1. Research Presentations

2. Know your audience Keep in mind What can you do?
Who you’re talking to.
They can read 
People tune out after 2 minutes.
What can you do?

3. What can you do? Hook attention. Make eye contact.
Talk more than read.
Visuals.
Illustrate your idea with images and media.
Show where you are in the presentations.
Don’t put all of your points up at once. They’ll read ahead and stop listening.

4. Preparing the presentation
Less is more.
You fill in the gaps and narrate.
Use animation sparingly.
Use color to emphasize some points but don’t be excessive.
Have same font and design throughout.

5. Slide layout - Bad
This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

6. Fonts - Bad CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ
If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written
CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ
Don’t use a complicated font

7. Color - Good
Use font color that contrasts sharply with the background.
Blue font on white background
Use color to emphasize a point.
But only use this occasionally

8. Color - Bad
Using a font color that does not contrast with the background color is hard to read
Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying.
Using a different color for each point is unnecessary
Same for secondary points
Trying to be creative can also be bad

9. Background - Good Attractive but simple.
Same background consistently throughout your presentation.

10. Background – Bad
Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from
Always be consistent with the background that you use

11. How do I know if my sources are credible?
Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible.
Most large newspapers are credible.
New York Times
Charlotte Observer
Washington Post
Scholarly journals are usually credible.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
Most government publications are credible.
Reputable organizations are usually credible.
American Cancer Society
World Health Organization
American Red Cross
Most information from colleges is credible.
.edu websites

12. How do I know if my sources are credible?
You can automatically rule out:
Wikipedia
Myspace
Geocities
Blogs
Friendster
Personal sites

13. Credible Internet Sources
Ways to tell a credible internet source:
Looks professional
The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4-year-old with a crayon
All or most links are working
Information offered is easy to verify
The website offers links to where they found their information
The sources of their information is also credible

14. Credible Internet Sources
It is easy to contact the owners of the website for more information or to ask questions
The site is up to date
Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent”
There are no errors
The site uses proper spelling and grammar
The website is appropriate
There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or photos

15. Credible Internet Sources
These guidelines are not 100%
When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or librarian
If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it
Be careful with .com sites
All .com sites are trying to sell something, which means they are all biased in some way
Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less credible

16. Include a Bibliography
An alphabetized listing of all your sources.

17. Works Cited
1776: The Year America was Born. Chicago: New Haven Press, 1985.
Allen, Robert C., ed. The Hopi Way. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.
Allen, Thomas B. Vanishing Wildlife of North America. Washingtion D. C.: National
Geographic Society, 1974.
Bouchette, Ed. “Porter May Face Bengals Sunday.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
17 September 2003 <
“Japan.” Encarta ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 1998.
“Judy Blume.” UXL Discovering Authors. Online. Student Resource Center.
15 September 2003.
Kanfer, Stefan. “Heard Any Good Books Lately?” Time 21 July 1986:
Pettingill, Olin Sewall, Jr. “Falcon and Falconry.” World Book Encyclopedia
Ridge, Jeffrey P. “Tax Increase Promises Hard Times.” Chicago Tribune.
15 Dec nat.ed., sec. A : 2.
Searles, Baird and, Martin Last. A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction. New York:
Facts on File, Inc., 1979.

18. Book Entry
Author’s last name, first name. Book Title. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.
Important: you must indent the second and third lines of any entry.

19. Online Encyclopedia
“Title of article.” Title of Encyclopedia. Version. <URL>. (Date you accessed the website).

20. Online Source
Author’s name, if known (last, first). “Title of Article.” [Online] Document date (if available).Website address (URL) (Visited: Date you accessed the website).

21. Image Source
Artist/Photographer’s name, if known, (last,first). “Image/Photo Title.” Image Description. Web Page Title. Update/Last Date. Date you accessed the website. Website address (URL).

22. Citing an Image Source
Right click on an image. Go to “properties” and copy the URL that is given.
Image Description: URL.
Red or North Pyramid: < ~ancient/redp1.jpg >