ENGL 150: Writing and Research
Research Presentations

At the end of the semester, each student will give a five-minute presentation on his or her final research project. The presentation should clearly and concisely present the paper's argument, and this argument should be supported with strong examples, rigorous logic, and thorough analysis. It is better to provide a detailed analysis of one or two examples than to provide a shopping list of several examples without explaining the relevance of these examples.

In addition to the content of the presentation, students will be graded on the following criteria:

• Ability to stay within time limit (five minutes, and not much over or under)
• Ability to speak clearly and at a measured pace (not too fast, not too slow)
• Ability to make eye contact with audience, and to gesture appropriately and naturally

You are welcome to use a PowerPoint presentation to accompany your talk, but it should not serve as a substitute for your own verbal commentary.

You can expect the other students in the class to ask you questions for five minutes after the presentation. You should be prepared to address issues that might arise.

Note: You are expected to attend class whether you are presenting on a given day or not. A portion of your presentation grade will be based on your presence in the audience for other students' presentations, and on your ability to ask good questions during the question and answer period.

Web sites with information on giving oral presentations:

http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/learning/oralpres.html

http://www.calss.utoronto.ca/pamphlets/oral.htm

http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/skills/oral.htm