Presenting your research project

During your studies, you learnt how to plan your research process and you most likely carried your own theoretical or empirical study. In that process, you have done your best to complete this task (you have carefully planned your research process according to the aims of research, you applied the right methodology, and you finally have reached some research findings and felt good about your work). But something is not yet complete if you are the only one who is aware of these interesting and exciting findings. To inform others, you need to share your results  (e.g. with peers, teachers, academic community). Why should you do this? 

Presenting your findings is as important as planning for your study, and it is an opportunity for others to understand your research process, offer constructive criticism on your results, and provide feedback. Most likely, most of your (individual or group) presentations delivered during your study program has been in front of your colleagues or classmates. They were your first “friendly” audience and this made your task of presenting easier – you probably felt less anxious to talk in front of them. Even when presenting to a friendly audience (usually in a 10-15 minutes), take the assignment seriously, as even if all students got the same assignment in a classroom, your classmates might not be familiar with your specific research topic and research process. Presentations are important in sharing your work and, if delivered well, can initiate a lively debate and open the door for additional opportunities, such as presenting your work at (local) student conference, publishing a journal article, or even pursuing related topics in your graduate studies.

There are two modes of delivering a presentation, written and oral. When choosing a specific mode (although in most cases, this will be determined by the teacher), consider the purpose of various types of presentation formats, discussed below.