Writing and assignments

Presentations are an oral (spoken) form of assessment designed to help you develop your communication skills. For an academic presentation you will have to research and synthesise information on a set topic and present your findings in a talk, either individually or as part of a group. 

Being able to present well is also a vital skill for employability- so get in lots of practice at university to develop and hone your presentation skills.

Where to start:

• Brainstorm your topic and plan your research.
• Gather information; plan what you are going to say.
• How long do you have? Consider timings.
• Think about your audience.  What do they already know?  What do you want them to know by the end of your presentation?  Tailor your presentation accordingly. 
• Decide the main points you want to make.
• Decide your topic headings.
• Have a structure that is logical and makes the best ‘case’. 
• For group presentations decide who is going to deliver which parts.

Follow a structure of:

• Introduction and agenda: introduce yourself and outline the structure of your presentation.
• Presentation: present the key ideas in logical order each supported by argument and evidence. Follow the structure you outlined in your introduction.
• Conclusion: summarise the purpose of your presentation and re-state the main points.
• Questions: invite questions from the audience.

Remember to:

• Reference your sources.
• Support your points with research and evidence.

Check the assignment brief and note down any instructions about the format of your presentation.  Prepare your notes and any accompanying slides or audio-visual material. If you write a ‘script’ or essay-like draft of the presentation, reduce it to key words for cue cards.

Slides

If you are using slides, the most common software is PowerPoint but there are other presentation tools such as Sway and Prezzi.

A few points to consider:

• Use slides to support audience attention and understanding. 
• Avoid too much text. Don't put everything on your slides, pick out key points.  
• Well designed slides enhance your presentation but remember the content is more important than the design.
• Be consistent with font size and type.  Make sure your text will be visible to those at the back.
• Be careful with very busy or colourful backgrounds, it may make the text hard to read.
• Make sure your slides are accessible for everyone.  In PowerPoint, click Review > Accessibility checker.  Follow the tips here: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible 

   

Creating slides with PowerPoint

If you have chosen to use PowerPoint to create presentation slides, check out the guidance to make sure your slides shine!

Access PowerPoint

• Go to: office.com, sign in with your university email address and password, click the app launcher (9 dots in the top left hand corner) and select PowerPoint.  This will enable you to use them online and save your work to your online Microsoft university account (OneDrive).  
• If you prefer to use the desktop version of PowerPoint, simply click 'Install and more' on the first page of Office.com.  This will enable you to download PowerPoint to your own computer.  

Help and training

• PowerPoint help & learning (microsoft.com)

Work together on a PowerPoint

When working on a group presentation, you can save your PowerPoint presentation to OneDrive to share with your group members.  This means you can all edit the same presentation at the same time.

• Share your PowerPoint presentation with others - Microsoft Support
• Work together on PowerPoint presentations - Microsoft Support

Practising is vital to help you learn the material, become more fluent and feel confident.  Rehearse and check the timing of your presentation, practise with your slides or other visual aids.

Practise to an audience of friends.  Invite them to ask questions so you can be prepared for what might be asked on the day.  Ask them to provide constructive feedback and use this to improve.

If it is a group presentation, rehearse together, learn each other’s parts and be ready to stand in if someone drops out.

Rehearse with speaker coach

PowerPoint offers a feature for you to rehearse your presentation and get feedback afterwards. 

Speaker Coach evaluates your pacing, pitch, your use of filler words, informal speech, euphemisms, and culturally sensitive terms. It detects when you're being overly wordy or are simply reading the text on a slide. After each rehearsal, you get a report that includes statistics and suggestions for improvements. (Microsoft.com)

Rehearse your slide show with Speaker Coach - Microsoft Support

To deliver an effective presentation:

Deliver confidently

• Do follow the structure of your presentation.
• Do project your voice and be aware of the pace- don't rush.
• Do use natural spoken language.
• Do use a positive tone.
• Do look at the audience, not your notes.
• Do use cards and glance quickly at bullet points and key words/phrases.
• Do ask for questions at the end. 
• Do keep an eye on your time.

Mind your body language

• Do have a confident body posture and look at the audience.
• Do keep your hands out your pockets.
• Don’t fiddle or make distracting movements.

Invite questions

• Do ask for clarification if you don't understand the question at first.
• Do repeat the question, this allows the audience to hear the question if they missed it and gives you a moment to think.