After seeking inspiration and talking to others about your idea, it’s time to prepare a proper pitch.
The three questions-pitch
Answer the following three questions about your (proposed) research.
- (1) What’s new about it?**
- E.g., new data? new variables? new method?
- (2) Is it useful (and to whom?)
- (3) Is it interesting?
- Simply telling something everyone knows already isn’t interesting (known facts ≠ interesting)
- Does it get people to say “oh, wow!", or “really? didn’t know!", or “Aha!"?
- Would you get your friends excited about it?!
- (1) What’s new about it?**
The Elevator pitch
Imagine yourself going in the elevator and meeting a fellow student, who asks you to tell him/her what your MSc research is about…
Have only 1-2 sentences, adhering to one of the following two structure:
While …, our research shows that…Despite …, we find that…
Tip: Your pitch won’t be perfect at the first time – so practice it over and over again – until you really become enthusiastic about it!