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1. Making Effective PPTs
Tips for Style and Content

2. Overview
•The number of slides depends on the
duration of the presentation (5-15)
•The first slide should always be the
roadmap slide
•Use the same background for all the
slides
•Keep the slides uncluttered

3. Style Elements - Font
•Keep the font constant
•No more than 2 fonts per slide
•*Minimum font size: 24
•Differently coloured/bold words for
emphasis
•Never ALL CAP
•Left justify all text

4. Style Elements - Text
•Each slide should have a title/header
•Write in bullet format, not paragraphs
•Bullets are key points, not sentences
•No more than 6 bullets per slide
•No more than 8 words per bullet
•One thought per bullet
•Do not use full stops
•No repetition, no reiteration

5. Style Elements – Graphics &
Animation
•Do not use images unless they add to
the presentation
•Keep the images to the side, not the
center
•Use animation to add, not distract
•Use animation sparingly and
consistently, or not at all

6. Most Importantly…
•Do not read off the slides
•The slides are a prop, you are the
mainstay
•Only the most important information
should appear on the slides
•The slides should be in logical order
•The title should be a headline, not a
description
• (“Isaac Newton” vs. “Isaac Newton-A Genius”)

7. Whatiswronghere?
Henry Cavendish
Among much else, and without telling anyone, Henry Cavendish
discovered or anticipated the law of the conservation of energy,
Ohm’s Law, Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures, Richter’s Law of
Reciprocal Proportions, Charles’s Law of Gases, and the
principles of electrical conductivity. That’s just some of it.
According to the science historian J. G. Crowther, he also
foreshadowed ‘the work of Kelvin and G.H. Darwin on the effect
of tidal friction on slowing the rotation of the earth, and
Larmor’s discovery, published in 1915, on the effect of local
atmospheric cooling . . . the work of Pickering on freezing
mixtures, and some of the work of Rooseboom on
heterogeneous equilibria’.
Finally, he left clues that led directly to the discovery of
the group of elements known as the noble gases, some
of which are so elusive that the last of them wasn’t
found until 1962.

8. What was wrong with that slide?
• Too much text
• Too many colours
• Italicised text is hard to read
• Center justified text is hard to read
• Too many different fonts distract
• The font sizes are too small
• The image distracts
• Such a slide would mean the reader is
reading off the slide

9. Schedule of Presentations
• Power point presentations start next
week:
- Tutorials on 8th and 15rd February
- Form groups of 4
- Each presentation gets about 4 minutes
- Pick a scientist (from the list or choose a
relatively unknown one) and give the name
to the tutor (in class or via email by Sunday)

10. Assignment:Biographiesof ObscureScientists
• Create a PPT presentation on the scientist
your group has been assigned
• Make 6 to 8 slides in all
• Include: Life – Work – Implications
• Each member of the group presents one
aspect
• Total duration of presentation: 4 minutes
• Do not rely on Wikipedia
• Each group must email a one page write-up
after the presentation
• Presentation and slides will be graded!

11. What youcouldinclude in the presentation
• Life
- Birth (date, place). If dead, place, date
- What/who shaped their lives? Early influences,
mentors, other factors
• Work
- Education, research
- Accomplishments, awards
- Contemporaries, students
• Implications of their work
- Effects on later research, social impact
• Last slide: References/Sources you have used

12. Sources
• Online sources
• Wikipedia may NOT be the best source!
• Websites of academic or research institutions
• Journal articles
• Popular science journals: Nature, Science, Scientific
American
• Indian journals: Current Science, Resonance
• Books
• E.g. Bright Sparks, Leelavati’s Daughters, Bill Bryson’s A
Short History of Nearly Everything

13. Grading Rubric
•Total points 20 [10% of final grade]
•Content: 5 pts.
•Slides: 5 pts.
•Presentation: 5 pts. (per person)
•Write-up + sources: 5 pts.

14. Youcouldchooseoneofthese:
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell
• George Washington
Carver
• Meghnad Saha
• Grace Hopper
• Joseph Lister
• Lise Meitner
• Kamala Sohonie
• Hedy Lamarr
• Alfred Russell Wallace
• Caroline Herschel
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
• Emmy Noether
• Praful Chandra Ray
• Leon Theremin
• Anna Mani
• Narinder Singh Kapany