In an oral report you need to speak more directly and in a plainer style than in your written reports, and you need to spend more time telling your listeners what you are going to be talking about. Let's contrast an extract from the introduction of a written report and an introduction to an oral presentation about the same topic. What differences can you see?
Written report: The majority of reports in the literature have reported a quick and satisfactory postoperative recovery of hamstring strength (refs). However in Japan several reseachers have pointed out a persistent hamstring weakness in deep knee flexion even many years after surgery (refs). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate knee flexor strength after ACL reconstruction using the hamstring tendons, and to examine whether knee flexor strength can be functionally revovered to the extent previously suggested.
Oral Presentation with slides: As you can see, today I'm going to talk about muscle strength recovery after ACL recontruction. As you may know, many researchers have reported that postoperative recovery of hamstring strength is both quick and satisfactory. However more recently X and Y demonstrated a persistent hamstring weakness in their patients even many years after surgery. This finding prompted our study which we are going to share with you today. Our aim was to...
What differences can you see? Compare your ideas with the ideas here.
Now go on to look at the tips for changing your written reports to oral reports. It will be helpful if you have a copy of a written report you have written, or one in your subject area from a journal. Then you can think about how you would change your report.
