Informal Presentations

We will have presentations next week, beginning on Tuesday, March 12 for the 9:15 class and on Wednesday, March 13 for the 8 am class. Here is the outline of this part of the course.

I want to restate that this is a somewhat informal kind of presentation. It is a way for you to share with the rest of the class what you have been doing this term. I will have you sign up for slots Thursday, March 7 in class.

Each of you will do an oral presentation of about 7 minutes in which you

*state your thesis

*present the information in your paper that supported the thesis (your lines of argument)

*answer questions from your peers about your topic (this may be above and beyond the 7 minutes)

This is a low-pressure kind of public speaking. Consider yourself a discussion leader for the time that you are presenting. You are the expert, but you want to try to encourage discussion between yourself and your peers. The idea here is to share your research, have some closure for the class, and practice your speaking/leading skills.  You may use a visual aid (such as a transparency, a diagram on poster board, a handout, or some media to share with the class), if you so desire.

Given these objectives, I will give informal assignment credit to any student who does a presentation.

Some minimal preparation is necessary to make sure you say something significant without running over the time limit:

*Prepare some notes or an outline to help you present the info in an organized manner without looking at the paper during the presentation. This is a presentation, not a reading of the paper. (A 10 page paper takes 15-20 minutes to read.)

*Do at least one timed run at home to make sure you can cover what you want to say in 7 minutes.

*Consider bringing a visual aid to add interest. (Please note: I cannot allow power point or single handouts that need to circulate around the room. These visual aid types require more time than we have available. Your visual aid must be instantly viewable by the whole class. You can, however, show media or use the document camera. I will ask you when you sign up for your time slot to indicate what media you will be using.)

Please attend presentations--we are a small class to begin with, so we need everyone there to ensure an audience.  

**TO KEEP US ON TIME:  No matter where you are in your presentation, I will cut you off at 7 minutes--we need to be able to get everyone in and have some time for questions/discussion.  PLEASE PRACTICE AT HOME TO GET THE TIMING RIGHT!