We tested the new Sonnet 4.5 model on a demanding academic task: transforming a research paper into a structured 15-slide outline for a conference presentation. The prompt required not only conceptual rigour and narrative coherence but also attention to visual communication, with clear guidance on where charts, tables, and diagrams should be included.
Input file
For this test, we used one of our own forthcoming academic articles as the input, allowing us to closely assess how accurately the model captured conceptual precision, structure, and emphasis.
Prompt
The model was instructed to act as both an academic and a science communication expert, tasked with designing a coherent 15-slide outline for an academic conference presentation. It was expected to combine conceptual rigour with accessible explanations and visual guidance, ensuring that the presentation would flow logically from introduction to conclusion.
You are an academic professor, science communication expert, and skilled visual presentation advisor. Your task is to create a detailed slide-by-slide outline for an academic conference presentation based on the attached research paper. Please produce a structured plan for exactly 15 slides (no more, no fewer).
Requirements:
- Adopt the perspective of a professor who values conceptual precision and a science communicator who ensures clarity and accessibility, while also advising on visual structure.
- The outline must be coherent and logically flowing, with a clear narrative arc from introduction to conclusion.
- Pay close attention to conceptual accuracy: definitions, theoretical frameworks, and methodological details should be precise and academically rigorous.
- Follow a research paper logic:
- Context and motivation (why the topic matters, research problem)
- Theoretical framework and literature (clear and precise use of concepts)
- Research questions and hypotheses
- Methodology (data, methods, approach, validity)
- Findings and results (structured, evidence-based)
- Discussion and interpretation (linking findings back to theory and literature)
- Conclusions and implications (academic, policy, or practical significance)
- Indicate where visuals, charts, tables, or diagrams should be included to maximise audience understanding. Use the figures and tables from the paper wherever relevant, and suggest complementary visuals (schematics, flow charts, comparative tables, etc.) to support clarity.
- Instead of short bullet points, provide full-sentence descriptions for each slide, outlining in detail what should be presented and explained. The text should read as a continuous narrative that could guide the presenter in delivering the talk.
- Ensure the language is UK English, academic in tone, yet accessible for an interdisciplinary scholarly audience.
Output format:
- Produce a slide-by-slide outline with numbered headings (Slide 1–15).
- For each slide, include:
- Title suggestion
- Detailed content notes (continuous explanatory text, not just bullet points)
- Visual suggestion (indicating whether to use a figure/table from the paper or an additional diagram/chart/illustration).
Output
The generated outline closely followed the prompt requirements, delivering a full-sentence, narratively structured plan that reflects the logic of an academic paper. Its main strength lies in conceptual precision: the model was able to capture definitions, theoretical frameworks, typologies, and empirical evidence in a way that mirrors the scholarly structure of the article. The visual suggestions were also meaningful, offering practical ways to integrate tables, figures, and schematics to aid audience understanding. A potential limitation is that the style sometimes blends slide notes with a near-script for oral delivery, which is excellent for preparing a talk but would need editing for slide conciseness. Overall, the output is highly usable as a first draft for academic presentation design, striking a rare balance between scholarly rigour and accessible communication.
Recommendations
The Sonnet 4.5 model proved capable of generating a detailed and academically rigorous outline that can serve as a strong foundation for preparing a conference presentation. Its strength lies in transforming dense scholarly material into a coherent narrative arc while also suggesting visuals that enhance clarity. To make the most of such outputs, researchers should treat them as structured blueprints: the text can guide oral delivery, while selective editing ensures the slides remain concise and visually balanced.
In a follow-up blog, we will test whether an AI model can go one step further—using this kind of outline as input to generate actual presentation slides, and assessing how well the visual design matches the academic logic of the structure.
The authors used Claude Sonnet 4.5 [Anthropic (2025) Claude Sonnet 4.5 (accessed on 30 September 2025), Large language model (LLM), available at: https://www.anthropic.com] to generate the output.
