Power Point Presentation Guidelines

(For 12-Minute Presentation)

Pamela Shoemaker
January 2004

First, don’t think of the presentation as a condensation of your paper. It is a new written work
that will look very different from your paper.

Use power point or a similar type of system. For any presentation, the words on each slide
should be kept to a minimum and a clear san-serif font should be used for readability. Limit
copy to major points – they are there to help your audience comprehend the material and guide
you along in the presentation.

Generally, you will talk at a speed of about one minute per slide. This, of course, depends on
how much you put on the slide and how fast you talk – but it’s a reasonable target. For a typical
12-minute presentation you should not exceed 15 slides.

1. Title Slide (1 slide)

Introduce yourself and the title of your research paper.

2. Problem (1 slide)
State the problem you’re addressing concisely on one slide.

3 – 4. Theories (1-2 slides)

Cite the key theories in your paper.

5 - 6. Method (1-2 slides)

Briefly summarize your method on one slide, unless you did something really unusual, then two
slides. Because content analysis requires more complicated operationalization, you may want
to hand out (or have available) your coding instructions on a separate sheet.

7 - 15. Results/Discussion (6-9 slides)

The rest of the slides are for results, hypotheses, and discussion. Start with a brief recap of
descriptive statistics. Put the hypotheses in the results section: Hypothesis 1: sdjj dkdk ksjsj.
Then tell what statistic was used to test the hypothesis and whether it was supported. Do not
put any tables with small numbers on them – they are unreadable and uninterpretable by the
audience. Be sure to tell the significance of your research and what the next research ought to
be.

Practice
Practice your presentation by saying it out loud to gauge the timing before presenting it in class.

**This is a tried and true format for conference presentations. However, it will also be handy for
all kinds of presentations you will be expected to do in your academic careers.