Making a Long Story Short: The Three-Minute Thesis & Threesis
文 / Marc Anthony (本中心教師)
My thesis was a complex, hypothetical, interdisciplinary text of over 100 pages, with over 75 images and over 21,000 words. If I had presented all of it, the presentation would have probably lasted for at least three hours. At my university, we did our thesis defense just as NTU graduates do, and we also gave a public presentation. Each presentation lasted for one hour. In one hour, I could present much, but not all, of the content of my research.
Now, imagine trying to present your thesis or dissertation not in one hour, nor in thirty minutes, nor even in fifteen minutes – but in only THREE minutes. This may seem an impossible endeavor, but in fact it happens every year at many universities around the world in two academic presentation competitions – The Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) and Threesis.
The 3MT originated in 2008 at the University of Queensland (Australia) as a “research communication” event for doctoral candidates who completed their research. Over the next few years, the 3MT spread throughout Australia and New Zealand creating a much larger Olympic-style event of competing universities. The 3MT competition is now established in universities in seventeen nations, including Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. The purpose of the 3MT is to develop useful communication skills in academic research that will enhance one’s professional career. Many 3MT presenters say that the event also gives them an opportunity to promote their research to a wide audience in a way that most journal articles cannot do, since most final and the winning presentations are uploaded to YouTube and other websites and can be seen by anyone.
The rules of 3MT seem simple enough: presenters have no more than three minutes to present their research (in English) using one static slide (no other media are allowed). The judges evaluate the speaker’s ability to communicate the content in a succinct, comprehensible and logical manner, to effectively connect with the audience with enthusiasm and hold their attention, and to present comprehensively the essential content of the research without over-simplifying. The rules may seem simple, but many competitors are said to prepare and rehearse for many weeks prior to the competition in an attempt to be the best speaker. In all events there are cash prizes and other awards given to presenters in all finalist and winning categories.
Similar to the 3MT, Threesis is a more recent competition originating at New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science (USA) and also at the National University of Ireland (Galway). This competition is open to Masters researchers only, and, unlike the 3MT, includes presenters in the humanities as well as sciences. Threesis rules and judging criteria are similar to those of the 3MT except competitors are allowed to show three slides. Since this is a more recently developed event, it is not as yet well known as the 3MT.
In NTU’s English Presentations for Academic Purposes courses we borrow the idea of the 3MT and Threesis as one of the ways to practice and develop effective communication and leadership skills. I challenge my presenters to achieve the goals of the 3MT competitor; that is, to explain the purpose and content of their research in a way that your family or future employers can understand. It is an excellent challenge not only for communicating complex or technical information in a comprehensible way, but also, in an age where we are often overwhelmed by too much information, to be able to communicate your ideas and plans briefly, persuasively and memorably becomes the order of the day.
Although the Academic Writing Education Center (AWEC) inaugurated the popular English Presentations for Academic Purposes courses two years ago to develop and inspire “conspicuous presenters,” as I like to say, perhaps we should also consider establishing Taiwan’s first 3MT or Threesis presentation competition at NTU. There is a lot of excellent research conducted at our university, and we should take advantage of telling the world how good we are!
(If you’d like to watch some of the recent winners of the 3MT, check out the 3MT Showcase online at http://threeminutethesis.org/3mt-showcase)
臺大寫作教學中心電子報No. 004