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Reading Presentation templates

From learning how to read, to spending time with a good book and a cup of tea, reading can be an incredibly rewarding hobby. with the love for learning that reading provides, one can engage in activities like solving puzzles and crosswords, joining book clubs and creativity classes with friends, or learning new skills through instructional texts. these templates focus on this amazing skill, how to acquire it and how to enjoy it. discover them and prepare educative lessons that encourage students to love books.

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Strategies for Studying Texts

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Language Arts Subject for Elementary - 3rd Grade: Reading

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Quick Reading & Comprehension Skills

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Presenting in a Reading Group

Tips for giving a reading group talk

If you’re involved in research, you’re probably going to give a reading group presentation at some point. Many professors push their PhD students to give talks. Giving these talks helps researchers build the ability to read and understand papers quickly, and the ability to communicate findings effectively.

Volunteer or be volunTOLD. — Prof. David Fouhey

Dr. Fouhey told this joke multiple times during the computer vision reading group last semester and the other professors agreed. It succinctly summarizes the emphasis placed on giving these talks.

What’s a reading group?

Reading groups regularly meet to discuss topics in research. Most of the time, the group will focus on one specific paper detailing an important finding. In AI, many of these reading groups may be focused on award-winning papers from recent conferences or on methods relevant to the participants’ research.

Reading groups exist mainly to enrich the participants’ knowledge. Sometimes the talks will focus on a broader topic as an introduction and sometimes the talks will focus on a specific method in a specific paper. The more niche the audience of the reading group, the more advanced the topic tends to be. At MSAIL, we try to strike a balance between our younger, less-experienced audience (i.e. underclassmen) and our older, experienced audience (upperclassmen, graduate students, etc.).

Choosing a topic

Choosing a topic may be the hardest part of the presentation process. Generally, you can present any topic you want, given that it hasn’t already been presented recently. Present on something that grabs your interest immediately, or something you have some familiarity with - it’ll make the preparation process more bearable. If you’re open to topics and are confident you can adapt, then just go to a conference or journal page and search through some of the accepted papers that catch your eye (at the time of writing, I’ve been looking at ICLR 2021 papers).

In my opinion, the main question you should ask yourself when you’ve identified a potential topic is:

Am I willing to read about this topic in depth, even to the extent of falling into a rabbit hole?

You obviously don’t need to know everything about the topic you choose (no one does), but persistence is the key to having a strong presentation. The more comfy you are with the overall subject area, the more natural your presentation will flow and the less likely you are to trip up. (For MSAIL, however, if you’re a newcomer and haven’t really done a reading group presentation before, we’ll help you out!)

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when looking at a paper or topic that you’re about to choose:

• If it’s not clearly important or you don’t gain anything from knowledge of the topic itself, you’ll just be wasting time.
• Important for getting people to attend your talk, and also helpful in gauging whether your audience will stay engaged. If they aren’t engaged in the beginning how can they be expected to in the end?
• A “reasonable amount of time” is generally a week or so.
• You need to choose papers of reasonable length. We often suggest presenting on conference papers because they’re less than 10 pages on average. Longer papers and topics are more feasible down the line when you’ve become comfortable with these types of presentations.

For the examples in this post, I will go through the process of choosing a topic for one of my previous talks. I’ve given plenty of talks on uninteresting topics and papers, but some were received particularly well. I will talk about my process for presenting VideoBERT , which I presented way back in Fall 2019. This was actually my first ever MSAIL talk, and at the time I had only recently become acquainted with AI research. The talk had plenty of faults, which I’ll try to use as examples.

Reading relevant sources

For a specific paper.

Even if you choose one paper, that paper is probably not the only source you’re looking at to understand all the content. When you first read through the paper itself, you should annotate the key points (this is just a common reading skill, but it’s easy to forget!) and note the portions that confuse you. Depending on your background, you may or may not be able to finish the first pass. You should aim to have a big picture understanding of the paper, so maybe about 30%. If you can’t reach that level on your first read - don’t fret. You need to go read some supplementary materials. In particular, any decent paper will reference prior/related work in a section near the introduction - this is where you can dive into their citations and read up on the things that confuse you. Alternatively, I’ve found that Medium posts are particularly helpful as well for understanding more basic content.

Note the underlined portions here from the Related Work section of the VideoBERT paper. These highlight topics that might be worth searching up. You don’t need to dive into everything, but having a general understanding of what cross-modal learning and BERT are would help to better understand this paper.

If after all that, you still can’t understand 30% of the material in the paper, then I’m afraid you probably need to read further on basic material and possibly postpone your talk. I don’t expect this to happen because the pool of people who choose to present is self-selecting (as in, you’re more likely to want to present in a reading group if you already have basic background), but just in case, don’t be afraid to start at the beginning. I too have had to withdraw after signing up for a reading group before because I just did not understand what I was reading at all.

After the first pass, you have an idea of what the paper’s central ideas are. You can then start outlining what you want to talk about. Any subsequent passes will simply be to reinforce your understanding of the paper.

For a broader topic

For a broader topic, you should still choose to focus on a few papers in order to narrow the scope of your presentation. If you choose this, you likely have an idea in mind for how you wish to synthesize the ideas in the papers. Knowing this, you should focus your reading based on which points you hope to elucidate most. The process will very much feel like the process in the above section, except you’ll spend less time focusing on the intricate details of any one paper and you’ll focus more on the key ideas that you can use to build toward whatever main idea you’re focusing on.

In general, giving these types of talks is difficult. Even professors struggle to present so much content in a clear way. If you intend to give a talk like this, make sure to spend extra time in advance to really nail a cohesive argument. Otherwise, just stick to one paper since usually the time you have is only enough for one.

An example of a decent talk that synthesizes ideas in multiple papers is Justin Johnson’s lecture on Object Segmentation . This is obviously not a reading group talk and is an entire course lecture - but the principles are relatively similar since the topics presented here are from recent papers. Another good example is the talk Dr. Chai gave us in Fall 2020 .

Some of our own, more tame talks presenting multiple papers include John Day’s Brain-Inspired AI talk , Yash Gambhir’s Text Summarization talk , and my talk on using reinforcement learning for optimization in COVID-19 problems . If you watch them you’ll notice some of the difficulties we had with balancing our content and finishing in time.

Creating slides

Most of the time you’ll be preparing slides to assist you in your talk. Organizing your slides properly is the key to getting a good presentation going.

Something that helps me is using a general slide outline and then identifying where in the paper I can get the information for a specific section. Then I fill in the sections and occasionally add subsections based on the subtitles in the paper.

In general, you want to introduce the following points in any regular paper presentation. You can change the order to suit your preferred flow, but the one presented here works well normally. Note that you can use any number of slides for each section:

• Why did the authors explore this topic? Who and how does it help solve a big problem?
• What are the authors proposing or introducing?
• Make this clear at the beginning. Then your audience will know what to expect.
• What does your audience need to know (at a high level) before you dive into the details of the topic?
• This is not always necessary, but if you’re presenting something technically challenging you may want to briefly introduce this.
• This is the novel part of the paper. What did the authors do and how did they do it?
• How did they validate their methods and what did they compare it to? What are the deliverables?
• Restate the major contributions. Also, talk about the implications for the future.

General Principles

You’ve probably presented to someone before. In that case, you should be well aware of standard principles, but I’ll write some in case you aren’t:

• This is a technical talk. Please don’t make your readers lose you.
• Personally, I tend to put around 2 lines of text on a slide and then explain the rest verbally. Putting less text and explaining it instead helps me better understand the content too!
• I don’t need to tell you that a picture is worth a thousand words, but they’ll help a ton. You can usually just steal these from the paper and its supplementary materials. If they don’t have any and you feel that one would be appropriate, don’t be afraid to create one!
• Sometimes the talk is devoted to an equation or the theory you’re discussing is heavily reliant on equations (I can’t imagine some reinforcement learning papers without Bellman’s equation.). But if the paper has a lot of equations, try only to include the most important ones.

Take a look at my VideoBERT slides and note that I absolutely did not follow these principles and the above listed structure during that talk. I consider my VideoBERT talk to be of poor quality. Don’t worry about the technical content. (Note that this link is Michigan only)

Here are a few sample slides depicting how I would’ve roughly modified my VideoBERT talk to be easier to follow and listen to. I only wrote up to the methods section, because I just wanted to depict some of the principles in action. Again, don’t worry about the technical content. (This link is open to everyone)

Also, feel free to take a look at this slidedeck for general tips .

Presenting your slides

Presentation is very important for a technical talk. I’m pretty sure most presenters don’t want to bore their audience. During one reading group a while ago, I delivered a one hour talk that included even professors in the audience. After that talk I didn’t receive a single question. I can only speculate whether they got lost, whether we were out of time, or whether I just completely bored them. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen to you.

Here are some steps you can take to reduce the chance of losing your audience:

• Reiterating the importance of preparing your slides properly. Prepare them as if you were presenting them, and then practice presenting them at least once before your talk.
• This is a given - you should be speaking and never reading.
• Don’t go on diversions. Save them till the end.
• Leave room for questions during your presentation. I doubt most people will remember their questions by the end. A good rule might be to ask for questions every 5 minutes.
• Similarly, you should be gauging understanding as you go along. If the audience can attest to understand what you’re saying, you’re fine.
• Speak slowly. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have my entire audience understand 80% of my presentation and not finish within time than finishing and not having anyone understand anything. I sometimes break this rule without realizing.

There are probably many more principles to follow, but in reading groups these are the ones I’ve found to be the most blatant errors that I wish I corrected.

Can I forgo preparing slides?

If you don’t want to prepare slides, you can either:

• Walk through the paper itself
• Prepare questions and facilitate a discussion rather than giving a talk

I wouldn’t advise a newcomer (or anyone, for that matter) to choose the first option. The point of preparing slides is to make material more presentable and to help you, the presenter, understand the paper better. I’ve only experienced people presenting straight from the paper when they knew what they were talking about but had last minute obligations come up. For reference, the last two times I saw this done were from a student who wrote the paper he was presenting on, and from a senior research scientist at Google Brain. It is generally okay, however, to supplement your slides during your talk by briefly visiting the paper to discuss something like a figure or a table, or to answer questions.

The second option is far more feasible, and at MSAIL we actually recommend this format. Discussion questions help the audience engage with the material more. However, good discussions usually occur around people with background, so be wary of your audience. You’ll usually be presenting something in addition to the questions - for example, last Winter we had a discussion about using vision to analyze CT scans for the purpose of detecting COVID-19. All we did was play a video prepared by another organization and then discussed it in detail. This is perfectly fine, given that you have an interesting topic.

Going forward

Yeah, preparing to present at a reading group is a lot of work the first time around. After a while, you’ll be comfortable enough with both approaching novel technical content and with your presentation skills, so you’ll be able to take shortcuts and structure things as you wish. You’ll also just become faster. In the long term, this skill will certainly help you as a researcher.

Gone are the days when the MSAIL Admin team was scrambling to prepare entire talks within 5 hours on the day of (we were quite notorious for this during the ‘19-‘20 school year). This happened because we had very few speakers, but we’re much better off now. I hope you never prepare a talk within such a constraint because I can guarantee that the talk will fail miserably. The further along you go as a researcher, the later you’ll be able to start preparing reading group presentations, but you’ll still wish you started earlier.

If you’re ready to try your hand at a talk, sign up with your reading group(s). For University of Michigan students, here are some reading groups you might be interested in:

Reach out to us at [email protected] if you’re interested in giving a talk at MSAIL or for help with preparing a talk. Happy presenting!

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How to read and understand a scientific paper

How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists, london school of economics and political science, jennifer raff.

From vaccinations to climate change, getting science wrong has very real consequences. But journal articles, a primary way science is communicated in academia, are a different format to newspaper articles or blogs and require a level of skill and undoubtedly a greater amount of patience. Here  Jennifer Raff   has prepared a helpful guide for non-scientists on how to read a scientific paper. These steps and tips will be useful to anyone interested in the presentation of scientific findings and raise important points for scientists to consider with their own writing practice.

My post,  The truth about vaccinations: Your physician knows more than the University of Google  sparked a very lively discussion, with comments from several people trying to persuade me (and the other readers) that  their  paper disproved everything that I’d been saying. While I encourage you to go read the comments and contribute your own, here I want to focus on the much larger issue that this debate raised: what constitutes scientific authority?

It’s not just a fun academic problem. Getting the science wrong has very real consequences. For example, when a community doesn’t vaccinate children because they’re afraid of “toxins” and think that prayer (or diet, exercise, and “clean living”) is enough to prevent infection, outbreaks happen.

“Be skeptical. But when you get proof, accept proof.” –Michael Specter

What constitutes enough proof? Obviously everyone has a different answer to that question. But to form a truly educated opinion on a scientific subject, you need to become familiar with current research in that field. And to do that, you have to read the “primary research literature” (often just called “the literature”). You might have tried to read scientific papers before and been frustrated by the dense, stilted writing and the unfamiliar jargon. I remember feeling this way!  Reading and understanding research papers is a skill which every single doctor and scientist has had to learn during graduate school.  You can learn it too, but like any skill it takes patience and practice.

I want to help people become more scientifically literate, so I wrote this guide for how a layperson can approach reading and understanding a scientific research paper. It’s appropriate for someone who has no background whatsoever in science or medicine, and based on the assumption that he or she is doing this for the purpose of getting a  basic  understanding of a paper and deciding whether or not it’s a reputable study.

The type of scientific paper I’m discussing here is referred to as a  primary research article . It’s a peer-reviewed report of new research on a specific question (or questions). Another useful type of publication is a  review article . Review articles are also peer-reviewed, and don’t present new information, but summarize multiple primary research articles, to give a sense of the consensus, debates, and unanswered questions within a field.  (I’m not going to say much more about them here, but be cautious about which review articles you read. Remember that they are only a snapshot of the research at the time they are published.  A review article on, say, genome-wide association studies from 2001 is not going to be very informative in 2013. So much research has been done in the intervening years that the field has changed considerably).

Before you begin: some general advice

Reading a scientific paper is a completely different process than reading an article about science in a blog or newspaper. Not only do you read the sections in a different order than they’re presented, but you also have to take notes, read it multiple times, and probably go look up other papers for some of the details. Reading a single paper may take you a very long time at first. Be patient with yourself. The process will go much faster as you gain experience.

Most primary research papers will be divided into the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions/Interpretations/Discussion. The order will depend on which journal it’s published in. Some journals have additional files (called Supplementary Online Information) which contain important details of the research, but are published online instead of in the article itself (make sure you don’t skip these files).

Before you begin reading, take note of the authors and their institutional affiliations. Some institutions (e.g. University of Texas) are well-respected; others (e.g.  the Discovery Institute ) may appear to be legitimate research institutions but are actually agenda-driven.  Tip:  g oogle  “Discovery Institute” to see why you don’t want to use it as a scientific authority on evolutionary theory.

Also take note of the journal in which it’s published. Reputable (biomedical) journals will be indexed by  Pubmed . [EDIT: Several people have reminded me that non-biomedical journals won’t be on Pubmed, and they’re absolutely correct! (thanks for catching that, I apologize for being sloppy here). Check out  Web of Science  for a more complete index of science journals. And please feel free to share other resources in the comments!]  Beware of  questionable journals .

As you read, write down  every single word  that you don’t understand. You’re going to have to look them all up (yes, every one. I know it’s a total pain. But you won’t understand the paper if you don’t understand the vocabulary. Scientific words have extremely precise meanings).

Step-by-step instructions for reading a primary research article

1. Begin by reading the introduction, not the abstract.

The abstract is that dense first paragraph at the very beginning of a paper. In fact, that’s often the only part of a paper that many non-scientists read when they’re trying to build a scientific argument. (This is a terrible practice—don’t do it.).  When I’m choosing papers to read, I decide what’s relevant to my interests based on a combination of the title and abstract. But when I’ve got a collection of papers assembled for deep reading, I always read the abstract last. I do this because abstracts contain a succinct summary of the entire paper, and I’m concerned about inadvertently becoming biased by the authors’ interpretation of the results.

2. Identify the BIG QUESTION.

Not “What is this paper about”, but “What problem is this entire field trying to solve?”

This helps you focus on why this research is being done.  Look closely for evidence of agenda-motivated research.

3. Summarize the background in five sentences or less.

Here are some questions to guide you:

What work has been done before in this field to answer the BIG QUESTION? What are the limitations of that work? What, according to the authors, needs to be done next?

The five sentences part is a little arbitrary, but it forces you to be concise and really think about the context of this research. You need to be able to explain why this research has been done in order to understand it.

4.   Identify the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)

What  exactly  are the authors trying to answer with their research? There may be multiple questions, or just one. Write them down.  If it’s the kind of research that tests one or more null hypotheses, identify it/them.

Not sure what a null hypothesis is? Go read this one  and try to identify the null hypotheses in it. Keep in mind that not every paper will test a null hypothesis.

5. Identify the approach

What are the authors going to do to answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)?

6. Now read the methods section. Draw a diagram for each experiment, showing exactly what the authors did.

I mean  literally  draw it. Include as much detail as you need to fully understand the work.  As an example, here is what I drew to sort out the methods for a paper I read today ( Battaglia et al. 2013: “The first peopling of South America: New evidence from Y-chromosome haplogroup Q” ). This is much less detail than you’d probably need, because it’s a paper in my specialty and I use these methods all the time.  But if you were reading this, and didn’t happen to know what “process data with reduced-median method using Network” means, you’d need to look that up.

Image credit: author

You don’t need to understand the methods in enough detail to replicate the experiment—that’s something reviewers have to do—but you’re not ready to move on to the results until you can explain the basics of the methods to someone else.

7.   Read the results section. Write one or more paragraphs to summarize the results for each experiment, each figure, and each table. Don’t yet try to decide what the results  mean , just write down what they  are.

You’ll find that, particularly in good papers, the majority of the results are summarized in the figures and tables. Pay careful attention to them!  You may also need to go to the Supplementary Online Information file to find some of the results.

 It is at this point where difficulties can arise if statistical tests are employed in the paper and you don’t have enough of a background to understand them. I can’t teach you stats in this post, but  here , and here   are some basic resources to help you.  I STRONGLY advise you to become familiar with them.

Things to pay attention to in the results section:

• Any time the words “significant” or “non-significant” are used. These have precise statistical meanings. Read more about this  here .
• If there are graphs, do they have  error bars  on them? For certain types of studies, a lack of confidence intervals is a major red flag.
• The sample size. Has the study been conducted on 10, or 10,000 people? (For some research purposes, a sample size of 10 is sufficient, but for most studies larger is better).

8. Do the results answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(S)? What do you think they mean?

Don’t move on until you have thought about this. It’s okay to change your mind in light of the authors’ interpretation—in fact you probably will if you’re still a beginner at this kind of analysis—but it’s a really good habit to start forming your own interpretations before you read those of others.

9. Read the conclusion/discussion/Interpretation section.

What do the authors think the results mean? Do you agree with them? Can you come up with any alternative way of interpreting them? Do the authors identify any weaknesses in their own study? Do you see any that the authors missed? (Don’t assume they’re infallible!) What do they propose to do as a next step? Do you agree with that?

10. Now, go back to the beginning and read the abstract.

Does it match what the authors said in the paper? Does it fit with your interpretation of the paper?

11. FINAL STEP:  (Don’t neglect doing this)  What do other researchers say about this paper?

Who are the (acknowledged or self-proclaimed) experts in this particular field? Do they have criticisms of the study that you haven’t thought of, or do they generally support it?

Here’s a place where I do recommend you use google! But do it last, so you are better prepared to think critically about what other people say.

(12. This step may be optional for you, depending on why you’re reading a particular paper. But for me, it’s critical! I go through the “Literature cited” section to see what other papers the authors cited. This allows me to better identify the important papers in a particular field, see if the authors cited my own papers (KIDDING!….mostly), and find sources of useful ideas or techniques.)

UPDATE: If you would like to see an example of how to read a science paper using this framework, you can find one  here .

I gratefully acknowledge Professors José Bonner and Bill Saxton for teaching me how to critically read and analyze scientific papers using this method. I’m honored to have the chance to pass along what they taught me.

I’ve written a shorter version of this guide for teachers to hand out to their classes. If you’d like a PDF, shoot me an email: jenniferraff (at) utexas (dot) edu. For further comments and additional questions on this guide, please see the Comments Section on  the original post .

This piece originally appeared on the  author’s personal blog  and is reposted with permission.

Featured image credit:  Scientists in a laboratory of the University of La Rioja  by  Urcomunicacion  (Wikimedia CC BY3.0)

Note: This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the LSE Impact blog, nor of the London School of Economics. Please review our  Comments Policy  if you have any concerns on posting a comment below.

Jennifer Raff (Indiana University—dual Ph.D. in genetics and bioanthropology) is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, director and Principal Investigator of the KU Laboratory of Human Population Genomics, and assistant director of KU’s Laboratory of Biological Anthropology. She is also a research affiliate with the University of Texas anthropological genetics laboratory. She is keenly interested in public outreach and scientific literacy, writing about topics in science and pseudoscience for her blog ( violentmetaphors.com ), the Huffington Post, and for the  Social Evolution Forum .

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Open Access

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

• Kristen M. Naegle

Published: December 2, 2021

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
• Reader Comments

Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554

Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

How to read a scientific paper: a step-by-step guide

Scientific paper format

How to read a scientific paper in 3 steps, step 1: identify your motivations for reading a scientific paper, step 2: use selective reading to gain a high-level understanding of the scientific paper, step 3: read straight through to achieve a deep understanding of a scientific paper, frequently asked questions about reading a scientific paper efficiently, related articles.

A scientific paper is a complex document. Scientific papers are divided into multiple sections and frequently contain jargon and long sentences that make reading difficult. The process of reading a scientific paper to obtain information can often feel overwhelming for an early career researcher.

But the good news is that you can acquire the skill of efficiently reading a scientific paper, and you can learn how to painlessly obtain the information you need.

In this guide, we show you how to read a scientific paper step-by-step. You will learn:

• The scientific paper format
• How to identify your reasons for reading a scientific paper
• How to skim a paper
• How to achieve a deep understanding of a paper.

Using these steps for reading a scientific paper will help you:

• Obtain information efficiently
• Retain knowledge more effectively
• Allocate sufficient time to your reading task.

The steps below are the result of research into how scientists read scientific papers and our own experiences as scientists.

Firstly, how is a scientific paper structured?

The main sections are Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. In the table below, we describe the purpose of each component of a scientific paper.

Because the structured format of a scientific paper makes it easy to find the information you need, a common technique for reading a scientific paper is to cherry-pick sections and jump around the paper.

In a YouTube video, Dr. Amina Yonis shows this nonlinear practice for reading a scientific paper. She justifies her technique by stating that “By reading research papers like this, you are enabling yourself to have a disciplined approach, and it prevents yourself from drowning in the details before you even get a bird’s-eye view”.

Selective reading is a skill that can help you read faster and engage with the material presented. In his article on active vs. passive reading of scientific papers, cell biologist Tung-Tien Sun defines active reading as "reading with questions in mind" , searching for the answers, and focusing on the parts of the paper that answer your questions.

Therefore, reading a scientific paper from start to finish isn't always necessary to understand it. How you read the paper depends on what you need to learn. For example, oceanographer Ken Hughes suggests that you may read a scientific paper to gain awareness of a theory or field, or you may read to actively solve a problem in your research.

To successfully read a scientific paper, we advise using three strategies:

• Identify your motivations for reading a scientific paper
• Use selective reading to gain a high-level understanding of the scientific paper
• Read straight through to achieve a deep understanding of a scientific paper .

All 3 steps require you to think critically and have questions in mind.

Before you sit down to read a scientific paper, ask yourself these three questions:

• Why do I need to read this paper?
• What information am I looking for?
• Where in the paper am I most likely to find the information I need?

Is it background reading or a literature review for a research project you are currently working on? Are you getting into a new field of research? Do you wish to compare your results with the ones presented in the paper? Are you following an author’s work, and need to keep up-to-date on their current research? Are you keeping tabs on emerging methods in your field?

All of these intentions require a different reading approach.

For example, if you're delving into a new field of research, you'll want to read the introduction to gather background information and seminal references. The discussion section will also be important to understand the broader context of the findings.

If you aim to extend the work presented in a paper, and this study will be the starting point for your work, it's crucial to read the paper deeply.

If your focus is on the study design and techniques used by the authors, you'll spend most of your time reading and understanding the methods section.

Sometimes you'll need to read a paper to discuss it in your own research. This may be to compare or contrast your work with the paper's content, or to stimulate a discussion on future applications of your work.

If you are following an author’s work, a quick skim might suffice to understand how the paper fits into their overall research program.

Tip: Knowing why you want to read the paper facilitates how you will read the paper. Depending on your needs, your approach may take the form of a surface-level reading or a deep and thorough reading.

Knowing your motivations will guide your navigation through the paper because you have already identified which sections are most likely to contain the information you need. Approaching reading a paper in this way saves you time and makes the task less daunting.

➡️ Learn more about how to write a literature review

Begin by gaining an overview of the paper by following these simple steps:

• Read the title. What type of paper is it? Is it a journal article, a review, a methods paper, or a commentary?
• Read the abstract . The abstract is a summary of the study. What is the study about? What question was addressed? What methods were used? What did the authors find, and what are the key findings? What do the authors think are the implications of the work? Reading the abstract immediately tells you whether you should invest the time to read the paper fully.
• Look at the headings and subheadings, which describe the sections and subsections of the paper. The headings and subheadings outline the story of the paper.
• Skim the introduction. An introduction has a clear structure. The first paragraph is background information on the topic. If you are new to the field, you will read this closely, whereas an expert in that field will skim this section. The second component defines the gap in knowledge that the paper aims to address. What is unknown, and what research is needed? What problem needs to be solved? Here, you should find the questions that will be addressed by the study, and the goal of the research. The final paragraph summarizes how the authors address their research question, for example, what hypothesis will be tested, and what predictions the authors make. As you read, make a note of key references. By the end of the introduction, you should understand the goal of the research.
• Go to the results section, and study the figures and tables. These are the data—the meat of the study. Try to comprehend the data before reading the captions. After studying the data, read the captions. Do not expect to understand everything immediately. Remember, this is the result of many years of work. Make a note of what you do not understand. In your second reading, you will read more deeply.
• Skim the discussion. There are three components. The first part of the discussion summarizes what the authors have found, and what they think the implications of the work are. The second part discusses some (usually not all!) limitations of the study, and the final part is a concluding statement.
• Glance at the methods. Get a brief overview of the techniques used in the study. Depending on your reading goals, you may spend a lot of time on this section in subsequent readings, or a cursory reading may be sufficient.
• Summarize what the paper is about—its key take-home message—in a sentence or two. Ask yourself if you have got the information you need.
• List any terminology you may need to look up before reading the paper again.
• Scan the reference list. Make a note of papers you may need to read for background information before delving further into the paper.

Congratulations, you have completed the first reading! You now have gained a high-level perspective of the study, which will be enough for many research purposes.

Now that you have an overview of the work and you have identified what information you want to obtain, you are ready to understand the paper on a deeper level. Deep understanding is achieved in the second and subsequent readings with note-taking and active reflection. Here is a step-by-step guide.

• Active engagement with the material
• Critical thinking
• Creative thinking
• Synthesis of information
• Consolidation of information into memory.

Highlighting sentences helps you quickly scan the paper and be reminded of the key points, which is helpful when you return to the paper later.

Notes may include ideas, connections to other work, questions, comments, and references to follow up on.

There are many ways for taking notes on a paper. You can:

• Print out the paper, and write your notes in the margins.
• Annotate the paper PDF from your desktop computer, or mobile device .
• Use personal knowledge management software, like Notion , Obsidian, or Evernote, for note-taking. Notes are easy to find in a structured database and can be linked to each other.
• Use reference management tools to take notes. Having your notes stored with the scientific papers you’ve read has the benefit of keeping all your ideas in one place. Some reference managers, like Paperpile, allow you to add notes to your papers, and highlight key sentences on PDFs .

Note-taking facilitates critical thinking and helps you evaluate the evidence that the authors present. Ask yourself questions like:

• What new contribution has the study made to the literature?
• How have the authors interpreted the results? (Remember, the authors have thought about their results more deeply than anybody else.)
• What do I think the results mean?
• Are the findings well-supported?
• What factors might have affected the results, and have the authors addressed them?
• Are there alternative explanations for the results?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study?
• What are the broader implications of the study?
• What should be done next?

Note-taking also encourages creative thinking . Ask yourself questions like:

• What new ideas have arisen from reading the paper?
• How does it connect with your work?
• What connections to other papers can you make?
• Write a summary of the paper in your own words. This is your attempt to integrate the new knowledge you have gained with what you already know from other sources and to consolidate that information into memory. You may find that you have to go back and re-read some sections to confirm some of the details.
• Discuss the paper with others. You may find that even at this stage, there are still aspects of the paper that you are striving to understand. It is now a good time to reach out to others—peers in your program, your advisor, or even on social media. In their 10 simple rules for reading a scientific paper , Maureen Carey and coauthors suggest that participating in journal clubs, where you meet with peers to discuss interesting or important scientific papers, is a great way to clarify your understanding.
• A scientific paper can be read over many days. According to research presented in the book " Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning " by writer Peter Brown and psychology professors Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel, "spaced practice" is more effective for retaining information than focusing on a single skill or subject until it is mastered. This involves breaking up learning into separate periods of training or studying. Applying this research to reading a scientific paper suggests that spacing out your reading by breaking the work into separate reading sessions can help you better commit the information in a paper to memory.

A dense journal article may need many readings to be understood fully. It is useful to remember that many scientific papers result from years of hard work, and the expectation of achieving a thorough understanding in one sitting must be modified accordingly. But, the process of reading a scientific paper will get easier and faster with experience.

The best way to read a scientific paper depends on your needs. Before reading the paper, identify your motivations for reading a scientific paper, and pinpoint the information you need. This will help you decide between skimming the paper and reading the paper more thoroughly.

Don’t read the paper from beginning to end. Instead, be aware of the scientific paper format. Take note of the information you need before starting to read the paper. Then skim the paper, jumping to the appropriate sections in the paper, to get the information you require.

It varies. Skimming a scientific paper may take anywhere between 15 minutes to one hour. Reading a scientific paper to obtain a deep understanding may take anywhere between 1 and 6 hours. It is not uncommon to have to read a dense paper in chunks over numerous days.

First, read the introduction to understand the main thesis and findings of the paper. Pay attention to the last paragraph of the introduction, where you can find a high-level summary of the methods and results. Next, skim the paper by jumping to the results and discussion. Then carefully read the paper from start to finish, taking notes as you read. You will need more than one reading to fully understand a dense research paper.

To read a scientific paper critically, be an active reader. Take notes, highlight important sentences, and write down questions as you read. Study the data. Take care to evaluate the evidence presented in the paper.

Presenting papers

You’ll present one or more research papers during class. Critically reading research papers is a skill! Here are some tips, ideas, and techniques to help learn it.

Reading the paper

This may be the first time you’re reading research papers, or even the first time you’re reading research papers in the systems area. Welcome!

Research papers are parts of a big conversation among the researchers and practitioners that make up the “research community.” Many papers are best understood as reactions to, and participants in, that conversation, and the ongoing determination of the research community’s values. An important, and often implicit, part of paper reading is learning those values. It’s hard to pick this up in advance. Instead, you just have to dive in and read papers critically. An understanding of the community will come.

The style of most papers is dense (and often just plain bad). But you can get through the density by reading critically.

Don’t try to understand every word of the paper on first read. Instead, try to pick up the most important points by skimming. Then go back in more depth.

On the first read, focus on the paper’s overall goals and techniques. First, read to develop a paper summary in your own words. Here are four questions the summary should answer:

• What is the goal of the paper’s research area? The goal can be something nebulous, like “improving security,” or something concrete, like “improving network utilization.” But in systems the goal usually ties back to something like “spending less money” or “handling more data.” Usually this comes out in the first couple sentences of the abstract and in the introduction. Often those sentences are clichés.
• What is the technical problem the paper is trying to solve? The problem is usually an obstacle to achieving the goal, and it should be concrete; for instance, “Big Data computations in the cloud are delayed too much by stragglers (nodes that complete their portion of the computation much slower than other nodes).” This also is found in the abstract or introduction, but it may be best explained in the conclusion section.
• What is the technical contribution that the paper uses to solve this problem? Is this contribution a new idea, or a combination of old ideas? A good introduction will present the contribution(s), but sometimes you have to dig deeper—into a section called “Design” or “Architecture”—to get to the technical meat.
• What is the evidence that proves the contribution actually addresses the problem? This is presented in depth in the “Evaluation” section, and should be previewed in the abstract and introduction.

Once you have answers to those questions, you can already think critically.

• How far apart are the goal and the problem? For instance, many security papers describe a large, society-level goal, using terms like “Security breaches are estimated to cost US commerce $10B a year,” but then actually address just a tiny slice of that overall goal.
• How much of the problem does the contribution address? Could you have achieved similar improvements using a simpler technique?
• How interesting is the technical contribution on its own? Sometimes a paper is interesting because it identifies and solves a new technical problem, even though its solution techniques seem obvious in retrospect. Sometimes a paper is interesting because it uses new solution techniques, even though those techniques address a problem that’s more easily solved in another way. The best papers do both, but that’s rare. The worst papers do neither.
• How much evidence is provided that the contribution works? Are the experiments well chosen?
• Does the paper actually advance the state of the art? How does it compare to related work ? This is usually addressed in a separate “Related Work” section, which might come second (I prefer it there) or right before the conclusion.

With thoughts about these questions in mind, you can now go back and read the paper in more depth.

• The paper will usually present many techniques and ideas. Which of them seem most important, and which are filler?
• Are there any cool tricks and techniques that you could use in your own systems?
• What would you do differently?

The aim of reading papers critically is not to prove the paper wrong. Always remember that the authors spent much more time working on the paper than you did, and authors rarely lie. (But it does happen!) Instead, read actively , as if you’re in dialogue with the paper. Ask the paper tough questions, and then read to get the responses. If you don’t get a response, that is a flaw in the paper; then ask, is that flaw technical or in the exposition?

Presenting the paper

First share the summary with us. Assume we’ve read the paper, but that we need to be reminded of its contents. Use slides if you need to. (In computer systems most papers are presented at conferences, and the authors’ slides from the conference are often available on the Web. Use them!) Then talk about its coolest ideas and its biggest gaps. Share with us what you might have done differently. Your critical thinking will engage the class more and help us all to better understand the work.

Presenting someone else’s research paper isn’t too different from presenting your own. Check out How to give a good research talk by Simon Peyton-Jones et al.

There’s some advice online about how to present at a journal club. Much of this advice applies specifically to medical papers, but some is good general advice. Some tips from Johns Hopkins

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How to Prepare for a Paper Presentation at an Academic Conference

 In my previous post, I laid out a timeline for choosing an academic conference.  This post will lay out four steps to help you successfully prepare for a paper presentation at an academic conference.

Pay attention to the deadline for proposals . 

Your proposal outlines the paper you are going to write, not a paper you have written . You may treat your proposal as a commitment device to “force” you to write the paper, but the final paper may well differ from your original intention.

The Claremont Graduate University Writing Center offers some good examples of proposals here .

Write a winning abstract to get your paper accepted into the conference. 

Abstracts are an afterthought to many graduate students, but they are the what the reviewer looks at first. To get your paper accepted to a conference, you’ll need to write an abstract of 200 to 500 words .

The emphasis should be on brevity and clarity. It should tell the reader what your paper is about, why the reader should be interested, and why the paper should be accepted.

Additionally, it should:

• Specify your thesis
• Identify your paper fills a gap in the current literature.
• Outline what you actually do in the paper.
• Point out your original contribution.
• Include a concluding sentence.

Academic Conferences and Publishing International offers some additional advice on writing a conference abstract  as you prepare for your paper presentation at an academic conference.

Pay attention to your presentation itself.

In order to convey excitement about your paper, you need to think about your presentation as well as the findings you are communicating.

Note the conference time limit and stick to it. Practice while timing yourself, and do it in front of a mirror. I also recommend practicing in front of your peers; organizing a departmental brown bag lunch could be a great way to do this. As you are preparing, keep in mind that reading from notes is better than reading directly from your paper.

Once you arrive at the conference, check the location of the room as soon as you can before the event. Arrive early to make sure any audiovisual equipment you plan to use is working, and be ready to present without it in case it is not.

Always stand when giving your paper presentation at an academic conference. Begin by stating your name and institution. Establish eye contact across the room, and speak slowly and clearly to your audience. Explain the structure of your presentation. End with your contribution to your discipline. Finally, be polite (not defensive) when engaging in discussion and answering questions about your research.

By focusing on (a) making sure your work contributes something to your field (b) adhering to deadlines and convincing conference organizers that your paper is worth presenting and (c) creating a compelling presentation that aptly highlights the content of your research, you’ll make the most of your time at the conference.

Nigel Ashford

Previous post should i get a phd 5 questions to ask yourself before you decide, next post how to choose and prepare for academic conferences as a graduate student.

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How to Give a Good Academic Paper Presentation

• Post author By Maria Angel Ferrero
• Post date August 17, 2020
• No Comments on How to Give a Good Academic Paper Presentation

The art of pitching your academic research

So, you’re about to present your first academic paper? You are preparing to defend your thesis? You are about to present your research to a bunch of experts?

But, you don’t know where to start? or, how to start?

That’s ok, you are in the right place.

In this short post, I’m going to show you how to do a good academic research presentation so that your audience actually understands and appreciates it.

The main goal of an academic research presentation — like any other type of presentation — is to carry your audience through a story and grab their attention during the whole story. But no matter how good a story is, if it’s not told properly it’ll lose its audience at the very first words.

And every good story needs a good structure, otherwise, your audience will get lost in a dead-end.

To avoid getting into that dead-end and losing your audience, you should structure your presentation around 5 main questions:

• Who are you and what’s your story about?
• Why should your audience — or anyone — care about your story, and why is it relevant to tell that story now?
• How did you get to write your story? Who are the main characters?
• What happens in the story? What happens to the characters?
• So, What? Why this ending is better? Why should I wait for a new episode?

The order in which these questions are answered throughout your presentation can vary. Good stories might also start at the end and crawl back to its beginnings. Play with the order and see what suits best your story, only you know better what works for your research.

So let’s go now through each of the questions, shall we?

Who are you and what’s your research about?

Introduce yourself — unless you have already been introduced. Sometimes we are so impatience to give our presentation that we forget the basics.

Many times when we choose a book to read we ask ourselves about the human that wrote the book. And, as any writer researchers should include a short biography of themselves in the presentation.

And this is not to brag about yourself or your experience, but to give a human touch to the research itself. Before anyone wants to hear your story — your research — you need to tell them why they should be listening to you.

A short introduction of 30 seconds will do, your name, your background, why you are here in this room presenting and anything else that might be relevant to the research you are doing.

Give a context to your story, a kind of foreword to your research. State your thesis clearly and tell your audience why the topic you are going to address is relevant. And why they should care.

Give a hook. Start with a kind of provocation to instill curiosity and need. Try to think out of the box and talk about something your audience will found interesting. Use analogies too much known or simpler things that everyone in the room would be able to understand. Don’t talk to the experts, they already know it.

To give you an example, this is how I started one of my papers on overconfidence and innovation:

If you had to choose between The Joker and Batman, who would you want to be?

My paper was nothing to do with superheroes — at least not in a common way — but I wanted to talk about the dual personality innovators have, thus The Joker vs Batman analogy.

Once you have given your hook and presented yourself, give your audience an idea of what you are going to talk about and what awaits them during the following minutes.

Give them a roadmap of the talk, even if it seems redundant to you. This doesn’t mean you have to list your table of contents, just a prelude of your story.

In total, one minute and one slide are enough.

Why should your audience care about your Research, and why is it relevant now?

The next 2 or 3 slides should introduce the subject to the audience. Very briefly. Usually, research presentations last between 10 to 15 minutes, but many are shifting to the startup pitch format of 3 to 5 minutes. So being concise and direct to point is quite important.

Telling your audience why the topic you are researching about is important and relevant it’s essential, but should not take all time. This is just the introduction, you need to save time for the main story.

There are mainly 6 elements that make a good introduction:

• Define the Problem:  Many speakers forget this simple point. No matter how difficult and technical the problem you are addressing is there is certainly a way to explain it concisely and clearly in less than one minute. Explain your problem as if your audience were 5 years old children, not because they are not smart or respectable, but because the simpler you get to explain a complex problem the more it shows your mastery and preparation. If the audience doesn’t understand the problem being attacked, then they won’t understand the rest of your talk, and you’ll lose them before you get to your great solution. For your slides, condense the problem into a very few carefully chosen words.  An example here again from my research: Is being extremely confident in ourselves good or bad for innovation?
• Motivate the Audience:  Explain why the problem is so important. How does the problem fit into the larger picture(e.g. entrepreneurship ecosystem, neuroscience,…)? What are its applications? What makes the problem nontrivial? If no one has done this research, why is it relevant now to do it? What are the circumstances that make it relevant now more than ever? Avoid broad statements such as  “Innovation is what drives economic growth, but there are few innovative individuals, so how can we encourage people to become innovators?”  Rather, focus on what really matters: “ universities are investing millions to develop entrepreneurship education program, still students graduating from these programs aren’t starting any venture.”
• Introduce Terminology:  scientific jargon is boring and complex, it should be kept to a minimum. However, sometimes is almost impossible not to refer to specific scientific terms. Any complex jargon should be introduced at the beginning of the presentation or when each term is introduced for the first time during the presentation. To avoid losing time tot his, you can prepare a short document with all the terms and definitions to hand out to the participants in the audience.
• Discuss Earlier Work: Do your research, you are not reinventing the wheel.  There is nothing more frustrating than listening to a talk that covers something that has already been published without making reference tot hose studies. It not only shows that you didn’t do your research and that you are underprepared, but it shows you don’t know how to conduct research. This doesn’t mean that you should have read and cited ALL the works and papers that talk about the topic of your research. This is only useful if you are doing a systematic review. But you have to be sure that you know, read and cite those that really matter. You have to explain why this work is different from past wor, or how you are improving or continuing the research.
• Emphasize the Contributions of the Paper:  Make sure that you explicitly and succinctly state the contributions made by your paper. That is the so what?. Give just a quick glimpse of your contributions and implications for the research and the practice. The audience wants to know this. Often it is the only thing that they carry away from the talk.
• Consider putting your Conclusion in the Introduction : Be bold. Let everyone know from the start where you are headed so that the audience can focus on what matters.

How did you get to your results? How did you conduct your study?

There should be 1 or 2 methods slides that allow the audience to understand how the research was conducted. You might include a flow chart describing the main ingredients of the methods used. Do not put too many details, just what it’s needed to understand the study. Many of the details are appropriate for the manuscript but not for the presentation. If the audience wants to have more details on the methods they can always read your full paper, or you can prepare backup slides with this information to share during the Q&As session. For example, you could just say:  “During 4 weeks we conducted semi-structured interviews with top managers and employees from different organizations. Our final sample was composed of 30 individuals, from which 10 were top managers and 15 were female and aged between 25 and 60 years.”  Further details are presented in backup slides or in the manuscript.

What did you find, what happened?

The next 3 slides should show the main results obtained with your research. If appropriate, it is nice to start with a slide showing the basic phenomena being studied (e.G. the process of innovation and how). It reminds your audience about the variables used and manipulated and the role they have in the situation being studied.

Next, show figures, pictures, or graphs that clearly illustrate the main results. Do not show charts and tables of raw data. No one is able to read an excel table on a presentation, if only it gives the creeps. So instead of putting large and ugly tables, no one is going to read, use beautiful and meaningful graphs and figures.

You can use free infographic apps to build awesome visual representations of your data. Apps like  Canva ,  Venngage , or  Piktochart  work great.

All figures should be clearly labeled. When showing figures, be sure to explain the figure axes before you talk about the data (e.g., “the X-axis shows time. The Y-axis shows economic profit).

When presenting the data try to be as simple as possible, this is the most complex part of your research. You might be an expert, but your audience probably is not and they need to understand your results if you want to convenience them with your research.

So, What? What are the outcomes, implications and future steps?

The last 2 slides are probably the most important section of your presentation. It’s the denouement of your story, and it should be good.

Nothing is more frustrating than reading or listening to a good story to arrive to a disappointing end. All the effort you did to tell the good story is lost if you don’t curate appropriately the ending.

Some people be distracted during the whole presentation and would only pay attention to your conclusions, so those conclusions better are good.

Before getting to your end, sum up what your study was about, your research questions and objectives, and then go to the conclusion. In this way, the lousy distracted audience will also get most of your research.

List the conclusions in clear, easy to understand language. You can read them to the audience. Also give one or two sentences about what this likely means — your interpretation — for the big picture, go back to the context and motives of your research. Explain how your results improve our understanding and contribute to theory and practice.

Don’t be afraid to talk about the flaws and limitations of your study. Not only this shows you are humble but that you are prepared enough and that you are aware that things can be improved. Remember that having contradictory results to what you expected is not a bad thing, they are still results, you need to find an explanation to this.

Once you know your limitations, tell your audience how can this be improved in future research. How can other scholars address the problems and flaws, what are the next steps, and what future research should focus on?

Your job as a presenter is to not only present the paper but also lead a discussion with your audience about your research. Talk about its strengths, weaknesses, and broader implications. To help focus the class discussion, end your presentation with a list of approximately three major questions/issues worthy of further discussion.

Please finalize your presentation with at least two or three major things that should be discussed. Discussion with the audience should be especially encouraged at this point, but you should be prepared to foster this by raising these issues.

So, when preparing your presentation think like one of the people in your audience. Think about what they would ask? What would they like to discuss further? What are the points that might trigger confusion or disagreement?

If you have these questions in mind you can prepare to give appropriate answers and be less stressed out by the uncertainty of your audience reaction. You can then prepare a couple of backup slides that will help you give responses to the questions being asked and that will help you make your point.

Final thoughts

Reading and understanding academic research papers can be a tough assignment, especially because it can be very specific and you might not know or understand many terms, methodologies, or even statistical models and analysis. So preparing a presentation of an academic paper, whether is yours or others’ work, takes time and must be taken seriously.

When you are preparing your draft for the presentation, keep in mind that your audience will rely on listening comprehension, not reading comprehension. That means that your ideas need to be clear and to the point, and organized in a way that makes it possible for your audience to follow you.

And since understanding was difficult for you who had the time to read and discuss the paper with your team, you can imagine how difficult it might be for an audience that hasn’t read the paper and moreover has no expertise (or not much) on the research topic you are presenting.

So you have to be very careful about how you present your article so that your audience understands what you are saying, feel involved and curious, and off course don’t sleep while you talk.

Scientific oral presentations are not simply readings of scientific manuscripts, so being in front of an audience reading scientific terms and statistical models and equations is out of the picture. You need to provoke curiosity and engagement so that at the end of your presentation people want to know more about your research.

Don’t forget that time is precious, and not everyone is ready to give their time to listen to things they don’t find amusing or intriguing. Being concise and simple is not an easy exercise, but is crucial for passing by a message.

Follow simple presentation rules:

• 1 slide takes 1 minute to present, so if you have 10 minutes to present don’t do more than 10 slides.
• Don’t use small size fonts, the minimum readable size is 20pt.
• Don’t use text when you don’t need it, the text should be only be used to highlight things that you want your audience to remember
• Use pictures whenever you can but don’t overuse them. Pictures have to be relevant to your speech.
• Be careful with grammar and errors. Read your slides thoroughly a couple of times before submitting them for a presentation. And ask someone else to read them also, they are more likely to find mistakes than you are as they are less biased and less attached to your topic.
• Finally, prepare, prepare, and prepare. Mastery is only possible through training. No matter how good you are at improvising, preparing for a presentation is key for succeeding at it.

And that’s it. Good luck!

• Tags Research , Research Paper , Science , Scientific Paper

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How to Prepare a Paper Presentation

Last Updated: October 4, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Patrick Muñoz . Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 361,749 times.

A paper is bad enough, but presentations are even more nerve-wracking. You've got the writing down, but how do you turn it into a dynamic, informative, enjoyable presentation? Why, here's how!

Guidelines and Audience

• Know how long the speech must be.
• Know how many points you're required to cover.
• Know if you must include sources or visuals.

• If you're presenting to people you know, it'll be easy to know what to break down and what to gloss over. But if you're presenting to unknown stockholders or faculty, for instance, you need to know about them and their knowledge levels, too. You may have to break your paper down into its most basic concepts. Find out what you can about their backgrounds.

• Does the facility have a computer and projector screen?
• Is there a working WiFi connection?
• Is there a microphone? A podium?
• Is there someone who can assist you in working the equipment before your presentation?

Script and Visuals

• Only have one point per notecard -- that way you won't end up searching the notecard for your information. And don't forget to number the cards in case you get mixed up! And the points on your cards shouldn't match your paper; instead of regurgitating information, discuss why the key points of your paper are important or the different points of view on this topic within the field.

• As you go through this outline, remove any jargon if it may not be understood.

• If you won't have access to the proper technology, print visual aids on poster board or foam-core board.
• If using presentation software, use words sparingly, but enough to get your point across. Think in phrases (and pictures!), not sentences. Acronyms and abbreviations are okay on the screen, but when you talk, address them fully. And remember to use large fonts -- not everyone's vision is fantastic. [7] X Research source

• It's okay to be a bit repetitive. Emphasizing important ideas will enhance comprehension and recall. When you've gone full circle, cycle back to a previous point to lead your audience to the right conclusion.
• Minimize the unnecessary details (the procedure you had to go through, etc.) when highlighting the main ideas you want to relay. You don't want to overload your audience with fluff, forcing them to miss the important stuff.
• Show enthusiasm! A very boring topic can be made interesting if there is passion behind it.

Practice, Practice, and More Practice

• If you can grab a friend who you think has a similar knowledge level to your audience, all the better. They'll help you see what points are foggier to minds with less expertise on the topic.

• It'll also help you with volume. Some people get rather timid when in the spotlight. You may not be aware that you're not loud enough!

• Do the same with your conclusion. Thank everyone for their time and open the floor for any questions, if allowed.
• Make eye contact with people in the audience to help build your connection with them.

What Is The Best Way To Start a Presentation?

Community Q&A

• Most people get nervous while public speaking. [10] X Research source You are not alone. [11] X Trustworthy Source Mayo Clinic Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals Go to source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Visual aids not only help the audience, but they can help jog your memory if you forget where you are in your presentation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Rehearse in front of a mirror before your presentation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Answer questions only if it is related to your presentation. Keep these to the end of your talk. Thanks Helpful 76 Not Helpful 14

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://theihs.org/blog/prepare-for-a-paper-presentation-at-an-academic-conference/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/conference-papers/
• ↑ https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislative-staff/legislative-staff-coordinating-committee/tips-for-making-effective-powerpoint-presentations.aspx
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qZMPW5g-v8
• ↑ https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/paper-to-talk.original.pdf
• ↑ http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~newhall/presentation.html
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2014/09/10/big-presentation-dont-do-it-have-a-conversation-instead/#6d56a3f23c4b
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201711/why-are-we-scared-public-speaking
• ↑ https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/specific-phobias/expert-answers/fear-of-public-speaking/faq-20058416

About This Article

To prepare a paper presentation, create an outline of your content, then write your script on note cards or slides using software like PowerPoint. Be sure to stick to one main point per card or slide! Next, design visual aids like graphics, charts, and bullet points to illustrate your content and help the audience follow along. Then, practice giving your presentation in front of friends and family until you feel ready to do it in class! For tips on creating an outline and organizing your information, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• v.85(10); 2021 Nov

A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Paper Versus Digital Reading on Reading Comprehension in Health Professional Education

Guillaume fontaine.

a Université de Montréal, Faculty of Nursing, Montréal, Canada

b Montreal Heart Institute, Research Center, Montréal, Canada

Ivry Zagury-Orly

c Université de Montréal, Faculty of Medicine, Montréal, Canada

Marc-André Maheu-Cadotte

d Université de Montréal Hospital Center, Research Center, Montréal, Canada

Alexandra Lapierre

e Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, Research Center, Montréal, Canada

Nicolas Thibodeau-Jarry

Simon de denus.

f Université de Montréal, Faculty of Pharmacy, Montréal, Canada

Marie Lordkipanidzé

Patrice dupont.

g Université de Montréal, Health Sciences Library, Montréal, Canada

Patrick Lavoie

Objective. Despite a rise in the use of digital education in health professional education (HPE), little is known about the comparative effectiveness of paper-based reading and its digital alternative on reading comprehension. The objectives of this study were to identify, appraise, and synthesize the evidence regarding the effect of how media is read on reading comprehension in the context of HPE.

Methods. Observational, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies published before April 16, 2021, were included if they compared the effectiveness of paper-based vs digital-based reading on reading comprehension among HPE students, trainees, and residents. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed using standardized mean differences.

Results. From a pool of 2,208 references, we identified and included 10 controlled studies that had collectively enrolled 817 participants. Meta-analyses revealed a slight but nonsignificant advantage to students reading paper-based HPE texts rather than digital text (standardized mean difference, -0.08; 95% CI -0.28 to 0.12). Subgroup analyses revealed that students reading HPE-related texts had better reading comprehension when reading text on paper rather than digitally (SMD =  -0.36; 95% CI -0.69 to -0.03). Heterogeneity was low in all analyses. The quality of evidence was low because of risks of bias across studies.

Summary. Current evidence suggests little to no difference in students’ comprehension when reading HPE texts on paper vs digitally. However, we observed effects favoring reading paper-based texts when texts relevant to the students’ professional discipline were considered. Rigorous studies are needed to confirm this finding and to evaluate new means of boosting reading comprehension among students in HPE programs.

INTRODUCTION

Digital education has become ubiquitous in health professional education (HPE). 1 - 3 It can be defined as “the act of teaching and learning by means of digital technologies.” 1 Digital education encompasses various teaching and learning approaches, ranging from the simple transformation of text from paper-based to digital formats (eg, portable document format) to the interactive use of sophisticated digital technologies. 1 A majority of health professional students and practitioners report using a digital device in their studies or routine clinical practice. 4 , 5 Despite the rise of digital education, little is known about the comparative effectiveness of reading media, ie, paper-based reading vs its digital alternative, on reading comprehension in HPE. 6 , 7

Reading comprehension is a complex process that involves the ability to recall, understand, integrate, and evaluate text, and depends on several factors, including the reader (eg, vocabulary, degree of familiarity with the text), the reading content (eg, degree of complexity), and the reading media (see Table 1 for definitions). 8 , 9 Reviews investigating the impact of reading media on reading comprehension have yielded inconsistent results but tend to favor paper-based reading for comprehension and retention of information. 9 - 14 Proposed explanations for lower digital-based reading results include readers’ variable experience with technology, overconfidence in comprehension, and more superficial reading when using technology. 15 , 16 Furthermore, the physical presence of a paper text may facilitate reading comprehension and learning. 17

Definitions of Key Terms Used in a Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Paper vs Digital Reading in Health Professional Education

Previous reviews have not examined the impact of reading media in the context of HPE, an exercise that is of both clinical, disciplinary, and cross-disciplinary interest. From a clinical standpoint, reading comprehension is essential to acquire the knowledge base for effective clinical decision-making that is required for the provision of safe, quality care. 18 , 19 Health professional education often follows a similar, cross-disciplinary learning framework: a pre-clinical phase characterized by basic science education and a clinical phase integrating prior knowledge and applying it to cases in a clinical context. In all health professions, learners are driven by clinical considerations and a patient-centered perspective influencing their collection and processing of information and consequent decision-making. Examining reading comprehension in the context of HPE may eventually allow drawing inferences between reading comprehension and clinical outcomes.

From a disciplinary standpoint, tenets of disciplinary literacy suggest that the cognitive requirements for reading are intertwined with the specialized knowledge of those who produce and communicate knowledge within each discipline. 20 This is in opposition to the view that reading builds on a generic set of skills and strategies, regardless of the discipline. 21 While the effect of text genre on reading comprehension was considered in previous reviews, they did not examine whether the topic of the text was related to students’ discipline. 9 , 10 Providing students with texts relevant to their discipline may aid their reading comprehension by building on prior knowledge and disciplinary habits of mind (eg, ways of thinking, reasoning, and critiquing). 1 A key learning principle is relevancy; thus, students who deem a text less relevant could have a less meaningful learning experience. 22 Thus, we believe differentiating between texts that are HPE-related and those that are not is fundamental.

Finally, from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, we believe that examining reading comprehension in HPE specifically also provides important insights for other fields of study. The current review will provide a new framework for examining reading comprehension in specific populations, a variable not explicitly controlled for in previous systematic reviews. This is important not only for providing meaningful material to learners, but also in terms of systematic review methodology as a way of reducing potential population and intervention heterogeneity. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis builds on previous evidence by considering studies in which the effectiveness of reading media on reading comprehension was evaluated in the context of HPE, examining the effect of text topics (HPE-related or non-HPE-related topics) considering students’ professional discipline, and including studies with graduate students. Our objective was to identify, appraise, and describe studies comparing the effectiveness of paper-based versus digital-based reading on reading comprehension among students, trainees, and residents in HPE.

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. 23 This paper is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and the PRISMA-S guidelines for reporting literature searches. 24 , 25 The protocol has been published and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews on April 28, 2020 (PROSPERO; CRD42020154519). 26 , 27

This review considered observational, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies published in any language that compared the effectiveness of paper-based vs digital-based reading on reading comprehension. We defined reading comprehension as the immediate recall or understanding of the textual content among HPE students, trainees, and residents. We excluded studies conducted with individuals with reading difficulties, cognitive impairments, and related disorders. Paper-based reading was defined as reading text printed on paper (eg, books, articles). Digital reading was defined as “reading text on digital screens, including computers, tablets, mobile phones, and e-readers.” 10 Studies examining media that included videos, animations, hyperlinks, web navigation, gamification, and adaptivity were excluded because these features could confound the results. 10

The search strategy was designed to focus on three concepts: students, trainees, and residents participating in HPE (population); reading media (intervention); and reading comprehension (outcome). The search strategies for all databases are presented in Appendix 2. We performed searches in six databases (CINAHL via EbscoHost, EMBASE via OVID, ERIC via ProQuest, Medline via OVID, PsychInfo via EbscoHost, and Web of Science) on April 16 and 17, 2020.

Identified citations were uploaded in the Covidence software (Veritas Health Innovation, Melbourne, Australia; www.covidence.org ). Duplicates were removed using Covidence. Two independent authors screened studies and reviewed full texts. Disagreements were resolved through discussion.

We worked independently and in duplicate to assess study quality using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). 28 We also assessed risks of bias independently using the Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) risk of bias criteria. 29 Risks of bias refer to methodological elements that could affect the internal validity of study results.

We used Covidence to perform data extraction independently and in duplicate. We extracted data at four levels: study level, participant level, intervention level, and outcome level. Data items extracted are specified in the published protocol. 26 In addition, we have added variables related to the context of intervention implementation, including the degree of distraction (low, medium, or high) and presence of supervision (yes, no). We considered the degree of distraction: low, when reading and assessment of reading comprehension had been conducted in a supervised setting without evident mention of potential distractors; medium, when these had been conducted in a supervised setting with possible distractors (eg, multiple testing stations); and high, when these had been conducted in an unsupervised setting (eg, home) with an uncontrollable and unspecified degree of distraction.

The characteristics of studies and interventions were synthesized in a table. We undertook random-effects meta-analyses in Review Manager (RevMan) software, version 5.3 (The Cochrane Collaboration, The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2014) to compare the effects of paper vs digital reading on reading comprehension in HPE. Data were analyzed using standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity was assessed by examining the characteristics of the studies and using the I 2 statistic. Three subgroup analyses were carried out to investigate the impact of moderators on statistical heterogeneity: HPE-related texts; reading time frame, presence of supervision. The risk of reporting bias was assessed qualitatively based on the country of study conduct, the year of study publication, and the statistical significance of study results.

We worked independently to assess the quality of evidence, or our confidence, in the pooled SMDs. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation web-based software (GRADEpro, 2015, McMaster University and Evidence Prime, Inc, https://gradepro.org ). We considered five factors for assessing the quality of evidence (risk of bias, indirectness of evidence, unexplained heterogeneity or inconsistency of results, imprecision of the results, probability of reporting bias).

From a pool of 2,208 potentially relevant articles, we found 10 quantitative, controlled studies comparing the effects of paper and digital reading on reading comprehension in HPE. Eight studies were included in the meta-analysis because they provided enough data to calculate SMD ( Figure 1 ).

Flow Diagram of Article Screening and Selection

Selected characteristics of the studies included are summarized in Table 2 . Nine studies were randomized controlled trials and one was a non-randomized controlled trial. Participants were undergraduate psychology students (n = 5), 6 , 7 , 30 - 32 undergraduate dental students (n = 2), 33 graduate medical students (n = 2), 34 , 35 and graduate optometry students (n = 1), all of which were considered to be students in HPE. 36 - 39 Studies involving graduate students, including medical and optometry students, accounted for three of the 10 studies included. The median sample size was 70 participants. All included studies were deemed of moderate quality according to the MERSQI; scores ranged from 10.5 to 12.5 out of 18 possible points.

Characteristics of Included Studies

Key characteristics of paper-based and digital-based reading media are summarized in Table 2 . Reading topics varied greatly, ranging from oral histology to microeconomics. Whereas all studies included health professional students, the topic of texts was related to HPE in four studies, non-related to HPE in five studies, and not specified in one study. We observed significant variations regarding text length. The reading time was unlimited in five studies, limited to five to 25 minutes in four studies, and not specified in one study. In a majority of studies, students’ reading was supervised in a controlled setting (n = 7), which meant that there was a low or medium potential for distraction. In the three remaining studies, students read at home and were not supervised, suggesting a high potential for distraction.

All studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. The risk of selection bias was high or unclear in all studies, as was the risk of bias related to imbalances between groups in characteristics of participants at baseline. The risk of bias related to imbalances between groups in outcome measurements at baseline were high or unclear in eight studies. 6 , 7 , 30 - 32 , 34 - 36 Six studies had a high or unclear risk of attrition bias. 6 , 30 - 32 , 34 , 35 Six studies had a high or unclear risk of performance bias. 6 , 7 , 32 , 34 - 36 Six studies had a high or unclear risk of contamination bias. 6 , 30 , 32 , 34 - 36 Finally, the risk of reporting bias was low in all but one study. 34

Two studies could not be pooled in the meta-analysis because of missing data. 30 , 34 The pooled effect size across eight studies revealed a negligible and nonsignificant advantage of paper- over digital-based reading media for reading comprehension (SMD = −0.08; 95% CI −0.28 to 0.12; p  = .43; Figure 2 ). Heterogeneity was low (I 2  = 21%).

Forest Plot of Effect Sizes in Relation to Reading Comprehension

In a cluster-randomized trial with medical students, Matthes, Herzig, Muller, Stosch 34 observed that a digital basic pharmacology e-book had a small, nonsignificant advantage over a similar paper book on final scores from a written multiple-choice examination (SMD = 0.27; p  = .08). Similarly, in a study on introductory psychology students, Taylor 30 noted no differences in reading comprehension between students who used digital texts and those who used paper texts (the effect size and the p value were non-reported and could not be calculated based on the data presented).

We conducted three subgroup analyses: studies in which students read texts on topics related to HPE vs non-related to HPE; studies in which reading time was unlimited vs limited; and studies in which reading was supervised vs unsupervised. We observed a modest, significant difference ( p  = .04) in favor of paper-based reading for HPE-related texts (SMD = −0.36; 95% CI −0.69 to −0.03; I 2  = 0%) compared to non-HPE related texts (SMD = −0.08; 95% CI −0.17 to 0.24; I 2  = 0%). We found no significant difference ( p  = .59) between paper and digital reading regarding reading time. We observed a modest, significant difference ( p  = .02) in favor of paper-based reading in unsupervised settings (SMD = −0.57; 95% CI −1.06 to −0.08; I 2  = 0%) compared to supervised settings (SMD = 0; 95% CI −0.19 to 0.18; I 2  = 0%). However, the two studies meta-analyzed for unsupervised settings were drawn from the same paper. The quality of the evidence regarding the effect of reading media on reading comprehension was deemed low because of the high risks of bias across studies. However, inconsistency, indirectness, and imprecision were deemed not serious.

This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the effect of paper-based and digital-based reading HPE media on students’ reading comprehension. We identified 10 studies published since 2001. The pooled effect size across eight studies revealed a negligible, nonsignificant advantage of paper-based over digital-based reading media for reading comprehension. Despite the small number of studies, a subgroup analysis revealed a modest significant increase in reading comprehension when students read paper copies of HPE texts compared to digital copies of the same texts. Risk of bias was generally high across studies, and the quality of evidence was low.

The negligible, nonsignificant advantage of paper-based reading found in this review is similar to the results of previous reviews. 9 , 10 , 14 These reviews found a small, significant advantage of paper-based reading over digital-based reading. 9 , 10 , 14 Our results also revealed marked variability regarding the characteristics of texts used to assess reading comprehension in HPE. Less than half of studies involved texts on topics related to students’ discipline (eg, oral histology, optometry), whereas the rest used texts on non-related topics (eg, short fiction, microeconomics). Prior research has highlighted the importance of text characteristics, including topic and relevance, 1 when assessing reading comprehension. The significant difference in favor of paper-based reading for HPE-related texts echoes these previous findings; it suggests increased effects of reading media when considering texts relevant to students’ discipline.

Our findings reveal that unsupervised, uncontrolled environments led to a small but significant difference in favor of paper-based reading, when compared to supervised, controlled environments. This finding should be interpreted with caution: only two studies were unsupervised, both published by the same authors in a single article. That said, this finding may be explained by the fact that in unsupervised settings learners using digital devices may be more easily distracted by social media, digital notifications, or web browsing to name a few. This could explain why paper-based media appears to favor reading comprehension in unsupervised settings where learners are less exposed to such distractions. Research suggests that students regularly fall prey to distractions when using digital devices. Over a quarter of students self-report in-class, off-task distractions, and an estimated 50% of students’ laptop time is spent on tasks unrelated to their studies. 40 - 42 Interestingly, the impact of digital-based reading is more negative for easy-to-read material than for hard-to read texts. 43

Concerns for the distraction potential of digital devices such as smartphones or laptops may be minimized using e-readers, whose sole function is to enable reading. In our review, only one study focused on reading comprehension with e-readers 7 , as compared to computer- and paper-based media and no difference was found. However, that study was conducted in a low distraction, supervised setting. Another study with fifth grade students compared reading on e-readers and paper and found no significant differences in students’ attitudes, motivation or reading comprehension. 44 Additional studies must be conducted before the impact of e-readers on reading comprehension can be appropriately assessed. These studies should directly compare electronic devices with a potential for distractions (eg, laptops, computers, smartphones) to e-readers that limit such distractions. Besides the degree of distraction, future studies should be explicit about the tasks that students are asked to perform and the restraints that are in place when using the digital device.

More studies on the effect of reading media on reading comprehension in HPE are needed using rigorous study designs (eg, randomized trials, non-inferiority trials, factorial trials), interventions, and outcome measures. Indeed, given the high risk of bias of the published literature, future studies should be conducted as per the most recent standards for trials (eg, Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials [CONSORT]). 45 Findings from properly designed RCTs, if consistent with our findings, may confirm that digital media is not inferior to paper-based media in terms of its impact on reading comprehension in HPE, a finding that could have significant implications for reading efficiency. Indeed, students reading computer passages read significantly faster than students who read on paper. 36 Discrepancies in reading speed may impact the time efficiency that is central to future health care professionals’ practice.

Because of the various known advantages of digital media, namely, ease of access, organization, and eco-friendliness, the time-saving benefit of digital-based reading needs to be investigated. Educators and researchers need to consider that digital-based reading is only one educational component of modern e-learning programs, which may provide benefits for HPE that would not be possible through static, paper-based learning. For example, some e-learning programs include adaptivity features to personalize learning content through the consideration of each learner’s knowledge. This can increase learning efficiency, reduce superfluous cognitive load, and support learner engagement. 46 , 47

However, in a commentary by Fjortoft and colleagues, 48 the authors cautioned against pharmacy students’ overreliance on technology and the possible impact it could have on their long-term memory, suggesting a concurrent association with a decreased passing rate for the national board examinations in recent years. Although many variables can explain such a decreasing trend, this review provides preliminary insight as to whether the reading media should be considered as part of curricular planning.

This systematic review and meta-analysis has various strengths and limitations. In terms of strengths, the protocol was prospectively registered and published, which enhances the transparency of the research process. Moreover, the search strategy was developed over several months with an experienced librarian to ensure specificity, sensibility, and replicability. Regarding limitations, outcome measures varied across studies. To address this variation, we conducted meta-analyses using SMD to standardize the results of studies to a uniform scale before pooling them. Furthermore, although we had initially planned to assess the effect of reading media on skill development and clinical behavior, the absence of such data in the studies included prevented us from doing so.

This review did not find any significant differences between digital and paper-based reading except when the topic of the text and its relevance to students’ professional discipline was considered, in which case paper-based reading yielded a modest advantage over digital media. This review highlights the need for robust randomized trials in HPE using HPE-related texts to strengthen the quality and validity of the current evidence.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Cercle du Doyen, Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal, Canada.

• Publication Recognition

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation of Your Research Paper

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Table of Contents

A research paper presentation is often used at conferences and in other settings where you have an opportunity to share your research, and get feedback from your colleagues. Although it may seem as simple as summarizing your research and sharing your knowledge, successful research paper PowerPoint presentation examples show us that there’s a little bit more than that involved.

In this article, we’ll highlight how to make a PowerPoint presentation from a research paper, and what to include (as well as what NOT to include). We’ll also touch on how to present a research paper at a conference.

Purpose of a Research Paper Presentation

The purpose of presenting your paper at a conference or forum is different from the purpose of conducting your research and writing up your paper. In this setting, you want to highlight your work instead of including every detail of your research. Likewise, a presentation is an excellent opportunity to get direct feedback from your colleagues in the field. But, perhaps the main reason for presenting your research is to spark interest in your work, and entice the audience to read your research paper.

So, yes, your presentation should summarize your work, but it needs to do so in a way that encourages your audience to seek out your work, and share their interest in your work with others. It’s not enough just to present your research dryly, to get information out there. More important is to encourage engagement with you, your research, and your work.

Tips for Creating Your Research Paper Presentation

In addition to basic PowerPoint presentation recommendations, which we’ll cover later in this article, think about the following when you’re putting together your research paper presentation:

• Know your audience : First and foremost, who are you presenting to? Students? Experts in your field? Potential funders? Non-experts? The truth is that your audience will probably have a bit of a mix of all of the above. So, make sure you keep that in mind as you prepare your presentation.

Know more about: Discover the Target Audience .

• Your audience is human : In other words, they may be tired, they might be wondering why they’re there, and they will, at some point, be tuning out. So, take steps to help them stay interested in your presentation. You can do that by utilizing effective visuals, summarize your conclusions early, and keep your research easy to understand.
• Running outline : It’s not IF your audience will drift off, or get lost…it’s WHEN. Keep a running outline, either within the presentation or via a handout. Use visual and verbal clues to highlight where you are in the presentation.
• Where does your research fit in? You should know of work related to your research, but you don’t have to cite every example. In addition, keep references in your presentation to the end, or in the handout. Your audience is there to hear about your work.
• Plan B : Anticipate possible questions for your presentation, and prepare slides that answer those specific questions in more detail, but have them at the END of your presentation. You can then jump to them, IF needed.

What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Effective?

You’ve probably attended a presentation where the presenter reads off of their PowerPoint outline, word for word. Or where the presentation is busy, disorganized, or includes too much information. Here are some simple tips for creating an effective PowerPoint Presentation.

• Less is more: You want to give enough information to make your audience want to read your paper. So include details, but not too many, and avoid too many formulas and technical jargon.
• Clean and professional : Avoid excessive colors, distracting backgrounds, font changes, animations, and too many words. Instead of whole paragraphs, bullet points with just a few words to summarize and highlight are best.
• Know your real-estate : Each slide has a limited amount of space. Use it wisely. Typically one, no more than two points per slide. Balance each slide visually. Utilize illustrations when needed; not extraneously.
• Keep things visual : Remember, a PowerPoint presentation is a powerful tool to present things visually. Use visual graphs over tables and scientific illustrations over long text. Keep your visuals clean and professional, just like any text you include in your presentation.

Know more about our Scientific Illustrations Services .

Another key to an effective presentation is to practice, practice, and then practice some more. When you’re done with your PowerPoint, go through it with friends and colleagues to see if you need to add (or delete excessive) information. Double and triple check for typos and errors. Know the presentation inside and out, so when you’re in front of your audience, you’ll feel confident and comfortable.

How to Present a Research Paper

If your PowerPoint presentation is solid, and you’ve practiced your presentation, that’s half the battle. Follow the basic advice to keep your audience engaged and interested by making eye contact, encouraging questions, and presenting your information with enthusiasm.

We encourage you to read our articles on how to present a scientific journal article and tips on giving good scientific presentations .

Language Editing Plus

Improve the flow and writing of your research paper with Language Editing Plus. This service includes unlimited editing, manuscript formatting for the journal of your choice, reference check and even a customized cover letter. Learn more here , and get started today!

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Reading Research Paper

Jul 29, 2014

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Reading Research Paper. A “how to” guideline. 2. Reading a paper carefully. It takes more than 3 hours to thoroughly read a paper. 3. How to read a research paper. Read critically Read creatively Make notes as you read the paper Try to summarize the paper

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• systematic lecture process
• your opinion
• sentence summary
• apoptosis apoptotic
• apoptotic cell quantification

Presentation Transcript

Reading Research Paper A “how to” guideline

2 Reading a paper carefully • It takes more than 3 hours to thoroughly read a paper

3 How to read a research paper • Read critically • Read creatively • Make notes as you read the paper • Try to summarize the paper • Compare the paper to other works

4 Making a one-page review • A one or two sentence summary of the paper • A deeper, more extensive outline of the main ideas like assumptions made or arguments presented • Any limitations or extensions you see for the ideas • Your opinion of the paper

5 Types of research papers • Conference papers – shorter papers • Journal papers – longer and more complete

6 While reading the paper • What problem(s) are they solving? • What is the contribution of the work? • Would you have solved the problem differently? • Do all the pieces of their work fit together logically? • What were the results?

7 Moving through the document • Read the title • Read the abstract • Read the introduction • Look the structure of the paper • Read the previous / related work section • Read the conclusions • Read the body of the paper

8 Systematic lecture process • Divide the text into smaller parts and approach one bye one successively • Register the most relevant information • Localize what you don’t understand and clarify it • Recapitulate to integrate

9 Hypertextual relationship between text, footnote and figure

10 Cell fragmentation Using concept maps allow involves Cell lesions Apoptosis Apoptotic cell identification Late apoptotic cells biases Apoptotic cell quantification allow requires Estimation of fragmented cells

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Forgot to get solar eclipse glasses? Here's how to DIY a viewer with household items.

By now, everyone has heard that the rare 2024 total solar eclipse is coming – and it's got people excited.

While cities brace for traffic, schools brace for absences and space enthusiasts are planning parties, the glasses that enable safe viewing of the eclipse have become something of a hot commodity.

Peeking directly at the eclipse before it reaches totality without proper eye protection can cause permanent eye damage, experts have warned, making glasses a necessity for safe viewing. But, as the day approaches, they may become harder to find .

Luckily, people who didn't manage to get their hands on glasses are not completely down and out. There are other safe ways to view the eclipse, say experts, and a lot of them only require a little bit of craftiness and items you can find lying around the house.

Here are a few DIY eclipse viewers you can make at home.

As a reminder, none of these options allow you to look directly at the eclipse: you need special eclipse glasses for that.

Solar eclipse guide: When is the 2024 total solar eclipse? Your guide to glasses, forecast, where to watch.

NASA's DIY cereal box viewer

This NASA project uses components you almost certainly already have at home. Using a cereal box, cardboard, foil, paper, scissors and tape or glue, you can put together this projection eclipse viewer.

As always, NASA advises not to look directly into the sun using this tool.

Steps to make the cereal box eclipse viewer:

• Get an empty, clean cereal box.
• Cut a white piece of cardboard that will fit snuggly in the bottom of the box, or secure it permanently by gluing it in place.
• Cut the top of the cereal box, removing both ends and leaving the center intact.
• Put a piece of tape across the center of the top to securely hold it closed.
• Tape a piece of heavy-duty foil or double a single layer for additional strength, covering one of the openings at the top of the cereal box. The other opening will remain open for viewing.
• Using a small nail (approximately 3mm in diameter) push a hole in the foil.
• Cover the entire box with construction paper, leaving the single-viewing opening and the foil uncovered.

How to use the DIY viewer :

• The finished box should be held with the pin-hole side facing the sun. It may take a little practice pointing the box.
• With your back facing the sun, look through the viewing opening. A small image of the sun, about ½ cm in diameter can be seen projected on the white paper inside the box.

Watch the demo here:

The Planetary Society DIY paper viewer

While the Planetary Society also offers instructions for box or projector viewers that are more "fancy," as they put it, it doesn't get easier than their simple pinhole paper projector.

To make it, you only need two index cards (3-by-5 or A6 or A7 size) or small paper plates for each person and basic pushpins. Simply use the pushpin to punch a small hole close to the middle of one of the cards and you're done.

Another super easy version that requires no crafting? A kitchen colander. An ordinary kitchen colander can easily be used to view a solar eclipse in the same way as other projector viewers; the colander's circular holes project crescent images of the sun onto the ground.

To make the "fancier" version, you'll need 2 index cards (larger, 5-by-7 or A5 cards work better for this) or small paper plates for each person, a pencil, pushpins and a towel, sweatshirt, blanket, flattened corrugated cardboard box, carpet, or other soft substrate to place underneath card during pin pushing.

To make the fancier version:

• Draw a simple design on a card. The lines should not be too close together
• Place the card on top of something soft (blanket, towel, etc)
• Using the push pin, make small holes along your design lines. Not too close together – about 5 millimeters (1/4 inch) apart.

To use it, you'll again want to avoid looking directly at the sun:

• Go to your eclipse observing spot and make sure you can see the shadow of your head and shoulders clearly.
• Hold up the card with the hole on top of your shoulder so that you can see the shadow of the card above the shadow of your shoulder.
• Now hold up the other card and make sure you can see its shadow, too.
• Move the second card and watch how its shadow moves. Keeping the card in front of you, move its shadow until the second card's shadow overlaps the first card's shadow.
• Now look at the second card. You should see a dot on the card for every hole you punched. Those dots are actually images of the sun.

Cardboard or paper tube eclipse viewer

Sticking with the theme of using items you can easily find around the house, tube viewers can be made using cardboard tubes from household items like paper towels or toilet paper rolls. You can also use thick cardstock rolled up and taped to make your own tube.

To make one, you'll need a cardboard tube, white paper, aluminum foil, tape and a pushpin or something else sharp to poke a small hole. According to "Let's Talk Science," you can put this viewer together with these steps :

• Trace the opening of the tube on a piece of white paper. Draw a slightly bigger circle around it. Cut around the bigger circle. Cut small slits to the inner circle.
• Cut an opening near one end of the tube to make a viewing window.
• Tape the paper circle to the end of the tube near the viewing window.
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Can LLMs Really Reason and Plan?

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Large Language Models (LLM’s) are saturating the waves of AI discourse, and arguably rightly so. After all, their seeming approximate omniscience , and near-pitch-perfect form are things none of us has foreseen. Generative AI in general, and large language models in particular, are amazing idea generators. Over the weekend, Wall Street Journal reported a study that pit GPT4 against a bunch of MBAs in generating “innovative ideas” and the MBA’s were apparently not even close! This seeming proficiency of LLMs to generate ideas in compelling form has led many to view them as essentially “AI-complete,” and to ascribe to them reasoning and planning abilities.

Nothing in the training and use of LLMs would seem to suggest remotely that they can do any type of principled reasoning (which, as we know, often involves computationally hard inference/search). While one can dismiss the claims by hype-fueled social media influencers, startup-founders and VC’s, it is hard to ignore when there are also peer-reviewed papers in top conferences making similar claims. The “Large Language Models are Zero-Shot <insert-your-reasoning-task>” is almost becoming a meme paper title! At some level, this trend is understandable as in the era of LLMs, AI has become a form of ersatz natural science –driven by observational studies of capabilities of these behemoth systems. 

So, are these n-gram models on steroids really capable of planning and reasoning? In the summer of 2022, when we wanted to better answer this question, most reasoning claims were still somewhat anecdotal. So, we set out to evaluate GPT3 on a set of planning instances derived from the domains typically used in the International Planning Competition (IPC) –including the well-known Blocks World. Our results were quite contrary to the anecdotal claims about the planning abilities of LLMs, and when we made them public, received some attention in the AI circles..

By the beginning of this year, with the wide-spread public release of ChatGPT, and later, GPT4, there were a slew of additional claims, including in refereed papers, about LLM’s abilities to reason and plan. So we decided to repeat our tests on both GPT3.5 and GPT4 . Initial results showed that there was some improvement in the accuracy of generated plans from GPT3 to GPT3.5 to GPT4, with GPT4 reaching 30% empirical accuracy in the Blocks World (albeit still lower in other domains). We then wanted to know whether the modest improvement is because of the improved approximate retrieval abilities or whether GPT4 is actually doing/searching for plans.

Let us pause to note that our interest here is not whether LLMs can fake reasoning (by giving correct answers to reasoning tasks from memory and pattern finding), but whether they can actually do reasoning. Of course, seeing patterns in reasoning problems is not anything to be sneezed at. After all, our interest in mastering it is what is behind much of “street fighting” math (e.g., Polya’s “How to Solve it”).  But finding approximate shortcuts over provably correct reasoning procedures is obviously not equivalent to doing reasoning–unless you have an ability to establish from first principles reasoning that your hunch is actually correct. It  is challenging to decide whether a system (or a human, for that matter) is memorizing or solving a problem from scratch–especially as the systems (or humans) get trained on larger and larger  “question banks.” This is a challenge that most instructors and interviewers are acutely aware of. Think of that infamous “ why are manhole covers round?” interview question. While it may well have given the interviewer an insight into the candidate’s analytical reasoning skills the very first time it was asked, all it does with high probability now is to confirm whether the candidate “trained on the interview question banks.”

Considering that the LLMs don’t suffer some of the normal limitations of humans–such as having a life on the side, and thus not having the inclination to focus exclusively on the test/interview preparation for long periods, we wanted to check if the improved performance of GPT4 is really coming from its ability to plan. One way of doing this for planning tasks is to reduce the effectiveness of approximate retrieval by obfuscating the names of the actions and objects in the planning problem. When we did this for our test domains, GPT4’s empirical performance plummeted precipitously, despite the fact that none of the standard off-the-shelf AI planners have any trouble with such obfuscation. As these results came about at the height of  sparks of AGI/existential risk angst, we couldn’t resist the tongue-in-cheek editorializing that  if GPT4 ever goes rogue, you can stymie it by throwing it a simple planning problem! Humor aside, nothing in our studies showed that GPT4 is capable of generating executable plans autonomously.

Perhaps they can’t do planning autonomously straight out of the box, but what if we help them a little? There are broadly two popular techniques for such nudging.  First, called “fine tuning” is rather straightforward–you take a general LLM and fine tune it on planning problems (i.e., instances and their solutions), with the hope that they will subsequently show better performance. While our own limited experiments didn’t show any significant improvement through fine tuning, it is possible that with even more fine tuning data and effort, the empirical performance may well improve. But all that such fine tuning is doing is converting the planning task into a memory-based (approximate) retrieval . It doesn’t prove that LLMs are able to plan.

The second way to improve the planning (and reasoning) performance is to prompt the LLM with hints/suggestions about how it can improve its initial plan guess. The crucial questions here are (a) whether this back prompting is manual or automated (b) who is certifying the correctness of the final answer and (c) whether the prompts inject additional problem knowledge or are just merely exhorting the LLM to try again “thinking more carefully” as it were.

The cleanest approach–one which we tried in our own work–is to let an external model-based plan verifier do the back prompting and certify the correctness of the final solution. In contrast, by far the more popular methodology is to have the human in the loop prompt the LLM–the so-called “ chain of thought prompting (CoT).”  The problem with CoT is that it is highly susceptible to the Clever Hans effect , where the LLM is merely generating guesses, and it is the human in the loop, with the knowledge of right vs. wrong solutions, who is steering the LLM–even if they didn’t set out to do so deliberately. The credit and blame for the ensuring accuracy, if any, belongs squarely to the human in the loop. The relevance of such a framework becomes questionable when the human-in-the-loop doesn’t know (or is unable to verify) the answer to the reasoning/planning problem themselves (and hence my tongue-in-cheek proposal for the forest of jumbled thoughts prompting ).

A variation on the second approach is to have the LLM itself “critique” the guesses it generates and iteratively self-improve. Although some papers seem to swear by such a  “self-improvement” capability in LLMs,  the plausibility of such a claim  hinges on the belief that the LLMs are better at verifying their solutions than they are at generating them. While never explicitly justified, the assumption rests on either analogies to humans or indirect nods to computational complexity arguments. Humans sometimes do show the capability of correcting their own erroneous guesses with self-critiquing–there seems to be no basis for that assumption in the case of LLMs. And while for many computational tasks (e.g. those in class NP), the verification is often of lower complexity than generation, that fact doesn’t seem particularly  relevant for LLMs which are generating (approximately retrieving) guesses, rather than actually solving the problem with guarantees.

While the foregoing questions the claims that LLMs are capable of planning/reasoning, it is not meant to imply that LLMs don’t have any constructive roles to play in solving planning/reasoning tasks. In particular, their uncanny ability to generate ideas/potential candidate solutions–albeit with no guarantees about those guesses–can still be valuable in the so-called “LLM-Modulo” setups,  in conjunction with either model-based planners, external solvers or expert humans in the loop. The trick is to recognize that LLMs are generating potential answers to be checked/refined by external solvers, and avoid ascribing autonomous reasoning capabilities to LLMs. Indeed, the LLM orchestration frameworks, such as the popular  LangChain are best understood in this way.

The skeptical reader might now ask “but what about all those papers in high profile AI conferences that claim to show planning abilities of LLMs?” To analyze those claims, we need to first  understand that solving planning tasks requires (a) having the necessary planning domain knowledge–the actions and their preconditions, effects; the standard hierarchical recipes (e.g. task reduction schemas in HTN planning), past cases/plans, etc., and (b) being able to assemble this planning knowledge into an executable plan that takes care of any subgoal/resource interactions. The first can be called the knowledge acquisition and the second reasoning/planning part.  Many of the papers claiming planning abilities of LLMs, on closer examination, wind up confusing general planning knowledge extracted from the LLMs for executable plans. When all we are looking for are abstract plans, such as “wedding plans,” with no intention of actually executing the said plans, it is easy to confuse them for complete executable plans. Indeed, our close examination of several works claiming planning capabilities for LLMs suggests that they either work in domains/tasks where subgoal interactions can be safely ignored, or delegate the interaction resolution (reasoning)  to the humans in the loop (who, through repeated prompting, have to “correct” the plan). Sometimes, in common sense domains, or with enough fine tuning, the “assembling” part may also be obviated by having seen a case that pretty much corresponds to the problem that needs to be solved. Without these assumptions or mitigations, the plans that come out of LLMs may look reasonable to the lay user, and yet lead to execution time interactions and errors. (These issues are illustrated in part  by a recent news story about the proliferation of travel planning books , mostly auto-extracted from LLMs, and the ensuing disappointment of the unsuspecting end users who buy them mistaking them for usable plans).

The fact that LLMs are often good at extracting planning knowledge can indeed be gainfully leveraged. As we have argued in our recent work , LLMs can thus  be a rich source of approximate models of world/domain dynamics and user preferences,, as long as the humans (and any specialized critics) in the loop verify and refine those models, and give them over to model-based solvers. This way of using LLMs has the advantage that the humans need only be present when the dynamics/preference model is being teased out and refined, and the actual planning after that can be left to planning algorithms with correctness guarantees (modulo the input model). Such a framework has striking similarities to knowledge-based AI systems of yore, with LLMs  effectively replacing the “knowledge engineer.” Given the rather quixotic and dogmatic shift of AI away from approaches that accept domain knowledge from human experts, something I bemoaned in Polanyi’s Revenge , this new trend of using LLMs as knowledge sources can be viewed as a form of avenging Polanyi’s revenge !  Indeed, LLMs make it easy to get problem-specific knowledge as long as we are willing to relax correctness requirements of that knowledge. In contrast to the old knowledge engineering approaches, LLMs offer this without  making it look like we are inconveniencing any specific human (we are, instead,  just leveraging  everything humans told each other!).  So the million dollar question for reasoning tasks is: “ how would you do planning if you have some doddering know-it-all ready to give you any kind of knowledge?”  Traditional approaches to model-based reasoning/planning that focus on the incompleteness and incorrectness of the said models (such as model-lite planning, robust planning) can have fresh relevance.

To summarize, nothing that I have read, verified or done gives me any compelling reason to believe that LLMs do reasoning/planning as it is normally understood. What they do, armed with their web-scale training, is a form of universal approximate retrieval which, as we have argued, can sometimes be mistaken for reasoning capabilities. LLMs do excel in idea generation for any task–including those involving reasoning, and as I pointed out, this can be effectively leveraged to support reasoning/planning. In other words, LLMs already have enough amazing approximate retrieval abilities that we can gainfully leverage, that we don’t need to ascribe fake reasoning/planning capabilities to them. 

Additional resources:  

A recent 30-minute talk that argues these positions can be found at this link .  

A recent tutorial I gave at the Intl. Conference on Planning & Scheduling,  on the role of LLMs in Planning , provides a more comprehensive survey and analysis. 

The papers https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.15771 , https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.10498 , and https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14909 describe the details of our own work referred to in the article.

Subbarao Kambhampati is a professor at the School of Computing & AI at Arizona State University, and a former president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He studies fundamental problems in planning and decision making, motivated in particular by the challenges of human-aware AI systems. He can be followed on Twitter @rao2z.

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Ph.D in Architecture Symposium: Paper Presentations

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“ Environment  dates from [the early nineteenth century], in the sense of surroundings, as in  environs  (fw  environner , F – encircle, rw  viron , oF – circuit); it was extended, as in Carlyle (1827): ‘environment of circumstances.’”

As part of his 1976 encyclopedic work  Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society , Raymond Williams obliquely introduced the term “Environment” under the entry for the history of “ecology.” In his view the use of the term, dating to the nineteenth century, only commenced with the rise of “concern with the human and natural habitat” of environmentalism. Williams’ historiographical reading of the term obscures the way in which constructions of the environment and a cultural notion of depletion were co-constituted. As with the history of the economy as an object of power, measurement, and policy in the 1930s, the history of “the environment” can only be understood through the tools used to make it legible.

Rather than seeking an underlying definition of “the environment” within design practices, this symposium employs “environmentalization” to trace the conditions of possibility that enabled the concept to be taken as a given by the second half of the twentieth century—chiefly towards the ecological cause. By critically addressing the historiographical construction, instrumentalization, and weaponization of “the environment” in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century,  Forms of Environmentalization  aims to question how the ontological proliferation of the term has subjectivized spatial milieus as a tool to be both tamed and constructed.

Organized by Lasse Rau and Nicolay Duque-Robayo, students in the Ph.D. in Architecture Program at GSAPP.

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Exclusive: Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under criminal investigation

Trump’s social media company went public relying partly on loans from trust managed by person of interest to prosecutors

Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.

The former US president stands to gain billions of dollars – his stake is currently valued at about $4bn – from the merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which took the parent company of Truth Social public.

But Trump Media almost did not make it to the merger after regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and caused the company to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited to get the green light for its stock market debut.

The situation led Trump Media to take emergency loans, including from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered on the Caribbean island of Dominica that is best known for providing financial services to the porn industry.

Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.

The existence of the trust has previously been reported by the Guardian and the Washington Post. However, who controlled the account, how the trust was connected to Paxum Bank, and how the money had been funneled through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.

The new details about the trust are drawn from documents including: Paxum Bank records showing Postolnikov having access to the trust’s account, the papers that created the trust showing as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia, and three years of the trust’s financial transactions.

The concern surrounding the loans to Trump Media is that ES Family Trust may have been used to complete a transaction that Paxum itself could not.

Paxum Bank does not offer loans in the US as it lacks a US banking license and is not regulated by the FDIC. Postolnikov appears to have used the trust to loan money to help save Trump Media – and the Truth Social platform – because his bank itself could not furnish the loan.

Postolnikov, the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, an ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin , has not been charged with a crime. In response to an email to Postolnikov seeking comment, a lawyer in Dominica representing Paxum Bank warned of legal action for reporting the contents of the leaked documents.

There is also no indication that Trump or Trump Media had any idea about the nature of the loans beyond that they were opaque, nor has the company or its executives been accused of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not respond to a request for comment.

After this story was published, a lawyer representing Trump Media said in a statement: “The Guardian continues to propagate its false narrative that TMTG has these fake connections to Russia. It is a hoax. Litigation will continue on this point and we are confident that The Guardian will ultimately be held responsible for its defamation and this story should be retracted.”

But Postolnikov has been under increasing scrutiny in the criminal investigation into the Trump Media merger. Most recently, he has been listed on search warrant affidavits alongside several associates – one of whom was indicted last month for money laundering on top of earlier insider-trading charges.

Postolnikov and the trust

In late 2021, Trump Media was facing financial trouble after the original planned merger with Digital World was delayed indefinitely when the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the merger, Trump Media’s since-ousted co-founder-turned-whistleblower Will Wilkerson recounted in an interview.

Part of the problem was that Trump Media struggled to get financing because traditional banks were reluctant to lend millions to Trump’s social media company in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack, Wilkerson said.

Trump Media eventually found some lenders, including ES Family Trust, but the sequence of events was curious.

ES Family Trust was established on 18 May 2021, its creation papers show. Postolnikov’s “user” access to the account was “verified” on 30 November 2021 by a Paxum Bank manager in Dominica . The trust was funded for the first time on 2 December 2021.

Trump Media then received the loans from ES Family Trust: $2m on 23 December 2021, and $6m on 17 February 2022.

The loans came in the form of convertible promissory notes, meaning ES Family Trust would gain a major stake in Trump Media because it was offering the money in exchange for Trump Media agreeing to convert the loan principal into “shares of Company Stock”.

Oddly, the notes were never signed. But the investment in Trump Media proved to be huge: while precise figures can only be known by Trump Media, ES Family Trust’s stake in Trump Media is worth between $20m and $40m even after the sharp decline of the company’s share price in the wake of a poor earnings report.

The ES Family Trust account also appears to have benefited Postolnikov personally. As the criminal investigation into the Trump Media deal intensified towards the end of last year, the trust recorded several transfers to Postolnikov with the subject line “Partial Loan Return”.

In total, the documents showed that the trust transferred $4.8m to Postolnikov’s account, although $3m was inexplicably “reversed”.

(On 17 July 2023, Postolnikov received $300,000. On 17 October 2023, Postolnikov received $1.5m, before it was reversed the next day; later the same day, Postolnikov again received $1.5m, which was also reversed. On 19 October 2023, Postolnikov received the $1.5m for a third and final time.)

The reason for the trust’s creation remains unknown. Aside from the money that went to Trump Media, the trust’s statements show the trust has directly invested money with only two other companies: $10.8m to Eleven Ventures LLC, a venture capital firm, and $1m to Wedbush Securities, a wealth management firm.

The current status of ES Family Trust is also unknown. The trust’s address is listed as a residential home in Hollywood, Florida. But, according to the property website Redfin, the six-bedroom home appears to have been sold in December 2023.

The creation papers also contained something notable: a declaration that, if the original trustee – a Paxum employee named Angel Pacheco – stepped down from the role, his successor would be a certain individual named Michael Shvartsman.

Sprawling money-laundering investigation

Last month, federal prosecutors charged Michael Shvartsman, a close associate of Postolnikov, with money laundering in a superseding indictment after previously charging him and two others in July with insider-trading Digital World shares. Shvartsman and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty.

At least part of the evidence against Shvartsman came from a confidential informant for the DHS, court filings show: in one March 2023 meeting with the informant and an associate, Shvartsman mentioned a friend who owned a bank in Dominica and made bridge loans to Trump Media.

“[Shvartsman] stated that a friend of his owns a bank in the island of Dominica and would be able to provide banking services to Russian and Ukraine Nationals if the [confidential informant] had other clients in need of that service,” the DHS report said .

“[Shvartsman’s associate] told the [confidential informant] that he does not think the SEC would be able to go after [Shvartsman] for his part in the investment but mentioned that [Shvartsman] essentially provided ‘bridge financing’ for the firm behind the Truth Social media platform,” it said.

The unredacted parts of the DHS report do not specify whether the “friend” was Postolnikov and what the “bridge financing” referred to – but the report left open the possibility that Shvartsman also had a role with the trust.

A lawyer for Shvartsman declined to comment on his client’s relationship with Postolnikov. A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York also declined to comment.

It is unclear whether federal prosecutors are aware that Trump Media was propped up by Postolnikov via ES Family Trust. At the same time, the money-laundering investigation surrounding the Trump Media merger and the scrutiny on Postolnikov appears to have ballooned in recent months.

The investigation into potential money laundering appears to have started after Wilkerson’s lawyers Phil Brewster, Stephen Bell and Patrick Mincey alerted the US attorney’s office in the southern district of New York to the ES Family Trust loans in October 2022.

Months later, in June 2023, the FBI expanded its investigation to work jointly with the Department of Homeland Security’s El Dorado taskforce, which specializes in money laundering, and its Illicit Proceeds and Foreign Corruption group, which targets corrupt foreign officials who use US entities to launder illicit funds.

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