EFS 698C - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Writing and Presenting Research
EFS 698C - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Writing and Presenting Research
EFS 698C: Week 3
Notes
I. Williams text -- Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace: Lesson 3
II. Presentations: Your 3-minute speech.
III. How can you present your research so that it's easiest to understand and remember? Rule of 3/Power of 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCbpAoDJ5Nk; https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_c_bush_this_is_what_makes_employees_happy_at_work
IV. A note on gestures. I like to divide gestures into three main types (Rule of 3!)
Iconic/meaningful gestures (e.g., holding up 3 fingers when you say "three")
Rhythmic gestures (moving hands to keep pace with main stresses in phrases as you speak)
Affective (gestures, often accompanied by facial expressions, showing emotion or attitude, like holding arms out and palms up to show you're puzzled)
Others? There are no doubt more, but this will get us started.
V. Continuation of last class: issues in non-published writing.
Discussion: what other kinds of non-published writing do you need to be good at?
A. Emails, especially requests to strangers
Tips for effective professional emails:
B. Recommendation and other letters
C. Reviews & responses to them
D. Other?
VI. Peer review
A. Review form: value of constructive feedback
1. Was the topic clearly introduced?
2. When you got to the end, how well do you think you understood the author’s research?
3. Was the value/contribution of the research clear? Was there any key information missing?
4. Were there any words or phrases you didn’t understand (you may mark these directly on the paper)?
B. Reading & commenting
C. Response: discuss
VII. Public or lay abstract
Example description from http://www.pcori.org/assets/PFAguidelines.pdf, p 20.
2.12 Research Plan: Public Abstract (3,000 characters)
PCORI also requires an abstract written in lay terms. This public abstract should be written so that it can be
separated from the application and the project still fully understood. The abstract will be published on the
PCORI Web site. It must include the same basic information as in the scientific abstract but in
straightforward, simple language intended for nonscientific readers. This public abstract may not exceed
3,000 characters (including spaces). This abstract can be prepared in advance and either entered or pasted
directly into the online system.
Examples--have a look at these for ideas. To what extent do you think they meet the requirements above?
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0619377 (compare technical and lay abstract)
https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/4291/public.pdf;
http://www.ishm.umd.edu/about/public-abstract.html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.138/pdf (from journal articles on autism)
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Homework:
1. Come to our meeting this week prepared to discuss your 3-minute video and the peer review of your writing. Send me anything else you want to by 8:00 pm the night before.
2. Revise your paper from last week. make it in the form of a public abstract (see above), avoiding or defining all technical jargon, ~2 pages double spaced. Once again, email me your papers by 8:00 pm the night before class. Keep in mind any suggestions from the class peer review.
3. Prepare a second version of your 3-minute thesis talk, making adjustments in content and performance based on peer review, instructor feedback, and self-evaluation. Revise to accommodate the rule of 3 if reasonable.
4. Williams Lesson 3 homework: Read Lesson 3 and rewrite these sentences following the instructions in the book. Bring printed or electronic versions to class for discussion.
3.5: 4
3.6: 10
3.7: 4