Presentation Resources

Abstracts

What is an abstract?

Abstracts are a brief summary of your research project. An abstract should concisely summarize the project and give your readers a preview of your presentation. The length of the abstract varies according to the guidelines of each presentation event - be sure to read instructions or guidelines carefully! Each abstract should answer four key questions:

  1. What is your research about?

  2. Why is your research important?

  3. How was your research done?

  4. What will you present on?

Who is your audience?

Each abstract has multiple audiences. First is likely your research mentor, who may review your abstract before submission. Because your mentor is more familiar with the project, they may ask questions such as how well the abstract represents the project, how well you've articulated the mainf ocus of the project, and what are the key points of your research.

Second is the organizers for the conference or event your are applying to. Most of these events have a review committee of experts in charge of evaluating each abstract. This committee will be looking to determine whether or not your abstract is suitable for the event based on whether it describes an interesting, promising presentation relevant to the given event.

Third is the audience at the meeting or conference. Most events create program books that include the titles and abstracts of the presentations at the event. The audience then uses the program to determine which presentations they wish to attend.

What does your audience need to know?

When writing your abstract, it is important to know whether your conference is field-specific or more general. Writing for fellow researchers or experts in your field will allow you to more comfortably use technical language and specific jargon. For more general audiences, however, it will be more appropriate to use "lay" language and avoid highly technical jargon in your abstract. In both cases, there are specific things your audience will be looking to gain from your abstract:

  1. What is your project about? A descriptive, interesting title will help convey this information, and the first few sentences of your abstract should further develop the research focus.
  2. Why is your research important? In order to gain the audience's interest, it is critical to explain why your research matters and what problem or issue it addresses.
  3. How are you doing your research? Including your research methods, such as data collection and analysis methodology, helps support your research and may interest researchers in similar fields who are looking to better understand that methodology.

Common Pitfalls in Abstract-Writing

  • Not considering your audience.
    • Whether your audience is general or field-specific, it is important that you carefully evaluate your use of language in the abstract and ensure that it is clear and readable while still being appropriately professional. An abstract is a formal piece of professional and academic writing and should reflect that in the language used.
  • Failing to include a sense of the presentation itself.
    • It is important to include a general idea of what the presentation will be like. This includes descriptive information regarding the actual content of the presentation and what the research was about.
  • Failing to address the relevance of the research.
    • Abstracts should clearly address the "so what?" question. Readers should be able to tell why the research is compelling, interesting, and important by reading the abstract.
  • Typos or misspellings.
    • Make sure to use spell-check and grammar-check features as you write, but do not rely exclusively on that software as it will not catch everything. Instead, be sure to have someone else - such as your faculty mentor or a colleague - to read over your abstract to make sure it is free of errors.

Poster Presentations

What is a poster presentation?

Poster presentations are formal visual presentations of your research. Using text, charts, graphs, and other visual aids, a poster presentation gives your audience an opportunity to read through your work at their leisure and to interact with you. 

What do you need to include in a poster?

Along with being visually appealing and professional, a poster should generally include the following points:

  1. A title and list of authors
    • The title should be descriptive and appealing in order to drawn in viewers.
  2. An institutional logo
    • The logo is usually positioned near the top of the poster, often close to the title and authors' names.
  3. An introduction
    • The introduction should provide a concise background on your research and, if necessary, definitions of key terms.
  4. A conclusions section
    • The conclusions section describes your key findings or results and expresses the importance and relevance of your work.
  5. Acknowledgments
    • The acknowledgments section is an opportunity to thank your research mentor and any funding sources or other people who assisted in your work.

Tips for designing your poster

  • Make sure your font is readable. Fonts should be professional and easy to read, and text should be large enough for people to read from standing some distance away. Avoid using all caps or long strings of italics, as these are more difficult to read.
  • Organize your poster with headings and subheadings. Make sure these headings stand out and are consistently formatted to provide an organized, professional appearance.
  • Avoid dense walls of text. Where it is appropriate, use bullet points and visual aids instead of long paragraphs. Remember, you can provide more information as you speak with viewers of the poster.
  • Avoid using dark backgrounds with light text. This is more difficult for most viewers to read. While you do not have to stay with black text on a white background, it is best to utilize a light background and dark text to ensure readability.
  • Use high-quality visuals. Figures, graphs, photos, and other visual content should not appear blurry or pixelated when printed and should be large enough and clear enough to be readable from 10 feet away.
  • Include captions on all visual content. All figures, graphs, photos, and other visual content should be labelled with a descriptive caption so that readers know exactly what the figure is telling them and what its relevance to the research is.

Tips for presenting your poster

  • Prepare a brief overview of your research. A short, two- to three-sentence, summary of your research will help engage your audience and break the ice when speaking to new people. Make sure to keep this overview succinct and engaging; you can go into further detail and explanation later.
  • Practice presenting. Have your friends stop by to act as practice audience members. This will help you become comfortable presenting your poster and give you an opportunity to work out any gaps in your presentation.
  • Talk to your viewers. When people stop by your poster, be sure to make eye contact and speak towards them rather than towards your poster. 
  • Thank people who stop by your poster. Whether they read your poster or ask you questions, be sure to thank them for stopping by.

Oral Presentations

What is an oral presentation?

An oral presentation is an opportunity to share your research, report findings, or share progress on a project. Oral presentations can take several forms, including reading a paper aloud, showing a slideshow, or engaging the audience with questions and discussion. It is important to identify the most appropriate form of oral presentation for a given event before you begin. This can be done by asking the event management or other people familiar with the event or by looking up past conference or event proceedings.

How do you get started?

A critical first step is to create an outline of your presentation. Depending on your discipline, the typical format of a presentation may vary, so be sure to look up common presentation formats for your field. Once you have the general outline down, you can begin filling in your presentation by answering the following questions:

  • What was the problem or issue you studied?
  • Who is affected or involved?
  • Why does this problem or issue matter?
  • How does your research relate to existing research?
  • What methods did you use to research or analyze the issue?
  • What are your findings?
  • What is the significance of those findings?
  • What are your conclusions?

How to avoid common pitfalls

  • Study others. No one is born a great presenter, and practice is critical to success. Watch videos of successful presenters to gain a better understanding of good techniques.
  • Know what to expect. Determine ahead of time what technology will be available and, if necessary, make requests in advance.
  • Practice. Practice delivering your presentation out loud in order to be comfortable with the material and to be sure you are staying within the allotted time. Make sure you are including enough information to fill the time provided without going over.
  • Be prepared. Make sure to have additional methods of accessing your presentation in case of technological issues. If your presentation is on a flashdrive, for instance, email yourself a copy as well.
  • Telling and showing. You should incorporate an appropriate balance of both telling your audience about your work and showing information about it through visual aids.
  • Mastery. You should be comfortable talking about your work and its purpose. 
  • Being comfortable. You should be mindful of your posture and body language and try to appear comfortable and confident.

Poster Presentations

What is a poster presentation?

Poster presentations are formal visual presentations of your research. Using text, charts, graphs, and other visual aids, a poster presentation gives your audience an opportunity to read through your work at their leisure and to interact with you. 

What do you need to include in a poster?

Along with being visually appealing and professional, a poster should generally include the following points:

  1. A title and list of authors
    • The title should be descriptive and appealing in order to drawn in viewers.
  2. An institutional logo
    • The logo is usually positioned near the top of the poster, often close to the title and authors' names.
  3. An introduction
    • The introduction should provide a concise background on your research and, if necessary, definitions of key terms.
  4. A conclusions section
    • The conclusions section describes your key findings or results and expresses the importance and relevance of your work.
  5. Acknowledgments
    • The acknowledgments section is an opportunity to thank your research mentor and any funding sources or other people who assisted in your work.

Tips for designing your poster

  • Make sure your font is readable. Fonts should be professional and easy to read, and text should be large enough for people to read from standing some distance away. Avoid using all caps or long strings of italics, as these are more difficult to read.
  • Organize your poster with headings and subheadings. Make sure these headings stand out and are consistently formatted to provide an organized, professional appearance.
  • Avoid dense walls of text. Where it is appropriate, use bullet points and visual aids instead of long paragraphs. Remember, you can provide more information as you speak with viewers of the poster.
  • Avoid using dark backgrounds with light text. This is more difficult for most viewers to read. While you do not have to stay with black text on a white background, it is best to utilize a light background and dark text to ensure readability.
  • Use high-quality visuals. Figures, graphs, photos, and other visual content should not appear blurry or pixelated when printed and should be large enough and clear enough to be readable from 10 feet away.
  • Include captions on all visual content. All figures, graphs, photos, and other visual content should be labelled with a descriptive caption so that readers know exactly what the figure is telling them and what its relevance to the research is.

Tips for presenting your poster

  • Prepare a brief overview of your research. A short, two- to three-sentence, summary of your research will help engage your audience and break the ice when speaking to new people. Make sure to keep this overview succinct and engaging; you can go into further detail and explanation later.
  • Practice presenting. Have your friends stop by to act as practice audience members. This will help you become comfortable presenting your poster and give you an opportunity to work out any gaps in your presentation.
  • Talk to your viewers. When people stop by your poster, be sure to make eye contact and speak towards them rather than towards your poster. 
  • Thank people who stop by your poster. Whether they read your poster or ask you questions, be sure to thank them for stopping by.

Undergraduate Research Journals

What is an undergraduate research journal?

An undergraduate research journal is an online or print publication that accepts submissions from undergraduate students. While some journals are strictly focused on research, others accept creative submissions such as of visual art or creative writing. 

Why should you submit your research to an undergraduate journal?

Undergraduate research journals provide an opportunity for you to publish your research in regional, national, or international publications and gain experience working with journals and publication requirements. 

Undergraduate Research Journals by Discipline