GUIDELINES FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS

(Last updated 11 September 2003)  

• Groups of 3-5 students, assigned topic (after having chance to express preferences)
• Prepare a presentation that will last approximately 20 minutes, not including questions/discussion
• Purpose: use your group's research and presentation to broaden the class's knowledge and understanding of a topic related to one of our reading units
• Consider using PowerPoint, transparencies, handouts (though none of these are required)
• Worth 15% of overall course grade, broken down into 10% for content of the presentation (same grade for all group members), and 5% for oral presentation skills (individual grade that  could vary among group members).  Your individual oral skills grade will include how well you seem to work as a team member during the presentation, whether you had an appropriate portion of the presentation time, and delivery skills such as voice and body control.  The team content grade will be determined by to what extent the group has completed fitting research and then used their 20 minutes effectively to convey the highlights of that research to the class.  Major weaknesses would include lack of information/research, or presenting primarily information that most students in the class already know.
• I'll be happy to consult with the group at any time in their preparations, from the initial research stage to the organizing of the presentation.
• Topics/dates available:

  1. Holocaust deniers, for Thursday, Sept. 25: Hammer, Colatruglio, Brecheisen, Renfro

  2. The film Hiroshima Mon Amour, for Thursday, Sept. 25: Parson, Hoshstedler, Cline, Rotenberg

  3. Food additives and their regulation (the flavor industry), for Monday, Oct. 13: Spurgeon, Viebrock, Keacher, Landreth, Lewis

  4. Longitude's reception by critics, including how accurate is the science and the history, for Friday, Oct. 24: Cagle, Hileman, Jasko, Lute

  5. Latest on "Dark Energy" and shifting paradigms in astronomy and physics, for Monday, Oct. 27: Spry, Shervheim, Short, Sproat, Newquist

  6. Latest on cancer research, for Tuesday, Nov. 4: Ham, Boice, Wilson, Pasztor

  7. Update on recent Education legislation, perhaps the "No Child Left Behind" Act, for Thursday, Nov. 20: Steele, Robinson, Olvey, Kincaid

   

• Link to New York Times and other Proquest databases (useful for research):

  http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=U01EPTYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTImREJTPUcw&clie