Presenting Your Findings

Oral & Poster Presentations

Frances L. Chumney, Summer 2005

Oral PresentationsThings That Matter

• Contents (duh!)• Graphs, Figures Images• Visual Appeal• Graphics & Illustrations• You

Contents

• Title Slide• Abstract• Introduction• Methods• Results• Discussion• References

Contents: Title Slide

• Title of presentation, as reported in the program book or original submission

• Name of authors & coauthors• Institutional Affiliations• Titles, such as Ph.D.

Contents: Abstract

• If you include one….

Sample AbstractThe present study extended the research of Zinser, et al. (2004) and Straub and Seaton (1993) in five tasks designed to compare the configurational knowledge of the U.S. states in men and women. For the site-name memory task, participants listed as many of the 50 states and 25 largest cities as they could remember. For the site-name-with-map-aid task, an outline map of the U.S. was provided. For the map-labeling task, participants were required to write the name of the states and major cities on the maps. For the fragmented U.S. state maps task, participants wrote the names of the states and cities on cut-outs of each state. For the fifth task, the U.S. was shown divided into regions: southeast, northeast, midwest, west, and southwest, and participants were asked to name and draw the outlines of each of the continental states within its appropriate region and to provide the names and locations of the 25 largest cities. A demographic questionnaire had the participants rate themselves on ability to visualize geographic locations, ability to recall state and city names with and without a map, and ability to give easy-to-follow directions, all before and after completing the map tasks. Men performed better on the cities of the site-name task, but no difference was found on the states measure; no gender differences were found for the site-name-with-map-aid or the map reproduction tasks; and men performed significantly better than did women on both the states and cities of the map labeling and the fragmented states labeling tasks. The gender difference from the fragmented states task suggested that men were superior in configurational knowledge of the outlines of the states. The ratings and experience data suggested that the gender differences in knowledge of the cities and states of the U. S. were a joint product of nature and nurture.

Contents: Abstracts

• “Here’s my abstract for the project.”

• You don’t read it.• You click past it.• What’s the point?

Contents: Introduction

• Literature Review• Objectives• Hypothesis(es)

Introduction: Literature Review

• Overview of primary articles• Do not summarize each article• Main points of each article, as they

relate to your research project• Combine like ideas & integrate

material from different articles• Excerpt from paper, if written

Sample Lit Review Slide

• Configurational knowledge is about shape, pattern, distribution of items in space, and associations with other objects in space (Golledge, 1992)

• When asked to indicate the locations of cities on an outline map with no state or regional indicators, women made more errors than men (Beatty & Bruellman, 1987; Montello, et al., 1999)

• When required to label states or cities on an outline map of the U.S., a significant gender difference favoring men has been found for states (Straub and Seaton, 1993), and cities (Beatty and Bruellman, 1987; Beatty and Tröster, 1987)

Introduction: Objectives

• Good idea, but regarded as optional• Objectives of the project, not of the

presentation• Why did you do the research?• Potential impact of this line of

research• Supported by lit review presented

Introduction: Hypothesis(es)

• They deserve a slide• Short and simple• Elaborate orally• Logical ordering on slide• Usually, one per condition

Sample Hypotheses Slide

Site-name Memory: No significant gender differences were expected

Site-name with Map-aid: A significant gender difference was expected for the states, but not for the cities portion of this task

Map Labeling: Men were expected to identify a significantly larger number of states and cities

Fragmented U.S. States: Will illustrate the effect of state shape or configuration on geographic knowledge; A gender difference favoring men was expected

Map Reproduction: Will show the knowledge of and ability to reproduce configurational information about the relative shapes, sizes, and locations of U.S. states and cities; men expected to perform better

Contents: Method

• Participants• Materials• Procedure

Method: Participants

• Sample size• Where sample came from• Distinguishing characteristics of

the sample• Breakdown of important

demographic characteristics

Method: Materials/Measures

• List of materials/measures used– Mention by name– Present in order presented or in order

consistent with rest of the presentation

• List of equipment• Arrange by condition, if necessary

Sample Materials SlideFragmented U.S. States

– Participants were provided with pages containing the outlines of the fifty individual U.S. states separated from each other and organized in random order.

– The cities portion of this task consisted of the random arrangement of the states that included at least one of the twenty-five most highly populated cities, marked by large dots.

Map Reproduction of U.S. States and Cities– Participants were provided an outline of the U. S. with regional boundaries

defining 5 major regions of the United States: Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, West, and Midwest. Participants were asked to draw outlines and label the 48 contiguous states, and mark with a dot and label the 25 largest cities of the U.S.

Sample Materials Slide, cont.

Sample Materials Slide, cont.

Method: Procedure

• Order in which sections of study were completed

• Time or other limitations created by experimenter

• Scoring, if logical

Contents: Results

• Organize by hypothesis• Say it in numbers, say it in words• Relevant to the discussion you

present• Statistics to show what you did• Tables or matrices, as needed

Sample Results Slide

Sample Results Slide, cont.

• Fragmented U. S. States– Significant differences favoring men were found for both the

states and cities tasks– Self-Ratings: Ratings for all four items decreased significantly

for both men and women• Map Reproduction

– Significant gender differences were not found on either the states or cities portion of this condition

– Self-Ratings: Ratings for all four items decreased significantly for both men and women

Sample Results Slide, cont.

Contents: Discussion

• Organize by hypothesis• Interpret the results• Elaborate on the possible

implications of the results that you found

• Draw conclusions• Future directions• Include limitations

Sample Discussion Slide

• Businessperson is a subgroup of White, and a subtype of Black and Latino – Supported

• Data supported the hypothesis that welfare recipient is a subtype of White, and a subgroup of Black and Latino – Supported

• High levels of prejudice will accompany attitudes that support the subgroup/subtype relationships – Not Supported

• Low levels of privilege awareness will accompany attitudes that support the subgroup/subtype relationships – Not Supported

Contents: References

• “Here are citations for the key articles used for this project.”

• Limit to introduction• Compact, compact, compact

Graphs, Figures, Images

• Good for clarification• Keep simple• Use as needed• Neat and attractive• Be prepared to explain and elaborate• Use gridlines sparingly – they almost

never enhance the figure

Sample Bad Graph/Chart

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

EastWestNorth

Sample Good Graph/Chart

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90EastWestNorth

First

Quarter

Second

Quarter

Third

Quarter

Fourth

Quarter

Visual Appeal

• Really, Visual Appeal?• Text Size & Crowding• Slide Theme & Background• Using Color• Uniformity

Text Size & Crowding

• At least 20-point font• Simple fonts better for everyone• Leave margins• “White Space”• Simple is GOOD

Sample Bad Font SlideIf you have to lean forward and squint from only five feet away, the font is too small!

Freehand fonts are not appreciated in aprofessional presentation.

Artsy fonts are notappropriate either.

Shouldn’t there be space between letters?

Sample Good Font Slide

Times New Roman is the most common.Arial is also very common.

Some people prefer Courier.

Tahoma is clean but subtly different.Narkism isn’t too bad.

Slide Theme & Backgrounds

• Simple is good• Too much pattern makes font hard

to read• If like busy pattern, give textbox

solid background• Contrast text color with background• Create your own color scheme

Sample Bad Background Slide

Sample Better Background Slide

Using Color

• Too much color is distracting• Limit text colors to one or two• High-contrast colors into graphs &

figures

Uniformity

• Format all slides the same• Do not mix-n-match fonts and

backgrounds• Presentations should not be

eclectic.

Graphics & Illustrations

• Relevant material only• Use conservatively• Nothing controversial unless

related• Better to avoid

Sample Bad Graphics Slide

Hints & Shortcuts

• Complete sentences not required• If you wrote the paper, use it• Do it rough, then fix it

You, the Presenter

• Mannerisms• Language• Knowledge• Aware of Audience

Poster Presentations

• Similar to oral presentations• Complete sentences often better• Completely self-explanatory• All other rules are the same!!!