5.2 Presenting an argument for context, purpose, and/or audience

In AP Research, 25% of your final AP score will come from a presentation and oral defense. In this guide, we’ll be covering tips to ace them both. 

Information comes from the College Board’s AP Research CED.

Adapting The Argument

According to the College Board, your presentation should be “a presentation of your research question, research methodology, and findings,” about 15 minutes long. Your final research paper should be 4000-5000 words long — if you were to read the whole paper, it would take much longer than 15 minutes! (It would also not be very fun.) This means you’ll need to adapt your argument from paper format to presentation format.

How do you do this? 

Let’s use the College Board’s Presentation Rubric as a guide. Looking at the highest-scoring category, the best presentations include: 

• The research question/project goal 

• The research method 

• The research “argument, conclusion or understanding.” (What were your findings? What conclusions did you draw from them?)

• An argument that “identifies and explains the consequences and/or implications made in the conclusion. 

• An explanation of how steps in the research process led to the above conclusion. 

Turning an argument from paper format to presentation format is fundamentally about picking and choosing the important points.

Furthermore, adaptation requires an understanding of the medium you’re adapting into. In this case, you’re turning a paper into a presentation. Presentations are visual and auditory where papers are only black and white words on a page. When making a presentation, you’ll have to consider the visuals you’ll include and your method of speaking, things you wouldn’t have to consider when writing your paper. 

It may be helpful to start by making slides with nothing but what you want to say on them. After you have a plan for your presentation, you can remove the text and add in visuals. 

Slide Design Tips

• Always ask yourself as you go: does this visual contribute to my audience’s understanding?

• It can help to use a slide template so that your slides are pre-formatted.

• Make sure you have permission to use any images you use! You can get around this by only using stock images.

• Remember that in addition to pictures and words, you can add tables and charts to your slides. Data can be presented visually instead of verbally through these mediums, boosting audience engagement.

• It’s a good idea to minimize the number of words written on your slides. People will read your slide or listen to you talk, but they won’t do both. 

Note that while a lot of AP Research presentations use powerpoint slides, not all of them have to. As long as you’re meeting the rubric guidelines, you can present however you want. Outside of AP Research, you’ll find that not every argument is presented in the same way: some arguments are more effective when presented in a video or a speech, or even a work of fiction, then they would be as a powerpoint presentation. 

Presentation Skills

We’ve discussed presentation skills in Big Idea 5 of AP Seminar, and the skills you used there will also be helpful here. 

The biggest difference between AP Seminar’s presentations and AP Research’s presentations is the length of the presentation. In some ways, it’s easier to create a 15 minute presentation because you get more time to talk, but it can also be challenging to speak for that long. 

Audience Appropriate Language and the Elements of Delivery

No matter the length of the presentation, there are two things you should keep in mind when presenting: audience appropriate language and elements of delivery.

You’ll be presenting to people outside of your discipline for your final presentation. As a result, you’ll need to present in a language appropriate to that audience. This may mean defining terms known by people in your discipline or removing technical terms from your work. 

Elements of delivery are… elements of your presentation delivery! These include your volume, tempo, movement, eye contact, vocal variety, and energy. Every presentation and every presenter has a different way of using the elements of delivery.

The important thing is that you use these elements, and indeed every part of your presentation, to effectively communicate with your audience. For example, a common piece of advice given about presentations is that you shouldn’t just read off of notecards or a paper. This is because the paper puts a literal barrier between you and your audience, and prevents you from making eye contact and gauging how they react to your words. In this example, the key goal is fostering communication. 

Finally, you should always practice your presentation before you give it! It can be challenging to practice a 15 minute presentation. That said, even one run through will help you identify weak points in your presentation and verify that your presentation has an appropriate length. If you’d like even more practice, you can practice in front of a camera (nobody needs to see the footage but you!) or enlist a volunteer to listen and critique. The only way to become better at presenting, is (unfortunately) presenting more.

Oral Defense

Now that the presentation’s over, can you breathe a sigh of relief? Nope! You’ve gotta go through the Oral Defense.

In the Oral Defense, you will be asked about 3-4 questions about your research and the research process. Fortunately, you’ll have access to the questions beforehand: I’ve made a copy of them below: (Found on page 59 of the CED.)

Oral Defense Questions

Research/Inquiry Process [choices made throughout the research process]

1. How did your initial exploration of the scholarly conversation lead to your final research

question/project goal?

2. How did your review of the methods used by scholars in the field inform your selection of a

research method/process that is aligned with your research question/project goal?

3. How did the choices you made when designing or implementing your research method

impact your research process?

4. How did you determine which results generated by your research method were most

important in informing your new understanding?

Depth of Understanding [relating student data/results to the new understanding]

1. How does your new understanding address a gap in the scholarly conversation?

2. How did the limitations of your method or data influence your new understanding?

3. What are the real-world implications or consequences related to your findings?

4. How do your findings provide directions for future research in the field?

Reflection Throughout the Inquiry Process [how the inquiry process informs growth and self-awareness as a researcher]

1. Think back to the initial curiosity that sparked your inquiry. What other curiosities do you have

and how has this process prepared you to explore them?

2. How did you handle the uncertainty of the research process?

3. If you could revisit your research process, what would you do differently and why?

4. What was the most important research skill you developed as a result of this process, and

how might you apply it to your future endeavors?

5. How did your expert adviser facilitate your deeper understanding of the research process?

Note: This question should only be asked if the student engaged with an expert adviser.

Take a moment to read through these questions and start brainstorming answers to them! 

Tips for Success!

Here are some tips for Oral Defense success on the day of: 

• It’s okay to ask for a minute to think or for your questioner to repeat the question if you don’t understand.

• Focusing your answer on one or two solid examples can help make your answers clear and focused.

• Most of all, be confident! You made your choices, stand by them! 

In the next guide, we’ll talk about two processes that might make all of this easier: self-reflection and peer review.

Adapting The Argument

According to the College Board, your presentation should be “a presentation of your research question, research methodology, and findings,” about 15 minutes long. Your final research paper should be 4000-5000 words long — if you were to read the whole paper, it would take much longer than 15 minutes! (It would also not be very fun.) This means you’ll need to adapt your argument from paper format to presentation format.

How do you do this? 

Let’s use the College Board’s description and rubric as a guide. Take a look at a picture of the rubric here: 

{ADD PICTURE}

Looking at the highest-scoring category, the best presentations include: 

• The research question/project goal 

• The research method 

• The research “argument, conclusion or understanding.” (What were your findings? What conclusions did you draw from them?)

• An argument that “identifies and explains the consequences and/or implications made in the conclusion. 

• An explanation of how steps in the research process led to the above conclusion. 

Turning an argument from paper format to presentation format is fundamentally about picking and choosing the important points.

Furthermore, adaptation requires an understanding of the medium you’re adapting into. In this case, you’re turning a paper into a presentation. Presentations are visual and auditory where papers are only black and white words on a page. When making a presentation, you’ll have to consider the visuals you’ll include and your method of speaking, things you wouldn’t have to consider when writing your paper. 

It may be helpful to start by making slides with nothing but what you want to say on them. After you have a plan for your presentation, you can remove the text and add in visuals. 

Slide Design Tips

• Always ask yourself as you go: does this visual contribute to my audience’s understanding?

• It can help to use a slide template so that your slides are pre-formatted.

• Make sure you have permission to use any images you use! You can get around this by only using stock images.

• Remember that in addition to pictures and words, you can add tables and charts to your slides. Data can be presented visually instead of verbally through these mediums, boosting audience engagement.

• It’s a good idea to minimize the number of words written on your slides. People will read your slide or listen to you talk, but they won’t do both. 

Note that while a lot of AP Research presentations use powerpoint slides, not all of them have to. As long as you’re meeting the rubric guidelines, you can present however you want. Outside of AP Research, you’ll find that not every argument is presented in the same way: some arguments are more effective when presented in a video or a speech, or even a work of fiction, than they would be as a powerpoint presentation. 

Research Tip: If you’re stuck, take a look at other people’s AP Research Presentations! (You can find recordings online.) 

Presentation Skills

We’ve discussed presentation skills in Big Idea 5 of AP Seminar, and the skills you used there will also be helpful here. 

The biggest difference between AP Seminar’s presentations and AP Research’s presentations is the length of the presentation. In some ways, it’s easier to create a 15 minute presentation because you get more time to talk, but it can also be challenging to speak for that long. 

No matter the length of the presentation, there are two things you should keep in mind when presenting: audience appropriate language and elements of delivery.

You’ll be presenting to people outside of your discipline for your final presentation. As a result, you’ll need to present in a language appropriate to that audience. This may mean defining terms known by people in your discipline or removing technical terms from your work. 

Elements of delivery are… elements of your presentation delivery! These include your volume, tempo, movement, eye contact, vocal variety, and energy. Every presentation and every presenter has a different way of using the elements of delivery. The important thing is that you use these elements to effectively communicate with your audience. For example, a common piece of advice given about presentations is that you shouldn’t just read off of notecards or a paper. This is because the paper puts a literal barrier between you and your audience, and prevents you from making eye contact and gauging how they react to your words. In this example, the key goal is fostering communication. 

Finally, you should always practice your presentation before you give it! It can be challenging to practice a 15 minute presentation. That said, even one run through will help you identify weak points in your presentation and verify that your presentation has an appropriate length. If you’d like even more practice, you can practice in front of a camera (nobody needs to see the footage but you!) or enlist a volunteer to listen and critique. The only way to become better at presenting, is (unfortunately) presenting more.

Oral Defense

Now that the presentation’s over, can you breathe a sigh of relief? Nope! You’ve gotta go through the Oral Defense.

In the Oral Defense, you will be asked about 3-4 questions about your research and the research process. Fortunately, you’ll have access to the questions beforehand: I’ve made a copy of them below: (Found on page 59 of the CED.)

Research/Inquiry Process [choices made throughout the research process]

1. How did your initial exploration of the scholarly conversation lead to your final research

question/project goal?

2. How did your review of the methods used by scholars in the field inform your selection of a

research method/process that is aligned with your research question/project goal?

3. How did the choices you made when designing or implementing your research method

impact your research process?

4. How did you determine which results generated by your research method were most

important in informing your new understanding?

Depth of Understanding [relating student data/results to the new understanding]

1. How does your new understanding address a gap in the scholarly conversation?

2. How did the limitations of your method or data influence your new understanding?

3. What are the real-world implications or consequences related to your findings?

4. How do your findings provide directions for future research in the field?

Reflection Throughout the Inquiry Process [how the inquiry process informs growth and self-awareness as a researcher]

1. Think back to the initial curiosity that sparked your inquiry. What other curiosities do you have

and how has this process prepared you to explore them?

2. How did you handle the uncertainty of the research process?

3. If you could revisit your research process, what would you do differently and why?

4. What was the most important research skill you developed as a result of this process, and

how might you apply it to your future endeavors?

5. How did your expert adviser facilitate your deeper understanding of the research process?

Note: This question should only be asked if the student engaged with an expert adviser.

Take a moment to read through these questions and start brainstorming answers to them! 

Here are some tips for Oral Defense success on the day of: 

• It’s okay to ask for a minute to think or for your questioner to repeat the question if you don’t understand.

• Focusing your answer on one or two solid examples can help make your answers clear and focused.

• Most of all, be confident! You made your choices, stand by them! 

In the next guide, we’ll talk about two processes that might make all of this easier: self-reflection and peer review.