RESEARCH METHEDELOGY COURSE 2019

Lecture 15

EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION

At one time or another, most people will be required to make a presentation involving
visual aids (e.g., slides, overhead transparencies or the now ubiquitous Power Point
presentation). The ability to make effective presentations is a core skill for most
people.
x Characteristics of Effective Presentations
By definition, an effective presentation meets its objectives. It follows that an effective
presentation has an explicit set of objectives. Effective presentations are also marked
by high-quality visuals and by smooth, practiced delivery. Handouts, too, should be of
high quality. The content of the presentation and any supporting visuals or handouts
should be relevant to the audience members and useful in light of their needs and
requirements.

An effective presentation “happens” as a

consequence of four related activities, the.
First, you must plan, prepare and practice your
presentation. Then you must present it. The
first three overlap and are separate from the
actual presentation. All four activities are
shown in the right diagram. Each element is

x Planning Your Presentation

Planning your presentation means thinking ahead about important aspects of it. Here
is where you begin the task of organizing your presentation. Here, too, is where you
begin thinking about your visual aids. The important aspects of your presentation
include the following:
x Objectives
x Audience
x Content

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x Organization
x Visuals
x Setting
x Delivery
Each of the factors listed above is briefly described below.
x Objectives
Depending on the specifics of the situation there can be lots of factors to think about
but two are always critical: outcomes and purposes.
9 What outcomes do you want from the presentation?
9 What is the purpose of the presentation? To inform? To persuade?

x Audience
Aside from knowing your subject matter nothing is more important than knowing your
audience.

9 Who are they

9 What are their interest, needs and requirements?
9 What “language” do they speak
9 What do they value

x Content
Two issues are critical here:
9 The relevance and usefulness of the content to the audience.
9 The relevance and usefulness of the content to your objectives.

x Comments
There are two critical issues:
9 The issue of presentation organization in general.
9 The organization of the body of your presentation.

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In general, your presentation will consist of an opening, a main body, and a closing.
The opening will usually consist of two slides: (1) a title slide and (2) an overview slide.
The main body of your presentation will have however many slides are necessary to
make and support the points you are trying to make.

x Setting
Some of the more common factors to consider here include:
9 Seating arrangements
9 Lighting and heating
9 Size of the room
9 Number of people in attendance
x Delivery
Here is where you think about things like the following:
9 The pace of the presentation
9 Its organization
9 Points of emphasis
9 Time frames and allocations
9 Portions that can be cut if necessary
9 The roles of the presenters if more than one presenter is involved

x Preparing Your Presentation

The centrepiece for this stage of the process consists of your visual aids and is
addressed in a separate paper.

x Practicing Your Presentation

“Practice makes perfect” or so the saying has it. There are many good reasons to
practice your presentation.
9 You can practice alone for the purpose of getting familiar with the
visuals and the content, especially to ensure that your visuals are
legible.

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9 You can practice with others if the presentation involves more than one
presenter. This will help ensure smooth handoffs.
9 And you can and should practice with an audience to help identify the
kinds of questions and issues that might surface during the actual
presentation.

x Presenting

When actually making your presentation, there are many factors of which you must
be aware, some of which are mastered only as a result of practice. These include the
following:
9 Facial expression
9 Voice (intonation, inflection, pronunciation)
9 Body movements (posture, gestures, moving about)
9 Use of a pointer (classic wooden pointer or laser)
9 Roles (in the event of multiple presenters)
9

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HOW TO WRITE A GOOD DISSERTATION

A dissertation or final year project, as a form of assessment differs from other module
assessments. The expectation is that you, the learner, take responsibility for your own
learning and that you produce a literature review, you choose a method for
undertaking a study, write up your findings and discuss the outcomes in a discussion
section.

Dissertation Structure
There are some conventions that guide the structuring of dissertations in different
disciplines. You should check departmental and course regulations.

Below are two structures that are commonly used.

¾ Title page
¾ Abstract
¾ Acknowledgements
¾ Contents page(s)
¾ Introduction
¾ Materials and methods or Literature review
¾ Results or Sources and methods
¾ Discussion or Findings
¾ Conclusions
¾ References
¾ Appendices

Each section or chapter has its own particular function

¾ Title page: The title itself is an important opportunity to tell the potential
reader what your research is about. You will need it to be succinct, specific,
descriptive, and representative of the research you have done. There is likely to

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be a required format for the title page in your discipline, so you need to check
what that is.

¾ Abstract: This may be one of the shortest sections of your thesis or dissertation,
but it is worthwhile taking great care to write it well. Essentially, the Abstract
is a succinct summary of the research. It should be able to stand alone in
representing why and how you did what you did, and what the results and
implications are. It is often only one page long, and there may be a word limit
to adhere to. The Abstract is an important element of the thesis, and will
become a document in its own right if the thesis is registered within any
database. The examiners will therefore assess your Abstract both as part of
your thesis, and as a potentially independent document.

¾ Acknowledgements: This is your opportunity to mention individuals who have

been particularly helpful. Reading the acknowledgements in other dissertations
in your field will give you an idea of the ways in which different kinds of help
have been appreciated and mentioned.

¾ Contents, and figure and table lists: The contents pages will show up the
structure of the dissertation. Any imbalance in space devoted to different
sections of content will become apparent. This is a useful check on whether
amalgamation of sections or creation of further sections or sub-sections is
needed.

¾ Introduction: Although this is the first piece of writing the reader comes to, it
is often best to leave its preparation to last as, until then, you will not be
absolutely sure what you are introducing. The introduction has two main roles:
x To expand the material summarised in the abstract, and
x To signpost the content of the rest of the dissertation.

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¾ The literature review or context of the study: The purpose of this chapter is to
show that you are aware of where your own piece of research fits into the
overall context of research in your field. To do this you need to:
x Describe the current state of research in your defined area;
x Consider whether there are any closely related areas that you also need to refer
to;
x Identify a gap where you argue that further research is needed; and
x Explain how you plan to attend to that particular research gap

¾ Chapter(s) describing methods, sources, material etc: In these chapters a

straightforward description is required of how you conducted the research. If
you used particular equipment, processes, or materials, you will need to be
clear and precise in how you describe them. You must give enough detail for
another researcher to replicate your study.

¾ Results / Findings: You will need to check which style of reporting is preferred
in your field. For example a scientific dissertation would probably have very
clear separation between the results and the discussion of those results;
whereas a social science dissertation might have an overall chapter called
Findings, bringing the results and their discussion together.

¾ Discussion: This is where you review your own research in relation to the wider
context in which it is located. You can refer back to the rationale that you gave
for your research in the literature review, and discuss what your own research
has added in this context. It is important to show that you appreciate the
limitations of your research, and how these may affect the validity or
usefulness of your findings.

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¾ Conclusions: This chapter tends to be much shorter than the Discussion. It is

not a mere ‘summary’ of your research, but needs to be ‘conclusions’ as to the
main points that have emerged and what they mean for your field.

¾ References: This section needs to be highly structured, and needs to include all
of your references in the required referencing style. As you edit and rewrite your
dissertation you will probably gain and lose references that you had in earlier
versions. It is important therefore to check that all the references in your
reference list are actually referenced within the text; and that all the references
that appear in the text appear also in the reference list.

¾ Appendices: You need to check whether or not the appendices count within the
word limit for your dissertation. Items that can usefully go in the appendices
are those that a reader would want to see, but which would take up too much
space and disrupt the flow if placed within the main text. Again, makej sure
you reference the Appendices within the main text where necessary.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

It’s easy to find information for most research papers, but it’s not always easy to add
that information into your paper without falling into the plagiarism trap. There are
easy ways to avoid plagiarism. Follow some simple steps while writing your research
paper to ensure that your document will be free of plagiarism.

1. Paraphrase:- So you have found information that is perfect for your research
paper. Read it and put it into your own words. Make sure that you do not copy
verbatim more than two words in a row from the text you have found. If you do
use more than two words together, you will have to use quotation marks. We will
get into quoting properly soon.

2. Cite:- Citing is one of the effective ways to avoid plagiarism. Citing is really that
simple. Not citing properly can constitute plagiarism.

3. Quoting:- When quoting a source, use the quote exactly the way it appears. No
one wants to be misquoted. Most institutions of higher learning frown on “block
quotes” or quotes of 40 words or more. A scholar should be able to effectively
paraphrase most material. This process takes time, but the effort pays off!
Quoting must be done correctly to avoid plagiarism allegations.

4. Citing Quotes:- Citing a quote can be different than citing paraphrased material.
This practice usually involves the addition of a page number, or a paragraph
number in the case of web content.

5. Citing Your Own Material:- If some of the material you are using for your research
paper was used by you in your current class, a previous one, or anywhere else you
must cite yourself. Treat the text the same as you would if someone else wrote it.
It may sound odd, but using material you have used before is called self-
plagiarism, and it is not acceptable.

6. Referencing:- One of the most important ways to avoid plagiarism is including a

reference page or page of works cited at the end of your research paper. Again,

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this page must meet the document formatting guidelines used by your
educational institution. This information is very specific and includes the
author(s), date of publication, title, and source. Follow the directions for this page
carefully. You will want to get the references right.

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