How to present for Journal Club

•Preparing slides

•Organizing your talk

•After your talk

•Practice

Quircia, Jacopo della, (1374-1438), painter Quirino, Elpidio, (fl. 1950s), Filipino politician Quirke, Pauline, British actress Quisling, Vidkun, (1887-1945), Norwegian

politician Quivers, Robin, (born 1952), talk show host

Acknowledgements

Organizing your talkGeneral principles:1) No more than 1 slide per minute

2) 20% of time on introduction

3) 50% of time on data

4) Save time for summary / acknowledgments

5) Focus on 3 main points

Organizing your talk• Consider your audience:

peers? novices? people you should acknowledge?

•Give intermediate summary points

•Slide transitions

Do your homework!

Organizing your talk

•Practice with colleagues, get advice

•Timing: not too many slides!

•Show data early and often:

people are there to hear your results!

Presenting a manuscript

1) Define the question being asked by the authors2) Indicate its importance3) Provide background4) Evaluate the data:

originalstudy design optimal / adequatematerial and methods clearcredible (controls?)clearly presented

5) Do the results justify the authors conclusions?6) Summarize the new insights arising from the data7) What is the next best question?

Your presentation:

1) 2-3 slides of background information

T-Lymphotropic Viruses

PTLV

HTLV STLV

Primate T-Lymphotropic Viruses

Human T-Lymphotropic Viruses Simian T-Lymphotropic Viruses

HTLV Genetics

Four Structural and Enzymatic Gene Regions– The gag Region

Gag polypeptides, matrix, capsid, nucleocapsid– The pol Region

Polymerase and reverse transcriptase– The env Region

Envelope glycoproteins– The X Region

tax gene (transcriptional activation of long terminal repeat (LTR) rex gene (expression of structural and enzymatic proteins)

Your presentation:

1) 2-3 slides of background information2) Hypothesis / question

Hypothesis

The authors wished to determine whether previously undescribed HTLVs were present in persons exposed to the blood and body fluids of wild primate populations that were infected with STLV-1 and STLV-3.

Your presentation:

1) 2-3 slides of background information2) Hypothesis / question3) What is to be gained by testing this hypothesis?4) ~1 slide each for key figures

Title should indicate the conclusions from the dataDescribe the methods brieflyCritique the dataSummarize results

Fig. 2. HTLV WB serologic pattern of infected African hunters

Wolfe, N

athan D. et al. (2005) Proc. N

atl. Acad. Sci. U

SA

102, 7994-7999

Your presentation:

1) 2-3 slides of background information2) Hypothesis / question3) What is to be gained by testing this hypothesis?4) ~1 slide each for key figures

Title should indicate the conclusions from the dataDescribe the methods brieflyCritique the dataSummarize results

5) Summarize the conclusions6) Evaluate / put it into the “big picture”

(defined in your background summary)

Your job as a presenter:

• Engage your audience!• Ask questions (know the answers)

Data justify conclusions?Better way to answer the question?Does data support/refute hypothesis?Health implications?What new ?’s does this raise?Implications for other fields?

Simple, uniform backgrounds, fonts, & color schemes

Preparing Slides

TextTitle: 36-44 font; uniform color and size on all slides

Fonts: ArialHelvetica(Comic Sans)Courier – for alignment

Labeling figures: 10% 10% 10% 10% 10%

36 24 20 16 12 font size

THE BIGGER THE BETTER!

ColorsSafest combinations:

Black on whiteWhite/pale yellow on black Yellow on blue

For emphasis:Royal blue, green, red on whitepale pastels on black or dark blue

Good Slide background: dark blue

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Preparing slides

Spelll check!

Preparing slides

Make slides especially for the talk

Figures made for a paper are never appropriate for a talk

XPG cleavesjunctions

(too much information)

XPG cleaves junctions90

60

30

60

90

+ - -

C+T

A+G

XPG

Preparing slides

Every slide should have a title

-if it is a data slide make the title the conclusion

Energy conservation in Pittsburgh

NO REASON TO WRITE IN CAPITALS

WRITING IN CAPITALS IS HARD TO READ AND IS VISUAL SHOUTING. THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANT POINTS (THIS GOES FOR MEMOS AND ANNOUNCMENTS, TOO).

No reason to write in capitals

Writing like this is easier to read and comprehend. This makes it simpler to understand the important points.

Preparing slides

Vary with text, data, drawings, photos

Origin of the word “nerd”

1950 Dr. Seuss’s “If I ran the zoo”

"And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And

Bring Back

an It-Kutch a Preep

and a Proo a Nerkle

a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"

Site Selection & Survey

• 11 rural villages in southern Cameroon proximal to forested and non-forested Non-Human Primate (NHP) habitats

• Study participants completed a survey to determine behaviors that exposed participants to NHPs.

Preparing slides

Use animation, carefully

ELISA Immunoassay

HTLV antibodies bind to p21 envelope (Env) antigen-labeled surface

ELISA Immunoassay

Plate is washed to remove excess antibodies. Only the antibody-antigen

complex remains attached.

ELISA Immunoassay

A fluorescent or chromogenic substrate is attached to the antibody-antigen complex.

ELISA Immunoassay

Plate is washed to remove excess fluorescent or chromogenic substrate.

ELISA Immunoassay

Signal is detected. Intensity of signal is directly correlated with extent of antibody-

antigen complexation.

Preparing slides: summary

•Use animation, carefully

•Simple backgrounds & colors

•Title on each slide

•Make slides especially for the talk

•Spell check

•Vary with text, data, other visuals

Practice, practice, practice!

After the talk

How to answer questions•Respect the intelligence of the questioner

•All questions are interesting

•OK to say you don’t know

•Deflect bizarre questions

•Strive to be brief and to the point

•Accept valid criticism gracefully

Criticisms can arise from efforts to evaluate the

importance of the new and unfamiliar

Slonimsky cover

sample critique 1

This extremely difficult, strange, wild, ultramodernRussian Concerto is the composition of Peter Tchaikovsky, a young professor …could we ever learn to love such music?

Dwight’s Journal of Music, Boston, Nov. 13, 1875

Dates for Journal Club• Tues, September 5 – Intro, Workshop• Tues, October 3 – Anya & Lindsay

– Alternate dates – Tues, Oct 10; Thurs, Oct 5; Thurs, Oct 12• Tues, October 31

– Alternate dates – Thurs, Nov 2; Tues, Nov 7» Renal Exam Nov 10th.

• Tues, December 5 – Kevin Proctor– Alternate dates – Tues, December 12; Thurs, Dec 7; Thurs, Dec 14.

• Tues, January 9– Alternate dates – Tues, Jan 16; Thurs, Jan 11; Thurs, Jan 18

» Hematology Exam Jan. 16th

• Tuesday, February 6– Alternate dates – Tues, Feb 13; Thurs, Feb 8; Thurs, Feb 15

» Endocrine Exam Feb. 2nd

» Reproduction Exam Feb. 23rd