1. In the name of Allah

2. Scientific & Technical Presentation Leila Sharif Sharif University of Technology E-Mail: l_sharif@sharif.edul_sharif@sharif.edu http://ce.sharif.edu/courses/84-85/1/ce221/

3. Presentations

4. Presentation Points 1.Visit the venue beforehand to get familiar with room’s layout & the equipment. 2.Establish rapport with audience by speaking to them for a couple of minutes (summarize the result, how this talk relates to other talks in the session, how it relates to the keynote of the conference, how you got interested in this topic). Get the audience to focus on the topic rather than on the speaker or the screen.

5. Presentation Points 3.Project your voice relative to the room & audience size. 3.Aim for a normal conversation speed. 4.Vary your pace & pitch. 5.Avoid blocking anyone’s view continuously.

6. Presentation Points 7.Stand far enough to the side to prevent screen blocking. 8.Avoid reading from slides. 9.Repeat key points – “tell your listeners what you are going to tell them, & finally tell them what you have told them”. 10.Use a pointer to focus your audience’s attention on your graphics.

7. Presentation Points 11.Accept your nervousness. Take some deep breaths before entering the room. Note that you have worked hard on your talk & have practiced delivering it. Try to concentrate on your topic rather than yourself. Try to have a few friends or colleagues in the audience. Look at friendly faces.

8. Presentation Points 12.Have an “Outline” slide. 13.Organize the slides as precise & as logical as possible. 14.Presentation should not follow the paper exactly. 15.You usually have 20 min. for presentation & 5 min. for questions & answers. Explain the goal, importance of the work, key ideas of the solution, how it is different (& hopefully) better than existing solutions.

9. Presentation Points 16.Presentation should not deviate too much from paper either. 17.Maintain eye contact. Talk to the audience not to the viewgraph. Address different parts of the room. 18.When preparing slides: Make sure that the visual aids are readable. Use a bit of color to highlight important points. Use figures, block diagrams, flow charts, images, etc. Bring transparencies, other diskettes, … as backups.

10. Presentation Points 19.Do not put too many ideas on the same slide. 19.Everything on the slide should be explained. 20.Do not put too much mathematics on the slides. Just enough mathematics should be presented to bring the key point across. The focus should be on the results. Use figures (plots) to bring the points across.

11. Presentation Points 22.Have at least one “Contributions” slide. 23.Have a “Conclusion & Future Work” slide. 24.Have a “List of Publication” slide. 25.Have some extra slides containing some details of the work, to use in case some questions arise.

12. Presentation Points 26.Be ready for difficult or unexpected questions. If there is any difficulty with a particular question do not be overly defensive. A difficult question can be turned into an idea for future research. Repeat the question. Simply say “I don’t know”. Offer to talk with the questioner after your talk. Do not say things that you are not absolutely sure of.

13. Thesis Defense

14. Thesis Defense Points During the defense the committee looks for: 1.Whether the candidate has a very good understanding of the problem. The candidate should be conversant with the relevant literature, should explain how the proposed approach is different, how practical the work is.

15. Thesis Defense Points 2.How is the contribution to the research community (stated in abstract & conclusion). At least one “Contributions” slide. 3.Whether the candidate has taken the time to digest the results generated (using figures, plots, tables). Explain what is being accomplished with the simulation. Explain not smoothness in the curve or sudden jumps in the table values. 4.Suggest future work. List a few possible directions.

16. Language

17. Language: the Way We Use Words Short words are the best, and short words when old are best of all. Winston Churchill Concise Familiar Clear Fluid Precise Forthright wordwordwordword word wordwordwordword word wordword word

18. Generalities that are not anchored with specifics are soon forgotten After recognizing some problems with the solar mirrors, we took subsequent corrective measures. Trash After finding that high winds (and not hail) had cracked the ten solar mirrors, we began stowing all mirrors in a horizontal position during thunderstorms.

19. For precise language, you should avoid over-specifying details The number of particular hydrocarbon combinations in our study is enormous. For example, the number of possible C 20 H 42 is 366,319 and the number for C 40 H 82 is 62,491,178,805,831. The number of hydrocarbon combinations in our study is enormous. For example, the number of possible C 40 H 82 is more than 62 trillion.

20. For precision, you must choose the appropriate level of detail Operations at the plant stopped momentarily because the thermal storage charging system desuperheater attemperator valve was replaced. Operations at the plant stopped for 1.5 hours so that a valve in the thermal storage system could be replaced.

21. R.I.P. Complex wording buries ideas This study will consider why current solar energy systems, such as Solar One, have not reached the commercial stage and will find out what steps we can take to make these systems commercial. The goal of this study is to develop a commerciali- zation strategy for solar energy systems by analyzing factors impeding early commercial projects (i.e., SOLAR ONE) and by identifying the potential actions that can facilitate the viability of the projects.

22. Stacking adjectives before nouns swallows the ideas Solar One is a solar-powered pilot plant located near Barstow, California. Solar One produces 10 megawatts of electricity by capturing solar energy in a central receiver design. Solar One is a 10 megawatt solar thermal electric central receiver Barstow power pilot plant.

23. Complex sentences misdirect readers The goal of the work was to confirm the nature of electrical breakdown of nitrogen in uniform fields at high pressures and electrode gaps which approach those obtained in engineering practice, prior to the deter- mination of the processes which set the criterion for breakdown in the above-mentioned gas in uniform and non-uniform fields of engineering significance. At high pressures (760 torr) and typical electrode gap distances (1 mm), the electrical breakdown of nitrogen was studied in uniform fields.

24. The more muddled the original, the more revisions are needed to streamline it At high pressures (760 torr) and typical electrode gap distances (1 mm), the electrical breakdown of nitrogen was studied in uniform fields. In our study, we examined the electrical breakdown of nitrogen in uniform fields. For these experiments, the electrode gap distances were typical (1 mm), while the pressures were relatively high (760 torr).

25. One measure for the complexity of the writing is the Gunning Fog Index In the index, the complexity of the writing depends on (1) the lengths of sentences (2) the lengths of words Desired index values for scientific writing are 10-12: New York Times (11) Scientific American (12) F i = 0.4 ( (N w / N s )+ P lw ) N w = number of words in a typical paragraph N s = number of sentences in the paragraph P lw = percentage of long words in the paragraph

26. An ambiguity is a group of words that can have more than one meaning We examined neat methanol and ethanol and methanol and ethanol with 10% water. We examined four fuels: neat methanol, neat ethanol, methanol with 10% water, and ethanol with 10% water.

27. Ambiguities occur for many reasons ????????? ??????? As light hydrocarbons evaporate the oil vapor pressure falls. Although engineers realized the design flaws in the Titanic soon after its sinking in 1912, the reasons for the severe damage inflicted by the iceberg remained a mystery until its discovery in 1985. ???? The proposed schedule is discussed below for the next four years.

28. about cause; bring about carry out individual can operate use Pretentious diction often causes problems with tone approximately facilitate implement individualized operationability utilization

29. Weak verbs hide the energy of your work A new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust engines is presented. Flow tube experiments to test this process are discussed. The percentage decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions is revealed. This paper presents a new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from the exhaust of diesel engines. To test this process, we performed experiments in flow tubes. These experiments revealed a 99 percent decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions.

30. A formal definition has a specific form Bremsstrahlung: the radiation emitted by a charged particle that is accelerated in the Coulomb force field of a nucleus. noun term + noun naming class to which noun term belongs information to separate noun term from other terms in class noun term

31. To tighten your writing, eliminate redundancies Vibration measurements made in the course of the Titan flight test program were complicated by the presence of intense high-frequency excitation of the vehicle shell structure during the re-entry phase of the flight. Vibration measurements made in the Titan flight were complicated by intense high- frequency excitation of the vehicle shell during re-entry.

32. Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. A cloud of hot rock and gas surged northward from its collapsing slope. The cloud devastated more than 500 square kilometers of forests and lakes. The effects of Mount St. Helens were well documented with geophysical instruments. The origin of the eruption is not well understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid expansion of steam. Some scientists believe the steam comes from groundwater heated by the magma. Other scientists believe the steam comes from water originally dissolved in the magma. We need to understand the source of steam in volcanic eruptions. We need to determine how much water the magma contains. When sentence openers do not vary, the sentences do not seem to connect Z Z Z

33. Varying sentence openers allows for more kinds of transitions between sentences Sentence #1 Sentence #2 Sentence #3 Topic of SentenceSubject Time of actionPrepositional Phrase Location of actionPrepositional Phrase Manner of action Adverb Subordinate actionDependent Clause Reason for actionInfinitive Phrase

34. Vary sentence openers to vary rhythm Mount St. Helens erupted on May… subject-verb In minutes, the mountain emitted… prepositional phrase Recently, debate has arisen... adverb Although the exact time of the eruption surprised scientists, evidence had been collected... dependent clause To understand the eruption, we have to... infinitive phrase

35. Varying sentence openers enlivens the writing and allows connections Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. Its slope collapsing, the mountain emitted a cloud of hot rock and gas. In minutes, the cloud devastated more than 500 square kilometers of forests and lakes. Although the effects of the eruption were well documented, the origin is not well understood. Volcanic explosions are driven by a rapid expansion of steam. Recently, debate has arisen over the source for the steam. Is it groundwater heated by magma or water originally dissolved in the magma itself? To understand the source of steam in volcanic eruptions, we need to determine how much water the magma contains.

36. Common Errors

37. Avoiding Common Errors of Grammar One of the most important skills a writer can have is the ability to compose clear, complete sentences. The sentence is the basic unit of communication in all forms of English. Funk, McMahan, and Day Elements of Grammar

38. Not all mechanical errors bother readers in the same way Errors that disturb run-on sentence its/it’s spell checker ignored Errors that distract missing intro comma faulty parallelism unclear pronoun ref Errors that few even notice different from/than contraction split infinitive

39. The most important aspect of grammar is understanding what a sentence is Sentence:A sentence is group of words with a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought. Fragment:A fragment being a group of words that either is missing a subject or a verb or does not express a complete thought. Run-on:A run-on is two or more independent clauses that are not joined properly, for instance, a common mistake is to have a comma between the clauses.

40. Which are sentences (S), fragments (F), or run-ons (RO)? Rubidium has no major uses, however, it is more common in the earth than zinc, copper, or nickel. Although carbon dioxide occurs naturally, man has dramatically increased its concentration this past century. Several systems can detect plastic explosives. For example, thermal neutron activation systems, nitrogen sniffer systems, and enhanced x-ray systems. RO S S / F

41. Shown in yellow are corrections to the errors from the previous slide Although rubidium has no major uses, it is more common in the earth than zinc, copper, or nickel. Although carbon dioxide occurs naturally, man has dramatically increased its concentration this past century. Several systems can detect plastic explosives. Examples include thermal neutron activation systems, nitrogen sniffer systems, and enhanced x-ray systems.