Rethinking Presentations in Science and Engineering                                                                                                                                  Michael Alley, Penn State
Assertion-Evidence talks are comprehended better by audiences and project more confidence from speakers
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Research Papers on
​Assertion-Evidence Approach

This page presents recent journal and conference papers that have investigated the effect of using the assertion-evidence approach on the audience and on the presenter.

Books

Using the assertion-evidence approach leads to better comprehension
​and recall by the audience

Joanna K. Garner, Michael Alley, Keri Wolfe, and Lauren Sawarynski
International Journal of Engineering Education (vol. 29, no. 6, 2013)
2012 ASEE Annual Conference
2011 ASEE Annual Conference

Main Takeaway: Two audiences learned a technical subject by hearing the exact same words, but viewing different slides. One set of slides followed the common practice of slides in science and engineering: a topic-phrase headline supported by a bulleted list or a bulleted list and a graphic. The other set of slides followed the assertion-evidence structure of a sentence headline that states the main message of the slide (or scene). In this structure, that message headline is supported by visual evidence. This study found that the assertion-evidence audience understood and remembered the content better than the common-practice audience. In addition, the difference between the learning was statistically significant (p < .01).

Using the assertion-evidence approach leads to deeper understanding
​of the content by the presenter

​Joanna K. Garner. Michael Alley, and Shannon Aippersbach
International Journal of Engineering Education (vol. 32, no. 1(A), 2016)
2013 ASEE Annual Conference 
Main Takeaway: This study found that student presenters who created a set of slides using the assertion-evidence approach understood the content better than student presenters who created the slides using the commonly followed topic-subtopic approach. The results of this study suggests that presenters using an assertion-evidence approach think more deeply about the content during the preparation of the slides than presenters following the typical approach. 
Leonhard Center, Penn State 
University Park, PA 16802

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​NSF Grant 1323230