5  Communications

5.1 Oral Presentations

5.1.1 Working with Quarto Slides

Meghan Hall made an early blog post about tips and tricks for working with Quarto slides. See Making Slides in Quarto with reveal.js. Hall (2022)

Emil Hvitfeldt works with Quarto slides a lot and offers a compendium of his lessons learned and tips in his blog post Slidecraft 101. Hvitfeldt (2024)

5.1.1.1 Positioning Figures

There are several ways to position imported figures or images in Quarto revealjs slides.

  • Change the size of a figure by adding the width and height attributes to the figure as in ![Elephant](elephant.png){width=300} which uses the default measure of pixels. Notice no spacing in the attribute. You can also use percentage or other measures, e.g., ![Elephant](elephant.png){width=80%}, ![Elephant](elephant.png){width=4in}.

  • Change the alignment within a column from the default center by adding the fig-align attribute as in ![Elephant](elephant.png){fig-align="left"}. Note the quotes and no spaces.

  • Combine figures as subfigures by creating a div and setting the columns, e.g.,

::: {#fig-elephants layout-ncol=2}`
![Surus](surus.png){#fig-surus}

![Hanno](hanno.png){#fig-hanno}

Famous Elephants
:::
  • Put a figure at an absolute position on a slide by adding the .absolute class and providing reference points (top, left, bottom, and/or right edges of the slide) as in ![](image1.png){.absolute top=200 left=0 width="350" height="300"}.

5.1.2 Working with Tables in Quarto

Tip

  • When manipulating content in Markdown tables use the visual editor to minimize issues with aligning columns.

  • When manipulating table attributes, it can be easier in the source editor.

For both Markdown tables and data frame tables:

  • Adjust relative column width by adjusting the relative number of dashes in each column. This generally works okay but some columns may be automatically adjusted by pandoc.

  • Specify column width as a percentage by adding an attribute after the table, e.g,leave a blank line and then add : {tbl-colwidths="[75,25]"}. Ensure the numbers add to 100%.

  • You can add captions and cross references as well.

5.1.3 Speaker Notes

Preparing speaker notes in advance can reduce “reading the slide.”

  • Use them to summarize key information on the slide or add additional context.
  • They also help when transitioning into a slide or from one slide to the next.

You can build speaker notes into the .qmd files so you can present slides while seeing your notes on the screen but the audience does not.

5.1.3.1 Revealjs

The revealjs presentation format includes the ability to include Speaker Notes with your file.

  1. For each slide where you want notes, add a div block (using the :::) with the {.notes} class after your slide contents.
  • This is a bullet on my slide

This is the last line of text on my slide

These are my speaker notes.

  • I did this and
  • I did that.
  1. Render your slides to HTML.
  2. Open the file in your browser.
  3. Press the s key (or use the Navigation Menu Speaker View) to open a window with the presentation speaker view.
  • On the left is the original slide the audience sees.
  • On the right is the upcoming slide at the top, a timer in the middle, and your speaker notes at the bottom.
  1. If not already open, open Zoom.
  2. When ready to share, click on the Share button and select the original browser window, not the speaker notes.
  • If you have a video or sound file in your slides or want to play one, be sure to click Share sound.
  1. To make your speaker notes easier to see, you can
  • Shrink the browser window you are sharing and increase the size of the Speaker window.
  • Click on the Zoom More … option and Hide floating meeting controls.
  • You can also choose to Hide video panel.

Your screen could look similar to @

Figure 5.1: Sharing Slides with Speaker Notes Window on Zoom

5.1.3.2 Beamer

You can add “notes” to a Beamer Presentation. See Section 19 of Beamer User Guide

  • This is a bit more complicated than using Revealjs or PowerPoint for the notes. and requires the use of two screens - one you are presenting and one you are viewing.

5.1.3.3 PowerPoint

You can add speaker notes to PowerPoint format. See Speaker Notes

5.1.4 Speaking Style

With or without speaker notes, engaging an audience during a presentation requires using your voice and body to get their attention and keep it throughout your presentation.

  • Online presentations demand special emphasis on the voice as the screen usually limits how you can use body language.

Effective speakers modulate their voice.

  • They change pitch, tone, pace, and volume to add variety to the presentation and emphasize key ideas or points in the presentation.

Voice Modulation that is in sync with the on-screen content helps presentations flow smoothly.

  • A smooth flowing presentation is easier to interpret and gives the audience confidence in the speaker.

Here are some articles and videos that may be helpful if you are interested in improving your presentations.

Articles:

Videos:

5.2 Style Guides

Organizations use style guides to provide consistency in communicating their work.

  • Style guides exist because language is fluid, with informal and formal styles, and “rules” that vary in their acceptance - there is a lot of grey space.
  • Guides try to reduce the grey space to provide consistency in “style” and can include guidance on what words should be capitalized, abbreviations, citation and cross-reference formats, and suggestions for readability and clarity.
  • Guide are routinely updated to reflect changes in the culture and language and the perspective of the organization.

5.2.1 Guides for Written Communications

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab has a Style Guide Overview with several examples of style guides for academic and business purposes.

The American University Editorial Style Guide is intended to ensure AU achieves “the clarity and consistency that strengthen our brand, project a professional image, and reflect our academic excellence.”

Organizations may also have “Brand” guides to cover their official choices on colors, fonts, and layouts.

Technical Writers can look to guides such as the Microsoft Writing Style Guide(pallep 2025)

5.2.2 Style Guides and Templates for Magazines and Journals

Most publications and many conferences have a style guide as well as submission instructions. Here are some examples.

  • The American Statistical Association’s (ASA) style guide for its journals are here. “Asa-Style-Guide” (2025)
    • The submission instructions are at Instructions for Authors. “Submit Your Article to Journal of the American Statistical Association” (n.d.)
  • The ASA style guide for its magazine are in the ASA House Style. “ASA House Style for Magazines” (n.d.)
  • The Association for Computing Machinery’s Citation Style and Reference Formats ACM (n.d.)
  • The ASA’s Symposium on Data Science and Statistics (SDSS) requires extended contributed paper abstracts as a two-page PDF and recommends using one of the templates on their GitHub repo SDSS Templates. These are in \(\LaTeX\) and MS Word.

While many style templates are based on MS Word or \(\LaTeX\), Quarto has developed templates for several data-science related journals.

If you need \(\LaTeX\) output, one option is to use Quarto to do your work and choose LaTex Output. The edit the .tex file to align with with the suggested template or style guide.

5.2.3 Guides for Code

Many software languages have style guides as suggested best practices. These include:

Most organizations also have style guides for their code, again to provide consistency in structure and format across multiple developers.

  • Google’s Style Guides lists 15 different software language style guides to support open source development. “Google Style Guides” (n.d.)

Code style guides may be enforced with pre-commit actions (see Using Hooks to Assess Code) so you cannot commit non-compliant code to the organization’s repository.

In addition to code, style guides can also establish guidelines for the software development life cycle in terms of how to structure commit messages, how to identify issues (bugs), how to structure pull requests, etc..

Tip

Wherever you are working, seek out the styles guides for writing and code as they can help you understand and navigate the organizational culture and expectations.

5.3 Document Tools

5.3.1 Creating Consistent Formats

5.3.2 Linking Exhibits with Cross-References

Quarto Cross References

5.3.2.1 Alt-Text for Figures and Graphs

Alt-Text is a method for describing any images in a document so people using Screen Reader Assistive technology can “read” what the image is intended to convey.

This is an important factor in enabling accessibility and is having Alt-text is a common requirement for publishing documents or presentations on line.

  • US laws require many public organizations to ensure their web content is accessible (including Alt-Text for images and figures).
  • Section 508 of the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act specifies the requirements and compliance standards.
  • Accessibility: Image Alt text best practices provides additional ideas and examples for Alt-Text.

Quarto enables the use of [Alt Text] for images and code output using:

  • For embedded figures: ![My caption](path-to-figure){fig-alt="My alternate text goes here."}. See Alt Text for more details.
  • For plots as code output:
    • #| fig-cap: "Polar axis plot"
    • #| fig-alt: "A line plot on a polar axis".
    • See Caption and Alt Text for more details.

5.3.3 Citations

Citations are essential for recognizing the work of others used in your own work.

  • They also serve as context for readers to help them interpret your work and explore the original sources.

Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Overleaf \(\LaTeX\) all have extensive support for citations and bibliographies.

5.3.3.1 Quarto Support for Citations

Quarto also has extensive support for citations and bibliographies.

Citations in Quarto provides details on how to work with citations using Quarto.

  • If editing in RStudio, the visual editor supports inserting citations.

  • Quarto supports multiple formats for the citation inputs in a .bib file.

  • Quarto also supports generating citation outputs in multiple styles as defined by a CSL .sty file.

  • Pandoc manages the placement and formatting of citations based on the the document’s YAML and use of the \@citationkey when rendering the document.

One can hard code individual citations, but Quarto (and other writing systems) work most efficiently when there is a file with potential citations, often with a .bib or .bibtex file extension.

Assuming one has created a .bib file you can reference it in the document yaml header.

  • Add the following to the YAML for either HTML or PDF output and Pandoc will automatically add the list of citations in the .bib file at the end of the document.

  • You can precede this with a header such as # Appendix: References or ## References.

{yaml bibliography: AU_DATA_793.bib # change to your file nocite: | @*. #automatically adds all items in the .bib file to the end even if not cited } There are many tools for creating .bib files; Zotero is free and supports many writing platforms.

5.3.3.2 Mananging Citation Sources with Zotero

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share any set of artifacts you want to track and potentially cite. Takats, Stillman, and Cheslack-Postava (2025)

  • It supports commonly-used writing platforms (e.g., WM Word, Google Docs, \(\LaTeX\) Overleaf) and works well with Quarto.
  • It also support integration into web browsers so if you find a page you want to track, you can use an add-on to save to your Zotero Library.

Zotero allows you to start with a main “My Library” and create Collections and sub-collections of references.

  • You can drag and drop references from the My Library to a Collection and from one Collection to another.
  • You can edit any item to adjust its metadata and all collections with the item will reflect the changes.
  • Any collection or sub-collection can be exported at any time to a new .bib file.
Tip

If you save an item from a web page that is a PDF file, it will have minimal metadata.

Right-click on it and Create parent item. You may need to do Manual entry to get the metadata you want.

By default Zotero generates citation keys at the time of export which can lead to issues in some situations.

Better BibTex is a free addin to Zotero to automatically create citation keys as an “extra” field in the Zotero metadata.

  • This allows you to see the citation key and copy it from Zotero instead of searching though an exported .bib file.
  • The keys are automatically generated based on Title, Author, and Date to be unique across the main My Library.
    • If you edit one of these fields the key will likely change so be careful to updated any @ references you may have already entered into your documents.