for effective oral communication: • Introduce yourself • Smile and sound interested
To assist the audience, a speaker could start by saying, "Today, I am going to cover three main points.". Then, state what each point is by using transitional words such as "First," "Second," and "Finally.". For research focused presentations, the structure following the overview is similar to an academic paper.
About this book. This book provides a step-by-step journey to giving a successful academic conference presentation, taking readers through all of the potential steps along the way—from the initial idea and the abstract submission all the way up to the presentation itself. Drawing on the author's own experiences, the book highlights good and ...
About this book. This book is for university students, with at least a mid-intermediate level of English. It can be used as part of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, either alone or with the companion volume Writing an Academic Paper in English. The chapters are independent so that EAP teachers and students can choose those ...
6 Giving Academic Presentations, 2nd ed. Flow: First Look at Connecting Devices and Topic Shifts The organizational patterns you choose often lend themselves to the use of specific connecting or linking devices, such as time connectors (then, after, next, etc.) or listing words (first, second, third, also, etc).These devices help maintain a smooth, coherent flow
Oral presentations are a common feature of many courses at university. They may take the form of a short or longer presentation at a tutorial or seminar, delivered either individually or as part of a group. You may have to use visual aids such as PowerPoint slides. Researching, planning and structuring an oral presentation is similar to the ...
Although style Slides Attending Goal. main points are obvious presentation. paper so. Tips for Preparing Slides. Organize slides to emphasize big picture Use short, clear bullet points Don't use complete sentences Fill in details verbally or refer to your paper. PowerPoint & Power Failure. Tips for Delivery.
This MSWord document is a template for structuring a typical academic presentation, it can be adapted and changed if necessary depending on how long the presentation you need to give is. Try to fill it in using full sentences as these will become your slide titles. The blue sections are optional.
• In order for your presentation to fit on most screens, text and images should be placed within 95% of the PowerPoint slide. This "action safe" area is seen in the next slide. ... Use a Template • Use a set font and color scheme. • Differentstyles are disconcerting to the audience. • You want the audience to focus on
The Assertion-Evidence Model of Slide Design. 1) Clearly assert the slide's main idea in a complete sentence. a. Appears at the top of the slide. b. Contains one distinct point. c. Flows logically from previous slide. 2) Reinforce the argument with visual evidence. a.
Published on October 8, 2021 by Tegan George and Julia Merkus. Revised on July 23, 2023. We have adapted several of our most popular articles into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about a variety of academic topics. Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.
training at the end of the academic year in the second semester. Each of the two presentations was to be based on two different topics chosen from a list of 35 very broad topics and narrowed by the students themselves. For example, a broad topic listed as Tibet resulted in a presentation entitled To what extent does
Presentations are a common part of academic life. Although giving a presentation can seem daunting at first, it is actually quite a routine task. Presentations all have the same basic structure and use similar signpost language. As long as you plan carefully and allow enough time to not only prepare the content but also practise to improve
Presentation Speaking Criteria. This is a basic criteria to assess & grade presentation speaking skills. It has three key criteria: Language accuracy & language range, fluency & pronunciation, and presentation & engagement. Example / Level: ***** [B1/B2/C1] TEACHER MEMBERSHIP / INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP. £5.00 - Add to cart.
Listen to this short video on 'what is a good academic presentation?' by the English Language Centre (ELC) in Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Take notes on the key points discussed.
entice readers to carry on. It should be concise and relatively simple. For example: Each of these examples is specific enough that we already have a sense of what the paper might discuss, but simple enough for most readers to quickly understand. Try one of the following to catch the reader's eye: • An eye-catching, startling fact or statistic.