Use The Rule of Thirds To Help Your PowerPoint
More useful PowerPoint design tips from Gavin.
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Looking for help with the slides for your presentation?
Rule #1 from 7 Lessons from the World’s Most Captivating Presenters: Start with paper, not PowerPoint I couldn’t agree more. I’ve mentioned my colleague, Jean-luc Doumont, when offering help to those of you writing slides for a presentation. Jean-luc taught me that if you can’t make good visuals, you shouldn’t create them. Concentrate on developing content…
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It’s about COMMUNICATION, stupid!
My first new post in a while. And I’m ranting — albeit somewhat quietly. This time I’m reacting to a newly published research article about assessing student writing within MOOCs. Balfour, the author, provides a review of two technologies for assessing writing when you have a huge student-to-teacher ratio: Automated Essay Scoring (AES) and Calibrated…
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The genre of research articles: Methods sections
After something of a hiatus from Pros Write, I’m (finally) continuing the series on writing the different sections that make up a research article (RA). I’m tackling the Methods section here. (See this post for a discussion of the overall structure of the RA.) The Methods section is usually the easiest section for researchers to write. So I recommend they start…
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So you’re learning to write like a professional researcher?
Although I don’t have much time today, I promised the doctoral students I met with at LSU last Friday that I would share an interesting phrasebank from the folks at the University of Manchester for those learning to write like a researcher in English. Here are some examples for use in the Introduction section of…
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The genre of research articles: Introduction sections
Today’s post begins a series on the different sections that make up a research article (RA). I’m tackling the Introduction section first. The Introduction provides a “frame” for the research. It sets the boundaries for interpretation. (See this post for a discussion of the overall structure of the RA.) Based on my 25 or so years of experience writing and teaching others…
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Is your vision clear — or blurry?
I’m working on a post about research articles, but it’s not ready for the world yet. So I wanted to share a terrific piece on vision statements from Gavin over at Make A POWERful Point. He contrasts this vision statement attributed to Albertsons: Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives, we will constantly strive to implement the…
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The genre of research articles
This post is devoted to the genre of research articles. (If you need a brief introduction to what I mean by genre, read Pros have contextualized knowledge.) The ultimate proving ground for researchers outside the humanities, where books and essays may still be king, is publication of articles in peer-reviewed journals or conference collections. I’m teaching a course on…
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Pros right visuals for presentations
OK. I know the title of this post is a little strange because of the use of “right.” But it captures the lesson I try sharing with anyone who asks me how to be a better presenter. Getting the visuals right is the single biggest hurdle for most folks. (Read a little more before you dismiss this…
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The genre of email requests
It’s been a while since I offered up a post on writing a specific genre. (If you need a brief introduction to what I mean by “genre,” read Pros have contextualized knowledge.) I thought I’d tackle email. Radicati Group, a technology market research company, estimated that nearly 90 BILLION business emails were sent a day in 2012….
