Before I discuss the stages of presentation I would like to say something about the writing process itself. Very often neophyte researchers make the very peculiar and to me totally incomprehensible decision to leave all of their writing until the end. I am still amazed when a student arrives at a tutorial without having sent me something to read beforehand; in they walk and say they would like to talk about ‘such and such’. They then tell me a lot about ‘such and such’ but it is very difficult for me to make any real contribution other than offer my verbal response to their ideas (it’s also amazing that some of them have incredible memories and do not feel the need to take down any notes during the discussion!). I would strongly urge anyone engaged in research to write often and share what they have written. Identify a ‘critical friend’ early on; this may be a project supervisor or a line manager or a friend who understands something of what you are trying to do, someone to share your thoughts with in the form of written conversation.