Examining the single slide in three minute thesis presentations: Image types and slide-speech relations

The present study examines the types of images chosen for the single static slide that is allowed in Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentations along with how the images and words on the slide work with accompanying speech to facilitate the non-specialist audience's comprehension. A corpus of 50 slides extracted from 3MT presentations delivered by PhD students in electrical and computer engineering is analyzed with a focus on multimodality. The findings reveal that (1) 3MT presenters recontextualize their specialized scientific knowledge visually by using images that are mostly non-specialized or less-specialized (Popular Imagery, Photographs, Illustrations); and (2) the images and words on each slide facilitate audience comprehension by either concurring with or complementing the speech across all rhetorical moves of the presentation. The study adds to knowledge of the visual features of the 3MT genre and academic communication for non-specialists. Pedagogical implications for postgraduate students and instructors preparing for giving academic presentations to non-specialists are also discussed.