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3180 Seminar Presentations


Seminar Presentations

The Rules:

Plan for 15 to 20 minutes, two to three pages of notes. Run through your seminar before you present it to make sure that you have not prepared too little or too much material.

Seminar presenters will work in pairs and should have at least one consultation with the second pair of presenters who will present on a companion text on the same day. Seminar presenters are responsible for reading the secondary material on their selected text.

If you want to use any Audio-Visual material (video, powerpoint, CD-Rom) you must send me an email the week before your presentation. An overhead projector is always available.

After you give your seminar, you must submit a seminar paper within two weeks. It should be written in continuous prose (not point form) and be fully referenced. It can be altered or changed, based on the results of the tutorial discussion. Marks for seminars will be divided between the presentation and the paper.

The Fine Art of Seminar Presentations:

(Mostly cribbed from http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/a319-00.htm
Another useful site on seminar presentations is:   http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/tutsem.html )

1. A seminar presentation is a short informal talk giving the results of your researches into a topic on the course. You are sharing your ideas or discoveries in a way that gives seminar participants an opportunity for discussion. These presentations form a normal part of the teaching and learning process in undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

2. Don't think of the presentation as a test. The person who will learn most from this exercise is you. The act of investigating sources, digesting information, and summarising other people's work will help to clarify these matters in your mind.

3. You will also develop your confidence in handling information, making useful notes, and presenting an argument.

4. Topics can be chosen according to your own particular interests. If you are in any doubt, check with me. They might be:

  • a 'reading' of the text, applying one critical theory drawn from the secondary readings

  • an account of one critical theory and how it can be applied to a couple of course texts

  • an account of the publishing history or the critical reception of one of the course texts

5. A seminar presentation should not try to imitate an essay. It is better to offer a presentation on something smaller and more specific, rather than the type of general question posed in a coursework essay.

6. Don't write down the presentation verbatim. Make outline notes, then speak to these notes using the set text(s), any critical theory, and your own extended notes as backup material.

7. If you have the resources, it is a nice courtesy to provide other members of the group with a copy of your outline notes.

Suggested Headings

The general headings for your notes may vary according to the topic of your choice and the approach you adopt.

The course topic or seminar question

You might say why you have chosen it, or why it seems significant. If possible relate it to the other major issues of the course.

The critical theory

Give a brief summary of the origin and principles of any critical theory you will be applying. This will help to 'situate' your remarks.

Your own argument

Give a general summary of what you have to say, and its relation to the course as a whole. Make the stages of your argument clear, and indicate the conclusion to which they lead.

Topics for discussion

A good presentation should lead to questions or further issues raised by the subject of your enquiry. Including these issues as part of your conclusion should lead naturally into a discussion amongst the seminar participants.