4 Academic Presentation

Academic Presentation

1. Planning Your Presentation

A presentation is a prepared and formal talk given by a

speaker to one or more listeners. It is a powerful way to

transmit

your

message

to

an

audience

in

a

clear

and

structured way within a limited amount of time. There is

no doubt that app people whether a postgraduate student

at

a

university,

an

employee

or

a

lay

person,

will

do

a

presentation in public sooner or later. It can be conducted

at

the

company,

a

training

session,

an

academic

conference, during an interview, or other circumstances.

Good

presentation

skills

can

help

you

achieve

more

confidence,

think

more

quickly

and

analytically,

and

stand out in the crowd.

2. Opening Your Presentation

The opening of a presentation sets the stage for what is to

follow

and

aims

to

arouse

the

audience

’

s

interest

and

introduce

your

topic.

It

comprises

just

a

small

portion,

yet

if

you

make

an

error,

you

mess

up

the

whole

presentation.

A

good

opening

plays

a

critical

role

in

presenting

your

topic

because

it

not

only

sets

the

tone,

but

also

determines

the

audience’s

reaction.

A

presentation

usually

begins

as

follows:

g

et

people’s

attention, welcome the audience, introduce yourself, state

the

purpose

of

your

presentation,

present

the

outline

of

the

points

to

be

covered

and

mention

how

you

want

to

deal with questions.

Language focus

Greet the audience

Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, esteemed guests.

On behalf of

…

,

I’d

like to welcome you to

…

…

Ladies

and

gentlemen,

thank

you

very

much

for

coming

along

here

today.

Thank

you

for

finding

the

time

to

come

and

join

me

for

this

presentation today.

Good morning.

It’s

an honor to have the opportunity to address such a

distinguished audience.

Self-introduction

As you know,

I’

m in charge of

…

I am

…

from

…

I’

m the manager of

…

For those of you who

don’t

know me, my name

’

s

…

I’

d like to start by introducing myself. My name

’

s

…

Let me start by saying just a few words about my own background.

State

the

purpose

of

I’d

like to talk to you today about

…

the presentation

What I want to do this morning is to talk to you about

…

The subject/focus/topic of my talk/presentation/paper/speech is

…

The purpose of my presentation is to introduce our new range of

…

What

I

would

like

to

do

today

is

to

explain/

illustrate/present/inform/brief you on

…

Outline the structure

I’

ve

divided/broken

my

speech/presentation

into

…

parts/sections.

They are

…

I will concentrate on the following points. First of all

…

Then

…

The subject can be looked at under the following headings:

…

We can break this area down into the following fields:

…

Firstly/First of all

…

Secondly/Second of all

…

Thirdly/And then we come to

…

Finally/Lastly/Last of all

…

Deal with questions

If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt as I go along.

There will be plenty of time for questions at the end.

I’

d ask you to save your questions for the end.

I’

d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

Perhaps we can leave any questions you have until the end.

I plan to keep some time for questions after the presentation.

You

may

interrupt

me

at

any

moment

to

ask

questions

or

make

comments.

I would be grateful if you could hold your questions until the end of

my talk.

3

Task 1

Listen

to

the

recording

and

write

down

the

essential

elements

that

should

be

included

in

the

opening

part

of

a

presentation.

1._____________________

2._____________________

3._____________________

4._____________________

5._____________________

Task 1

Reference:

1.

Greeting the audience

2.

Self- introduction

3.

Stating the purpose

4.

Outlining the structure

5.

Dealing with questions

Script

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our company. I

’

d like

to start by introducing myself. I

’

m Robert, the head of the Public Relation

Department and I will be in charge of the tour this afternoon. I know you

have

had

a

tiring

trip

so

I

will

just

give

you

a

brief

20

minutes

presentation

about

our

company.

Please

feel

free

to

interrupt me

if

you

have

any

questions

during

the

presentation.

I

have

divided

my

presentation into three parts. First of all, I

’

ll give you a brief introduction

about

the

history,

culture

and

operating

philosophy

of

our

company.

Secondly, I will focus on the main markets and corporate business. And

last

of

all,

I

’

ll

describe

briefly

the

future

planning

and

prospect

of

our

company. In order to make it more lively and less challenging, I will be

using a PPT. Now, let

’

s get started with the first part.....

.

3. Developing Your Presentation

The

main

function

of

academic

presentation

is

to

communicate ideas and information, display achievement

and clarify questions. The delivery of information serves

as the core in the process. The language skills may help

the speaker to deliver the speech in a logical and lively

way so that the audience can understand easily. Besides

the

well-organized

contents,

the

logical

development

of

the

speech

plays

a

very

important

role.

The

following

approaches

can

be

employed

to

bring

into

full

play

the

logical

development,

attract

and

persuade

audience:

chronological

sequence,

sequential

relation,

description

and enumeration pattern, comparison and contrast, cause

and effect, etc.

Language focus

Function

Introducing the subject

Language

Let

’

s begin by

…

Starting with

…

I’

d like to start by

…

Now let us look at the first aspect which is

…

So much for

…

We

’

ve looked at

…

Well,

I’

ve told you about

…

That

’

s all I have to say about

…

Let

’

s look now at

…

Let me turn now to

…

Now we

’

ll move on to

…

The next point is that

…

I’

d like now to discuss

…

Finishing one subject

Starting another subject

Giving recommendations

Giving examples

Dealing with questions

Summarizing

Ordering

Comparing

Repeating

Right, now

I’

d like to explain

…

Ok

，

now I am going to talk about

…

Now that we

’

ve seen

…

let us examine

…

more

closely.

Translated into real terms

…

Let

’

s consider this in more detail

…

As an illustration,

…

A case in point is

…

To illustrate this point

…

To give you an example

…

A good example of this is

…

I won’

t comment on this now

…

I’

d

like

to

deal

with

this

question

later,

if

any

…

We

’

ll be examining this point in more detail

later on

…

I’

ll

come

back

to

this

question

later

in

my

talk

…

Perhaps

you’d

like

to

raise

this

point

at

the

end

…

In short,

…

To sum up,

…

Briefly speaking,

…

As far as

…

is concerned,

If I can sum up the main points

…

Several

remarks

need

to

be

made

for

summary.

Finally,

let

me

remind

you

of

some

of

the

issues we

’

ve covered

…

Firstly< /p>

…

secondly

…

< br>thirdly

…

lastly

…

To start with

…< /p>

later

…

to finish up

…

Afterwards / following / in what follows

First

of

all

…

then

…

next

…

after

that

…

f inally

…

In the meantime / meanwhile

Presently / recently

In contrast / in relating to / in connection with

/ likewise / similarly

In review,

…

This is to say,

…

Let me repeat,

…

In other words,

…

As has been stated,

…

As discussed previously,

…

3

Task 1

Listen to several recordings and identify the

techniques the presenters use to present the

subject itself.

Technique 1._____________

Technique 2._____________

Technique 3

._____________

Task 1

Reference:

1.

Comparison and contrast

2.

Cause and effect structure

3.

Sequential sequence

Script:

1.

People

often

ask

me

whether

I

find

students

in

China

very

different

from

those

I

have

taught

for

the

past

25

years

in

Australia

and

what

the

differences

are.

While

there

are

exceptions

to

any

generalization,

1

would

say

that

on

the

whole, Western students aspire to excellence in individuality,

whereas Chinese students aspire to excellence in conformity.

While education in the West encourages learners from an early

age to exercise critical and analytical skills, to show creativity

and

originality

and

to

develop

a

spirit

of

enquiry,

Chinese

teaching

appears

to

emphasize

accuracy

of

factual

recall,

correctness

of

expression

and

respectful

compliance

with

interpretations given by texts and teachers.

Western students, therefore, are more at ease with debate and

discussion,

original

experimentation

and

research

than

their

Chinese counterparts, while Chinese students often show more

excellence

in

pattern

drill

than

their

Western

peers.

Learners

who are able to combine the strengths of both approaches are

the ones who truly excel in either system.

Social,

historical

and

political

factors

combined

have

influenced the Chinese approach to foreign language learning,

while

a

different

combination

of

parallel

factors

has

shaped

Western

scholarship.

Now

that

a

spirit

of

openness

and

co- operation prevails, we can hopefully all share our expertise

as

of

the

world,

and

benefit

from

each

other's

academic strengths.

2. In recent decades, cities have grown so large that now about

50%

of

the

Earth's

population

lives

in

urban

areas.

And

as

you're likely aware, the global trend is continuing towards a

migration

towards

urban

populations.

There

are

several

reasons

accounting

for

this

occurrence.

First,

the

increasing

industrialization in the 19

th

century resulted in the creation of

many factory jobs, which tended to be located in cities. These

jobs,

with

their

promise

of

a

better

material

life,

attracted

many people from rural areas. Second, many schools were set

up

to

educate

the

children

of

the

new

factory

laborers.

The

prospect

of

a

better

education

persuaded

many

families

to