Research
Working on a single slide
Check a slide's reference, add one, bring it back to the template, extract a figure from a PDF: the unit task that feeds every presentation.
Screenshot of a real tool · fictitious data, names blurred
The problem
A slide bank built up over years contains approximate references, inconsistent templates and poor-quality figures. There is no need to redo a whole deck: what you need is to be able to rework each slide quickly.
Step-by-step method
- Check mode: Claude reads the cited reference, finds it in PubMed (authors, journal, year, DOI) and flags any discrepancy, without touching the layout. Three possible outcomes: reference confirmed; not found or doubtful (nothing is changed); correct but miscited. The abstract must support the exact statement, and Claude checks that the article has not been retracted.
- Sourcing mode: for an unsourced statement, Claude proposes one to three recent references, which you choose from.
- Template mode: bring the slide back to your personal template (background, font, position of text and figure) without changing the content. The template also lives in the scripts that generate the slides: check their values (colours, sizes, positions). Your manual touch-ups become rules proposed for the template.
- Named variants: a template can have variants, for example “talk” for a lecture or a meeting: very light background, progress bar at the top (the outline, current step in bold), title slide with an author block and a row of logos at equal height, disclosure slide dictated by you and never invented, key messages at the end of the deck. Work slide by slide.
- Figure extraction: from the PDF of an article or guideline, extract the figure in high resolution, with its caption and source.
- Updating an old lecture: convert the old file, render each slide as an image and read it before rebuilding; reuse the useful figures without retouching them; add the latest guidelines, verified.
- Visual check before delivery: each slide is rendered as an image and inspected. Blocking defects: coloured background, boxed figure with numbers, missing figure not flagged, misplaced citation, two-line title overlapping the rule.
- Count the figures in the file actually written: a table no. · type · figures · status. A “figure on the right” slide with no image blocks delivery. One-line summary: “N slides, N figures, 0 slides without a figure”.
- Return it to the bank: the corrected slide joins the bank, indexed by topic.
Deliverable
A sourced slide, in your template, ready to be reused, with the result of the figure count.
Lessons learned
- A talk delivered without a single image gave rise to counting figures in the written file.
- An invented subtitle: Claude adds no text you did not provide.
- A citation placed at the bottom left: where the citation goes is part of the template.
- A rebuild mode that rephrased: rebuilding means taking the text word for word.
- A deck produced by a generic design tool, off-template: always start from the template.
Safeguards
Respect copyright: a publisher’s figure is cited, rebuilt or used within the terms of its licence; it cannot be reproduced freely. No patient data, on the slide or in the notes. No invented references.
Starter prompt
Here is a slide. Check the cited reference in PubMed, tell me whether it really supports the statement, and propose a more recent reference if one exists. Do not change the layout.