Writing and Speaking Written and Oral Presentations Writing

“Writing” and “Speaking” Written and Oral Presentations Writing Papers and Giving Talks Part of the Block Course „Working Techniques“ in the Frame of the International Master‘s Program for Informatics Johannes Kepler University, Campus Hagenberg, Austria September 2008 Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 1

Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008: No parts of this file may be copied or stored without written permission. Storing and printed granted for the students of the International Master’s Program in Informatics, JKU, Campus Hagenberg, September 2008 under the condition that the file is kept unchanged and complete including this copyright note. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 2

Contents: • The Role of Written and Oral Presentations • The Parameters on Which Presentations Depend • Structure of Written and Oral Presentations • Technicalities of Written and Oral Presentations Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 3

The Role of Written and Oral Presentations Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 4

Situations for Presentations: Examples • a seminar paper with talk • an interview at a company • product presentation at a costumer • teaching users of a software system • explaining your parents what you are doing • a master’s thesis • a paper for a journal • a paper for a conference with talk • writing a proposal for a fellowship • writing a project proposal • meeting a politician • a radio interview • writing a press release • “talk to yourself” • … Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 5

Lots of Work Little Work Presentation Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 6

• Reading (listening) should be less work than re-invention. • Good work is lost by bad presentation. • Bad presentation is also bad for the author: The readers will prefer to re-invent rather than to read (or to listen to others). Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 7

The Golden Rule for Presentations: Spend your time as an author for saving the time of the reader! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 8

The Myth on Mathematical Intelligence: “He has got the right idea but he is just not able to express it. ” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 9

Contents: ü The Role of Written and Oral Presentations • The Parameters on Which Presentations Depend • Structure of Written and Oral Presentations • Technicalities Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 10

The Parameters on which Presentations Depend A Common Misunderstanding: A “topic” The presentation oral / written Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 11

Rather: A “Topic” The addressees The presentation Chosen media Size constraints Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 12

Also: The Process of Presentation is a Spiral A “topic” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 The presentation 13

Also: The Presentation Spiral is the Crucial Method of Research A “topic” “Ideas do not come from Kami but from Kami” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 14

Some Consequences: Never give the same talk twice! Don’t present a paper by presenting the paper! Much of your writing is only for yourself. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 15

Rather: A “topic” The addressees Chosen media Size constraints - contents (the “topic”) - goals - point of emphasis - profession - training - motivation - age - relationship - no media - paper - blackboard - slides - interactive media The presentation - space - time Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 16

Some Consequences: Learn to express one content for • many different addressees • using arbitrary media • under arbitrary constraints Force yourself to adjust to the addressee, don’t force the addressee to adjust to you. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 17

Goals: • Goal /= “topic” • Same topic, different goals different presentation ! • Goals should be “operational”. • Clear goals are the best motivation for the addressees. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 18

An operational specification of a goal: • Describes the operation the reader / listener should be able to perform after reading / hearing the presentation. • Non-operational: The reader should “understand”. • Of course, all this has to be taken “cum grano salis” !! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 19

Example: Paper by B. Buchberger, Towards the Automated Synthesis of a Gröbner Bases Algorithm • The “topic” is clear. • However, many different operational goals possible: The reader should be able – to explain the main idea in examples write a “tutorial” – to develop all details of the algorithm so that he can program it write a “program specification” – to fill in all the details of the proof write a “mathematical foundations paper” – to use the program and apply it as a black box write a “user’s manual” – to change the program write a “documentation” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 20

Exercise: What are (should / could be) the operational goals behind Buchberger’s paper? Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 21

The point(s) of emphasis: • One or very few points of emphasis. • Should be clear to the author, should be clear to the addressee. • Napoleon: “Only chase one rabbit at a time!” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 22

Exercise: What is (should / could be) the point of emphasis in Buchberger’s paper? Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 23

Contents: ü The Role of Written and Oral Presentations ü The Parameters on Which Presentations Depend • Structure of Written and Oral Presentations • Technicalities of Written and Oral Presentations Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 24

The Structure of Presentations • Some structural considerations are common to oral and written presentations (talks and papers). • Some other structural considerations depend on the “media” used. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 25

Three psychologic facts behind the art of presentation: - Good motivation facilitates understanding. - Well associated contents can more easily be kept in brain. - Consecutive learning blocks may disturb each other. As a consequence, the following “presentation curve” is fundamental. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 26

Motivation Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 Presentation Association 27

The most natural way of presenting mathematics / informatics: Problem Beyond the capabilities of addressee ! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 Solution Method Solution Now within the capabilities of addressee! 28

For many mathematical papers and talks, a well chosen example can / should be the center of the paper. The basic rule for good examples: - as simple as possible - as complicated as necessary. This rule also applies to everything else in mathematics: drawings, definitions, proofs, algorithms, … Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 29

Set (operational) goal Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 Work hard Enjoy 30

The presentation curve is a fractal: - an entire study - an entire course - a lecture - part of a lecture Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 31

Don’t do this: Why not? Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 32

Another rule for presentations: The complete contents should be presented in a couple of rounds of increasing detail. • in the title • in the abstract • in the introduction • in the technical part for the “user” • in the technical part for the “developer” • (in the conclusions for those who have read the paper) Note: the addressee changes in the different parts of a paper! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 33

A typical structure of papers: • Title • Author, affiliation, bibliographic data • Abstract • Introduction / literature review • Technical part for the “users” • Technical part for the “developers” • Conclusion • References • Appendices Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 34

Title: A good structure: according to problem type, data type, method type. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 35

problem types SOLUTION OF BOOLEAN EQUATIONS BY ELIMINATION Mathematics as a 3 -D space method types EQUATIONS ELIMINATION BOOLEAN ALGEBRAS Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 data types 36

Author, Affiliation, Bibliographic Information: • Should enable the reader to get in contact with the author. • Should enable the reader to cite the paper or to search for citations. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 37

Abstract: • Note that the addressees are readers who do not have the paper! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 38

Introduction / Literature Review: • The place for motivation! • The place for the main example! • The place that convinces the referees about – – – – scope clarity importance difficulty (non-triviality) originality (difference to other work, “statement of originality”) completeness of literature survey presentation • The place for “reading instructions” Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 39

The Technical Parts of the Paper: – The main prerequisite is thorough mastery of the formal aspect of the mathematical methodology, see Chapter “Thinking”. – Only things that are correct can also be presented well! – If one masters the formal aspect of mathematics then one can play with “styles” in dependence of the input parameters of the presentation. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 40

Differences between the structure of papers and talks: • Talks: Interaction with the addressees possible and desirable. • Talks: A variety of different media is available (blackboards, data projector, speech) • Talks: Proceed in real-time (with the same speed for all people in the audience) • Talks need an extra written preparation, which is different from the paper! Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 41

Written Preparation for a Talk: Technicalities Psycho Goal M P A The actual text of the presentation Media Time Blackbd. …… …… …. . . Data Proj. P A Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 42

Exercise: • Analyze the structure of Buchberger’s paper. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 43

Contents: ü The Role of Written and Oral Presentations ü The Parameters on Which Presentations Depend ü Structur of Written and Oral Presentations • Technicalities of Written and Oral Presentations Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 44

Technicalities of Talks: see lecture notes. - Blackboards and slides: - On slides we “present” facts. (Don’t overload!) - On blackboards we develop ideas. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 45

Technicalities of Writing Papers: • The interplay between text and formulae: syntactical correctness! • Easy readability. • Uniformity in style. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 46

Some Difficulties in English: • The use of passive, “one”, “we”, “I”. • “which” and “that” • “don’t” and “do not”, “it’s” and “its”. • “the”, “an” and “ “: The have logical meaning! “a” …. “existential quantifier” “the” … instead of a constant (Advice: collect 100 sample phrases from good papers!) • British and American English. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 47

Contents: ü The Role of Written and Oral Presentations ü The Parameters on Which Presentations Depend ü Structure of Written and Oral Presentations ü Technicalities of Written and Oral Presentations Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 48

Exercise: • Choose (a very limited) topic and prepare three versions of a paper and a talk on the topic in dependence on various settings of the “input parameters” for the presentation. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 49

Conclusion (Points of Emphasis of this Lecture) • The dependence of presentations on the input parameters: A “Topic” The addressees Chosen media Size constraints The presentation • The “presentation curve”: • Formal mastery of mathematics is the basis for good style. Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 50

Another Summary: The 5 aspects and criteria for good talks and papers • „Facto“ (math / comp scie contents): goal oriented • „ Logo“: mastering the logical aspect of math / comp scie • „ Socio“: directed to a particular audience / readership • „ Psycho“: respecting the psychologic fact of learning • „Techno“: the technicalities of talks and papers Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 51

Additional Details Copyright Bruno Buchberger 2008 52