Communicating Research

Text:

  1. Twelve tips on writing abstracts and titles
  2. Basic Abstract Format
  3. Abstract Examples from the 2015 Summer Research Symposium.

 

Assignment

  1. Write an abstract for the Symposium due last Friday in July
  2. Presentation practice

 

Communicating Research

For your presentation for the Center on Health Disparities Research Symposium:

First, you will need to submit an abstract and create a powerpoint. Abstracts are a short synopsis of the project or topic that you will discuss. Abstracts will be due on the last Friday in July. The abstract document as listed in the  readings above describes the requirements. You can submit a draft of the abstract to me but ALL FINAL ABSTRACTS MUST BE REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY YOUR MENTORS BEFORE SUBMISSION TO Drs. Hargraves at rhobson@vcu.edu and Smith at mdsmith@vcu.edu.

 

Next, develop a 10-minute talk on your summer work. This is usually 10-15 power point slides. Please remember that pictures are worth a thousand words! Use your slides to support your voice and provide visual cues, not to let the observer just read.

 

You can focus on the overall research of your lab that you are part of this summer.  You can highlight areas/ topics/ techniques that you hope to teach to your students in the upcoming academic year.  No one expects for you to have a complete story at this stage in the program.  Just describe why you are in the program, what you learned so far, and what you hope to take with you into the classroom.  Remember this talk is only 10 minutes in length.

 

Last, practice, practice, practice!  We will work together to practice for the talk August 2nd.  Please let me know if you would like to practice ahead of the date separately.

 

Now for some help-

Science communication when done right can be informative and exciting.  Here we explore some resources that can make your research stand out below. Your audience will be undergraduate and graduate students that have done research, plus

Hello PhD podcast – Making Powerpoint presentations that don’t suck – Episode 31

Susan McConnell: The Importance of Giving a Good Talk

Look forward to seeing your abstracts.