Presenting Research › Module 1: The message
The story: problem, gap, answer
Lesson 3 of 3 · 2 min
A research talk is a story, and audiences follow stories far more easily than lists of facts. The simplest research story has three parts.
The three parts
- The problem: something people care about, made concrete. A farmer, a disease, a slow system, a mystery in the data.
- The gap: why it isn't solved yet. What's missing, what fails, what nobody knows.
- The answer: what you did, what you found, and what it means.
This is the same funnel you used for a paper's introduction (Writing a Research Paper), told out loud.
Shape a 10-minute talk
| Part | Time |
|---|---|
| Problem (with a concrete example) | 1–2 min |
| Gap | 1 min |
| Your approach | 2–3 min |
| Key results (one or two) | 3–4 min |
| What it means + your one sentence | 1 min |
- Problem (with a concrete example)
- Time: 1–2 min
- Gap
- Time: 1 min
- Your approach
- Time: 2–3 min
- Key results (one or two)
- Time: 3–4 min
- What it means + your one sentence
- Time: 1 min
Make the problem real
Start with a specific case, not a general statement. "A farmer in Wayanad photographs a yellowing leaf, but no app recognises the disease" lands better than "Plant disease detection is an important problem."
Leave things out
You can't show everything. Choose the one or two results that best support your message. The rest can go in backup slides for questions.
RememberProblem, gap, answer. Start with a concrete case, show one or two results, and end on your one sentence.