{"id":237961,"date":"2016-08-24T06:08:58","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T13:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-academic-program&#038;p=237961"},"modified":"2023-10-11T11:59:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T18:59:16","slug":"give-great-research-talk","status":"publish","type":"msr-academic-program","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/give-great-research-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"How to give a great research talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2>Academic resource<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Simon Peyton Jones, John Launchbury, John Hughes, SIGPLAN Notices 28(11), Nov 1993.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Writing papers and giving talks are key skills for any researcher, but they aren\u2019t easy. In this presentation, I\u2019ll describe simple guidelines that I follow for giving talks, which I think may be useful to you too. I don\u2019t have all the answers\u2014far from it! Please also see my talks on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/write-great-research-paper\/\">how to write a great research paper<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/how-to-write-a-great-research-proposal\/\">how to write a great research proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-wrapper margin-bottom-sp1\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Give a Great Research Talk\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/sT_-owjKIbA?feature=oembed&rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Photo \u00a9 James Millar\/TEDxExeter. Licensed under <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/\">creative commons<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/how-to-give-a-good-research-talk\/\">The paper<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Powerpoint slides of the talk [updated 2016]: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/How-to-give-a-great-research-talk.pdf\">PDF<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/How-to-give-a-great-research-talk.pptx\">PPT<\/a>\u00a0(you should feel free\u00a0to repurpose these slides for your own use as long as you acknowledge ownership)<\/li>\n<li>Other languages\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/speakerdeck.com\/audreyt\/ru-he-zuo-ci-liang-hao-de-yan-jiu-yan-jiang\">Slides translated into Chinese<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Emery Berger&#8217;s helpful <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/emeryblogger.com\/2016\/06\/08\/a-guide-for-session-chairs\/\">guide for session chairs<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Nick Nethercote also has a <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.valgrind.org\/njn\/good-talk.html\">useful 2-page guide<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> about giving a talk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Related links<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/write-great-research-paper\/\">How to write a great research paper<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/how-to-write-a-great-research-proposal\/\">How to write a\u00a0great research proposal<\/a><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Contact<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Simon Peyton Jones: <a href=\"mailto:simonpj@microsoft.com\">simonpj@microsoft.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some pointers to other useful advice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.virginia.edu\/~robins\/YouAndYourResearch.html\">You and your research<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Hamming&#8217;s famous 1986 talk on how to do great research.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.navigators.di.fc.ul.pt\/wiki\/The_Navigators_Research_Book_of_Style\">The Navigators Research Book of Style<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> is a slide deck from the Navigators research group at the University of Lisbon. It covers choosing a research topic, doing research, and writing and submitting a paper.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at\/~silvia\/research-tips\/\">Research tips<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (including how to do research, how to write and present a paper, how to design a poster, how to review, etc), by <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at\/~silvia\/\">Sylvia Miksch<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.bham.ac.uk\/internal\/research_students\/theses.php\"> Notes on presenting theses<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, edited by Aaron Sloman, gives useful guidelines and ideas for PhD students writing their thesis.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.elevatorpitchessentials.com\/\"> Chris O&#8217;Leary&#8217;s essays about writing an &#8220;elevator pitch&#8221;<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>. This stuff, especially the list of attributes in the &#8220;Elevator pitch 101&#8221; page, is very relevant to writing a good grant proposal.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"href=\">Guide for preparation and publication of abstracts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scrutiny.pdf\">A scrutiny of the abstract<\/a>, both by Kenneth Landes in Geological Notes. These short notes give guidance about writing the abstract of your paper.<\/li>\n<li>Norman Ramsey&#8217;s notes about his <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eecs.harvard.edu\/~nr\/pubs\/two-abstract.html\">class on Technical Writing<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/tex.loria.fr\/typographie\/mathwriting.pdf\">Mathematical Writing<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, by Donald E. Knuth et al. The first three sections constitute a minicourse on technical writing: only eight pages long. The time to read it will repay itself many times over.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stat.rice.edu\/~riedi\/Halmos.html\">How to Write Mathematics<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, by PR Halmos.<\/li>\n<li>Gian-Carlo Rota&#8217;s excellent talk <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/alumni.media.mit.edu\/~cahn\/life\/gian-carlo-rota-10-lessons.html\"> Ten lessons I wish I had been taught<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, which, among other things, has a bit to say about giving a talk.<\/li>\n<li>David Patterson&#8217;s talk <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.berkeley.edu\/~pattrsn\/talks\/nontech.html\"> How to have a bad career in research\/academia<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> has many wise things to say on a related topic.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www-2.cs.cmu.edu\/afs\/cs.cmu.edu\/user\/mleone\/web\/how-to.html\">Mark Leone&#8217;s page<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> has a good collection of links to other resources.<\/li>\n<li>Papers about measurement:\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/portal.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=1508244.1508275\">Producing wrong data without doing anything obviously wrong!<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> Mytkowicz, Diwan, Hauswirth and Sweeney, ASPLOS 2009.<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/portal.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=5666.5673&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=106744944&CFTOKEN=90490737\"> How not to lie with statistics &#8211; the correct way to summarise benchmark results<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> Fleming & Wallace, CACM 29(3), pp218-221, March 1986.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":239480,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"msr-opportunity-type":[155534],"msr-region":[256048],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-program-audience":[243724],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"class_list":["post-237961","msr-academic-program","type-msr-academic-program","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-opportunity-type-academic-resources","msr-region-global","msr-locale-en_us","msr-program-audience-students"],"msr_description":"","msr_social_media":[],"related-researchers":[],"tab-content":[{"id":0,"name":"About","content":"<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Simon Peyton Jones, John Launchbury, John Hughes, SIGPLAN Notices 28(11), Nov 1993.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Writing papers and giving talks are key skills for any researcher, but they aren\u2019t easy. In this presentation, I\u2019ll describe simple guidelines that I follow for giving talks, which I think may be useful to you too. I don\u2019t have all the answers\u2014far from it! Please also see my talks on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/write-great-research-paper\/\">how to write a great research paper<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/how-to-write-a-great-research-proposal\/\">how to write a great research proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sT_-owjKIbA[\/embed]\r\nPhoto \u00a9 James Millar\/TEDxExeter. Licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/\">creative commons<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/how-to-give-a-good-research-talk\/\">The paper<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Powerpoint slides of the talk [updated 2016]: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/How-to-give-a-great-research-talk.pdf\">PDF<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/How-to-give-a-great-research-talk.pptx\">PPT<\/a>\u00a0(you should feel free\u00a0to repurpose these slides for your own use as long as you acknowledge ownership)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Other languages\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/speakerdeck.com\/audreyt\/ru-he-zuo-ci-liang-hao-de-yan-jiu-yan-jiang\">Slides translated into Chinese<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Emery Berger's helpful <a href=\"https:\/\/emeryblogger.com\/2016\/06\/08\/a-guide-for-session-chairs\/\">guide for session chairs<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Nick Nethercote also has a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.valgrind.org\/njn\/good-talk.html\">useful 2-page guide<\/a> about giving a talk<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<h5><strong>Related links<\/strong><\/h5>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/write-great-research-paper\/\">How to write a great research paper<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/how-to-write-a-great-research-proposal\/\">How to write a\u00a0great research proposal<\/a>\r\n<h5><strong>Contact<\/strong><\/h5>\r\nSimon Peyton Jones: <a href=\"mailto:simonpj@microsoft.com\">simonpj@microsoft.com<\/a>"},{"id":1,"name":"Other resources","content":"Here are some pointers to other useful advice:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.virginia.edu\/~robins\/YouAndYourResearch.html\">You and your research<\/a>, Hamming's famous 1986 talk on how to do great research.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.navigators.di.fc.ul.pt\/wiki\/The_Navigators_Research_Book_of_Style\">The Navigators Research Book of Style<\/a> is a slide deck from the Navigators research group at the University of Lisbon. It covers choosing a research topic, doing research, and writing and submitting a paper.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at\/~silvia\/research-tips\/\">Research tips<\/a> (including how to do research, how to write and present a paper, how to design a poster, how to review, etc), by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at\/~silvia\/\">Sylvia Miksch<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.bham.ac.uk\/internal\/research_students\/theses.php\"> Notes on presenting theses<\/a>, edited by Aaron Sloman, gives useful guidelines and ideas for PhD students writing their thesis.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elevatorpitchessentials.com\/\"> Chris O'Leary's essays about writing an \"elevator pitch\"<\/a>. This stuff, especially the list of attributes in the \"Elevator pitch 101\" page, is very relevant to writing a good grant proposal.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"href=\">Guide for preparation and publication of abstracts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scrutiny.pdf\">A scrutiny of the abstract<\/a>, both by Kenneth Landes in Geological Notes. These short notes give guidance about writing the abstract of your paper.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Norman Ramsey's notes about his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eecs.harvard.edu\/~nr\/pubs\/two-abstract.html\">class on Technical Writing<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/tex.loria.fr\/typographie\/mathwriting.pdf\">Mathematical Writing<\/a>, by Donald E. Knuth et al. The first three sections constitute a minicourse on technical writing: only eight pages long. The time to read it will repay itself many times over.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stat.rice.edu\/~riedi\/Halmos.html\">How to Write Mathematics<\/a>, by PR Halmos.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Gian-Carlo Rota's excellent talk <a href=\"http:\/\/alumni.media.mit.edu\/~cahn\/life\/gian-carlo-rota-10-lessons.html\"> Ten lessons I wish I had been taught<\/a>, which, among other things, has a bit to say about giving a talk.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>David Patterson's talk <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cs.berkeley.edu\/~pattrsn\/talks\/nontech.html\"> How to have a bad career in research\/academia<\/a> has many wise things to say on a related topic.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www-2.cs.cmu.edu\/afs\/cs.cmu.edu\/user\/mleone\/web\/how-to.html\">Mark Leone's page<\/a> has a good collection of links to other resources.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Papers about measurement:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/portal.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=1508244.1508275\">Producing wrong data without doing anything obviously wrong!<\/a> Mytkowicz, Diwan, Hauswirth and Sweeney, ASPLOS 2009.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/portal.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=5666.5673&amp;coll=GUIDE&amp;dl=GUIDE&amp;CFID=106744944&amp;CFTOKEN=90490737\"> How not to lie with statistics - the correct way to summarise benchmark results<\/a> Fleming &amp; Wallace, CACM 29(3), pp218-221, March 1986.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>"}],"msr_impact_theme":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/237961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-academic-program"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/237961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975894,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/237961\/revisions\/975894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-opportunity-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-opportunity-type?post=237961"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=237961"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=237961"},{"taxonomy":"msr-program-audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-program-audience?post=237961"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=237961"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=237961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}