This page in this guide is to give you a few genetic counseling- or at least science-specific pointers on preparing for your oral defense, writing a paper for publication, presenting at a conference, or creating and presenting a poster.
The Writing and Citing tab of this guide also has advice that would be useful in writing a paper, including dissertations and theses, so this page will focus specifically on the challenges of professional publication.
Brandeis librarians have created a whole guide for Presentations and Poster Sessions.
I am always happy to consult, be it assistance in formatting your citations or working with citation management software, to critiquing a professional paper or presentation. Get in touch with me through any of the contact methods in my profile box.
Conferences will often have Guidelines for Presenters, so check out the conference or organization website before anything else.
These links are some of my favorites for presentation advice because they are short, to the point, and as someone who has attended both good and bad presentations, I agree with them. Pay particular attention to the points that all of them make as those are the ones presenters get wrong the most often.
For my two cents, HAVE a PLAN B, especially for live demos. Internet connections, even at national conferences, occasionally go AWOL. Bring a PowerPoint on a thumb drive, just in case. Be prepared to give a broad overview without visuals because it beats standing there doing nothing while tech support tries to get you up and running, and more time for Q&A is not a bad thing.
Each journal has it's own Guidelines for Authors, usually describing the expected format of the article, style to follow for citations, and more. These guidelines can vary quite a bit: be sure to double-check you specific journal.
For example, BMC Medical Genetics requires you complete a CARES Guidelines checklist when submitting a case report: European Journal of Human Genetics does not. EJHG accepts supplemental data and has strict guidelines about size, format, and style: BMC Medical Genetics has guidelines for uploading datasets to external repositories or electronic lab notebooks, obtaining DOIs, and linking the additional information that way.
There is a conference-sized poster printer on campus, in the Confocal Imaging Lab. Their site has info on size, file format, and cost. It is available to students but the fee is non-negotiable and it's available on a first-come first-served basis. So if you need it around the time of a big conference, plan ahead.
For small posters, the Presentations and Poster Sessions guide has some useful suggestions.
Double-check your session's guidelines before you start designing your poster. It will save to time to find out in advance that that proprietary piece of information you'd planned to build your summary around is something you aren't allowed to include, such as in the NIH SBIR/STTR Conference guidelines. Conferences also usually post details of size and guidelines for layout and content that may be helpful.
The oral defense of your thesis or dissertation requires preparation, practice, and confidence. Be sure to have a clear understanding of your department's format:
Here are a few links with advice on preparing for and presenting your oral defense: