How you will organize the highlights of your research

You’ve conducted your research and you’ve written your draft. Now it’s time to make a pitch to convince others of your findings. We are often called on to present arguments and research summaries to others. This is your chance to practice this skill.

At this stage you will present your findings persuasively to the intended audience you identified in earlier stages. This intended audience can vary – it can be a scientific or medical panel, a local advisory committee, a town council, a school board. Develop a method of presenting your findings that will reach your intended audience. While PowerPoint is an option, you are encouraged to be creative here. You can make a commercial, a podcast, a TedTalk, a training module, and so on. What’s important is that you can distill your essential findings to succinctly and cogently present them to your intended audience. Keep the presentation focused: your pitch should be no more than five minutes of narration or the equivalent.

Some things to consider in constructing your pitch include:

How you will address and identify your audience early in the pitch;

How you will organize the highlights of your research, including the problem statement, your data collection, your main findings, your conclusions;

How you will introduce your research and convey a tone that is engaging and appropriate to the setting for your intended audience; and

How you will present a brief and cogent argument to convince others of your conclusions.

Posting: There are two places where you should submit your Research Pitch:

A discussion forum will be provided for you to upload your presentation for others to view, be informed and persuaded by, and offer constructive feedback on; and

Post a copy in the Assignment dropbox so your instructor can give feedback.