Presentations

On essays

The purpose of your presentation will be to make sure the class as a clear understanding of the argument of the essay, including the important concepts and how it's constructed.  Just as important, you will want to engage your classmates in the issues and questions that the essay raises, including helping them make a judgment about how well the author conveyed his/her idea.

Minimum time frame:  15 minutes.  Good ones will go longer because you will have engaged your classmates in conversation about the essay.

Possibilities:

On research

The purpose of your presentation will be to help your classmates see how to move from a broad question to a more narrowly defined one, to find sources relevant to your question, to see patterns in the source material, to arrive at a tentative answer to your question, and to organize the source material you have.

Minimum time frame:  10 minutes.  Good ones will go longer because you will have engaged your classmates in your research process and they will have questions for you.

Possibilities: