How to present a research project?

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation 
Kazan National Research Technological University 

E. Valeeva, J. Ziyatdinova, L. Gazizulina

HOW TO PRESENT
A RESEARCH PROJECT?

Study Guide 

Kazan 
KNRTU Press 
2020 

UDK 811.111.001.816 (07) 
BBK Ш143.21-923:4215

Published by the decision of the Editorial Review Board  
of the Kazan National Research Technological University 

Reviewers: 
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Y. Lipatova 
PhD in Education, Associate Professor V. Volchkova 

Valeeva E.  
How to present a research project? : Study Guide / E. Valeeva, J. Ziyatdinova, 
L. Gazizulina; The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation,
Kazan National Research Technological University. – Kazan : KNRTU Press,
2020. – 84 p.

 
ISBN 978-5-7882-2893-8

The Study Guide is intended for practical courses in EAP (English for Academic Pur-
poses) for training students to present research projects in the English language.  
The Study Guide is designed for doctoral students in Science and Engineering at Ka-
zan National Research Technological University. It can also be used for Bachelor’s and Mas-
ter’s degree students majoring in Chemical Technology and Engineering, as well as the stu-
dents getting a minor degree in the English language.  
The study guide has been developed at the Department of Foreign Languages for Pro-
fessional Communication.  
This study guide has been co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European 
Union. This material reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be 
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 
598698-EPP-1-2018-1-FI-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP “Modernization of Doctoral Educa-
tion in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies” (MODEST, 2018-2021)  

КАК ПРЕЗЕНТОВАТЬ НАУЧНЫЙ ПРОЕКТ? 
Responsible for publishing D. Romanov 

Signed in print 12/10/2020 
Sheet size 60×84 1/16 

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Edition 100 copies 
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Offset laboratory of Kazan National Research Technological University 

420015, Kazan, Karl Marx street, 68

ISBN 978-5-7882-2893-8
© Valeeva E., Ziyatdinova J., Gazizulina L., 2020
© Kazan National Research Technological  
University, 2020 

UDK 811.111.001.816 (07)
BBK Ш143.21-923:4215 

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 5 

UNIT 1. PREPARING A PRESENTATION ..................................... 7 

Style and language .......................................................................... 8 

Organizing the content .................................................................... 9 

Introduction ................................................................................... 14 

Main body ..................................................................................... 15 

Conclusion .................................................................................... 17 

Impression management ............................................................... 18 

Acknowledgements ....................................................................... 19 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES .......................................................... 21 

UNIT 2. PRESENTING EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT 
AND ANALYTICAL METHODS ................................................... 28 

Figures .......................................................................................... 28 

Process parameters and their units ................................................ 31 

Prepositions ................................................................................... 34 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES .......................................................... 37 

UNIT 3. PRESENTING MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS 
AND PHYSICAL EQUATIONS ..................................................... 41 

Mathematical expressions ............................................................. 41 

Cardinal and ordinal numbers ....................................................... 43 

Fractions ....................................................................................... 45 

Decimal fractions .......................................................................... 46 

Mathematical equations ................................................................ 47 

Physical and chemical formulas ................................................... 48 

Greek alphabet .............................................................................. 49 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES .......................................................... 51 

UNIT 4. PRESENTING CHEMICAL ELEMENTS, 
COMPOUNDS AND REACTIONS ................................................ 55 

Chemical elements ........................................................................ 55 

Chemical compounds .................................................................... 58 

Chemical reactions ........................................................................ 60 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES .......................................................... 62 

UNIT 5. PRESENTING GRAPHS ................................................... 64 

Linear graphs ................................................................................ 65 

Pie charts ....................................................................................... 72 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES .......................................................... 75 

Appendix 1 ........................................................................................ 78 

Appendix 2 ........................................................................................ 80 

REFERENCES ................................................................................. 84 

4

I N T R O D U C T I O N

This study guide is designed to accompany the course in English for 
Academic Purposes for doctoral students at the Department of Foreign Lan-
guages for Professional Communication at Kazan National Research Tech-
nological University. The study guide aims at providing general information 
and useful tips together with the English language rules for preparing a suc-
cessful presentation on research projects in Science and Engineering. The in-
formation given in the study guide will definitely be useful for doctoral stu-
dents and young researchers. 
Presentations are a form of communication in the academic commu-
nity. For a doctoral student, public speaking is one of the opportunities to 
present the results of their research to the academic community and demon-
strate their readiness for cooperation. Preparing and practicing presentations 
is a good way to develop and show communication skills.  
There are three key elements to any presentation: understanding 
the presentation requirements, organizing your information and knowing 
what you can do to be a successful presenter.  
A typical format of a presentation has a certain structure. First, your title 
tells people what your presentation is about. Second, you need to explain what 
your research is about, in other words what you studied and why. Third, you 
need to explain what data you gathered and how you collected it. Fourth, you 
have to include some of the important data you collected usually presented in 
charts and graphs. Then you explain what the data mean in the context of your 
research toward the end of the presentation. It is important to talk about the 
meaning of your research findings for the field you are studying. Finally, to 
wrap up your presentation say what you learned, and what comes next for your 
research. In general, typical presentations use this format: 
• Title.
• Research topic.
• Research methods.
• Data collected.
• Research findings.
• Implications.
• Conclusions.

Delivery of the presentation is as important as its content and design. 
Successful presenters are able to tell people about their research and provide 
appropriate pictures, videos, graphs and other media. They do it carefully not 
to overwhelm the audience with too much visuals. Brilliant speakers use ges-
tures and make eye contact with the audience. In summary, skillful presenters 
are interested in their research and enjoy talking about their research most of 
all. After all, it is their own project, sharing research should be fun and not 
stressful. 
We hope that the developed teaching and learning materials will be 
useful and interesting to everyone who plans to present the results of their 
research projects in the English language. 

6

U N I T  1 .  P R E P A R I N G  A  P R E S E N T A T I O N

To make a good presentation you need to plan it carefully. Before start-
ing a presentation, ask yourself who you are and why you are going to tell 
the audience about your research. These are the basic questions to answer. 
In addition, there are some more important points to consider when planning 
a presentation: 

Purpose. Define the purpose clearly. The typical reasons for giving 
a presentation are to inform, to report (e.g. on the results of your research) or 
to persuade. So ask yourself: why are you going to present this material? 
What are you going to speak about? 

Audience. Know your audience. Assume you’re delivering a presenta-
tion on your research to the audience who are not experts in your specific 
field of science. So, take it into account and make your presentation interest-
ing and understandable for non-professionals.  

Place and equipment. Check the room in which you are going to present 
preferably in advance in order to get an idea where and how you are presenting 
best. How many people can you expect at the event? Check the microphones, 
headsets, remotes, projection screen and so on. You have to know beforehand 
whether it will be a small classroom or a big conference hall. 

Time limits. Timing is very important because you need to fit into 
the time limits. 

Visual effects. Visuals supplement your words with pictures, charts and 
graphs. They help audience be involved, entertained, and remember you. 

Introduction. Presenting yourself is one of the most important parts 
because here you have to plan how you are going to perform: your appear-
ance, tone of voice, face expression, body language and so on. 

Content. Content is an essential part of the presentation. It is the mate-
rial that you are going to share, so it needs to be well organized. Therefore, 
you need to think about the structure and the design of your presentation. 
Content is traditionally arranged as follows: Introduction, Main Body, and 
Conclusion.  

Style and language 
While preparing for your presentation, remember that the style and lan-
guage are to be suitable for research reports. Since there is a big difference 
between a business presentation and an academic presentation, the style and 
content are different. Moreover, the style of a research paper and presentation 
are different, too. Therefore, you cannot merely cut and paste the paragraphs 
from your articles. Adrian Wallwork gives the following two examples to 
compare: 

Original paper
Presentation

The period of the Union of Soviet So-
cialist Republics (1922–1991) pro-
vided 
ample 
opportunities 
for 
women to enter higher education in 
all fields and sectors, including natu-
ral or physical sciences (e.g. chemis-
try, biology, physics, or astronomy). 
In 1985 the number of female under-
graduate students stood at 40 %, 
with 10 % undertaking a doctorate. 
The post-Soviet period is witnessing 
a so-called feminization of science, 
in which there has been an emigra-
tion of highly trained or qualified sci-
entists. Notable individuals who de-
cided to leave Russia include Pavel 
Durov (the founder of VKontakte 
Russia's version of Facebook), and 
the economist Sergei Guriyev. In con-
trast, female Russian scientists have 
remained in Russia and the number of 
female researchers in such un-
derrepresented areas of sciences as 
physics, maths, and life sciences has 
shown a marked tendency to increase.

The Soviet period was not all bad 
news. Women were able to get into 
higher education in all fields, includ-
ing hard sciences, in a way that was 
unimaginable in Western Europe. In 
1985, six years before the breakup 
of the USSR, the number of female 
students was 40 %. What is chang-
ing in the post-Soviet period is the 
feminization of science. There has 
been a brain drain with male re-
searchers going abroad. And it's not 
just the academics who leave. 
Chessmaster Garry Kasparov left in 
2013. He was followed the next 
year by the founder of Russia's ver-
sion of Facebook. But the women 
tend to stick with the motherland. 
Consequently, the number of fe-
male researchers in previously un-
derrepresented areas of sciences 
such as physics, maths, and the life 
sciences is growing. 

Adrian Wallwork (2016) English for Presentations at International Conferences,  

Springer International Publishing, Switzeland, 284 p. 

From these examples you can see that the content and style are different. 

Besides, the presentation version uses shorter sentences, narrative style, less 
formal language and less difficult facts to understand. So, it is easier to listen 
and to understand. 

Organizing the content 
It has already been mentioned, that a typical format of a presentation 
consists of the following elements:  

• Title.
• Research topic.
• Research methods.
• Data collected.
• Research findings.
• Implications.
• Conclusions.

These elements are generally organized in your presentation into three 
main parts: introduction, main body and conclusion.  

Presentation title 
The title of your presentation will probably correspond to the topic of 
your research and your supervisor may definitely help you with constructing 
the title.  
Traditionally, the title summarizes the main ideas and the aim of your 
research. A good title should be short but not too general. With fewer words 
it should give an adequate description of your study.  
The first slide of the presentation is to contain the title of a research 
project, the names, positions and places of work or study of reporters. Also, 
it may include the signs or symbols of the organization and places where the 
report will be presented. 

Other language difficulties that Russian-speaking students may face are 

related to the rules of transliteration, translation and processing scientific 
texts and documents. 

When preparing the presentation title in English, it is very important to 

correctly represent yourself and your organization. 
When writing proper names, it is recommended to use generally ac-
cepted transliteration rules, which can be found on the website: http://trans-
lit.ru or in Table 1.1.  

It should be remembered that the first name comes first, then the last 
name, and not vice versa. This rule can be easily verified if we recall such 
famous names as Donald Trump, Michael Jackson, James Bond, George 
Washington, Harry Potter. 
In case you have an international passport, white your name as it is given 
in it. 

Examples: 

Иванов Сергей Федорович 
Sergey F. Ivanov 

Степанова Лариса
Larisa Stepanova 

Лаврова Ю. В. 
Yu. V. Lavrova  
Yu. Lavrova  

Table 1.1. Transliteration from Cyrillic to Latin 

Cyrillic
Latin
Cyrillic
Latin

А
A
Р
R

Б
B
С
S

В
V
Т
T

Г
G
У
U

Д
D
Ф
F

Е
E
Х
KH

Ж
ZH
Ц
TS

З
Z
Ч
CH

И
I
Ш
SH

Й
J / Y
Щ
SHCH

К
K
Ъ
опускается

Л
L
Ы
Y

М
M
Ь
’ (апостроф)

Н
N
Э
E

О
O
Ю
YU

П
P
Я
YA

If it is necessary to write the academic degree of a scientific adviser, 

then Dr. (Doctor) is written before the name which is suitable for both PhD 
in science and Doctors of Science. Remember that the system of academic 
degrees in Russian universities differs from foreign counterparts, therefore, 
when translating a degree, you can put Dr. before the first and last name, 
which means that you have a PhD. In the absence of an academic title and 
degree, Mr. for men or Ms. for women, which means referring to a woman 
regardless to her marital status. See the examples in Table 1.2 to indicate the 
position and academic degree of a supervisor. 
Examples:  
Dr. Oleg Stolyarov 
Dr. Stolyarov 
Mr. Sergey Fedotov 
Mr. Fedotov 
Ms. Natalia Pavlova 
Ms. Pavlova 

When translating the name of the affiliation, use English versions of 

official websites of organizations. Please note that in the English language 
name of organization, department, or laboratory every word, except for con-
junctions and prepositions, is capitalized. You can find the official names of 
institutes, faculties and departments of Kazan National Research Technolog-
ical University in English on the website: http://www.kstu.ru. 

Examples: 

Kazan National Research Technologi-
cal University

Казанский национальный исследовательский 
технологический 
университет 

Faculty of Petroleum and Petrochemis-
try

Факультет нефти и нефтехимии 

Faculty of Chemical Technology 
Факультет химической технологии 


Department of Organic Chemistry
Кафедра органической химии 

Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry
Лаборатория аналитической химии 

Table 1.2. The main positions and academic degrees 

of researchers and professors at a university 

Position 
Должность

Rector
Ректор

Vice-Rector
Проректор

Vice Rector for Research
Проректор по науке

Vice Rector for Academic Affairs
Проректор по учебной работе

Instructor
Ассистент

Assistant Professor
Старший преподаватель

Associate Professor
Доцент

Full Professor
Профессор

Academician
Академик

Department Chair (Head)
Заведующий кафедрой

Dean
Декан

Director of Institute
Директор института

Head of Laboratory
Начальник лаборатории

Laboratory Assistant
Лаборант

Engineer
Инженер

Junior Research Scientist
Младший научный сотрудник

Senior Research Scientist
Старший научный сотрудник

Leading Research Scientist
Ведущий научный сотрудник

PhD student / doctoral student
Аспирант

Academic degree 
Научная степень

PhD in Education
доктор / кандидат пед. наук

PhD in Engineering
доктор / кандидат техн. наук

PhD in Chemistry
доктор / кандидат хим. наук

PhD in Physics and Mathematics
доктор / кандидат физ.-мат. наук

Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
доктор наук