Presentations: title, abstract and outline 1. Below are examples of titles of presentations. Which of them would be acceptable for an academic talk? A. Light Pollution B. Investigation of Contrasting trends in light pollution across Europe C. Statistics for ESC in AO, PO and IO D. Contrasting trends in light pollution across Europe based on satellite observed night time lights E. Best land cover classification: Here and Now! F. A Vital Question 2. Read the four texts below. Which part of a presentation does each text represent? A) For the next 20 minutes or so I'm going to look at some of the different effects of global warming. Basically I've divided my presentation into three parts. In the first part, I'll talk about the melting glaciers and the way that these are contributing to rising sea levels, Then, in the second part, I'll look at climate change and give you some examples of how this is having a serious impact on wild animals' behaviour and habitat. And, in the final part, I'll focus on the retreating snowlines and consider how these are causing the death of certain species of trees. B) So that brings me to the conclusions. We have found a novel syndrome and we have been able to identify the genes causing this. And since SLC3A1 causes isolated cystinuria type 1, we can conclude that PREPL is responsible for the hypotonia and the growth retardation. We also have shown that PREPL is an active serine hydrolase, but unfortunately we have not been able to find the physiological substrate of REPL and hence we are not yet able at this stage to go back to the patient and try and explain why they have this syndrome as we observe it. And with that I am afraid I have to leave you with more questions than answers, but if you have any of the answers that I’ve been asking, please let me know. C) So, what to remember? TeX is a markup programming language. And that may very well scare you away, but if you get through the unavoidable learning curve, then you’ll get power, flexibility, reliability. And you want to know one more thing? TeX is free. That’s exactly why so many of you haven’t heard of it. There is nobody out there to promote it commercially. And that means that right after this presentation you can all go back to your offices, download it, install it. And if you call yourself a scientist, try it. Chances are you too will love it. D) I have a confession to make. As a scientist and engineer, I've focused on efficiency for many years. But efficiency can be a cult, and today I'd like to tell you about a journey that moved me out of the cult and back to a far richer reality. 3. What is the difference between a presentation outline and presentation abstract? · Which of the two columns above is an abstract, and which is an outline? · Would you be able to write an outline and an abstract for the same piece of your own work? Each needs its own way of thinking. · How is the thinking for an outline different to the thinking for an abstract? · Do these features relate to the abstract or the outline, or both? 1) it doesn’t introduce the context but the central points of the main part 2) it is a sub-part of the other 3) it summarizes all the text or speech 4) it is expected to inform about the topic, methods, results and conclusions 5) it should attract the reader’s interest 4. Happy maps https://www.ted.com/talks/daniele_quercia_happy_maps/transcript 0 - 7.13 draped - covered confession – telling one’s story about a failure Read the introductory part of the talk and use the words from the box to fill the gaps. 0 – 2.07 path car-packed bicycled journey commute route entirely surrounded detour A few years ago, after finishing my Ph.D. in London, I moved to Boston. I lived in Boston and worked in Cambridge. I bought a racing bicycle that summer, and I 1_________ every day to work. To find my way, I used my phone. It sent me over Mass. Ave., Massachusetts Avenue, the shortest 2_________ from Boston to Cambridge. But after a month that I was cycling every day on the 3_________ Mass. Ave., I took a different route one day. I'm not 4_________ sure why I took a different route that day, a 5_________. I just remember a feeling of surprise; surprise at finding a street with no cars, as opposed to the nearby Mass. Ave. full of cars; surprise at finding a street draped by leaves and 6_________ by trees. But after the feeling of surprise, I felt shame. How could I have been so blind? For an entire month, I was so trapped in my mobile app that a 7_________ to work became one thing only: the shortest 8_________ . In this single journey, there was no thought of enjoying the road, no pleasure in connecting with nature, no possibility of looking people in the eyes. And why? Because I was saving a minute out of my 9_________. · What type of efficiency does Daniele talk about? · Why do you think he contrasts the efficiency with “far richer reality” in the introduction? · Can you predict the content of his talk? 5. Daniele describes the steps of his research. Put the steps in the right order. Start with A, which is the first one. 2.07 – 5.00 A I changed my research from traditional data-mining to understanding how people experience the city. B We aggregated those winning locations in London to build a new map of the city. C We built a crowdsourcing platform, a web game. D We needed to understand which parts of the city people find beautiful. E We are able to see which are the urban scenes that make people happy. 6. Listen to the last part and answer the questions below. 5.00 – 7.13 1. What do participants attach to the places? 2. Where is Daniele’s research going right now? 3. How does he compare adventure and routine in the concluding part? 7. Suggest which points or arguments would make a good abstract for this presentation.