••• ORAL PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS •••

Each student will make an informal five-minute presentation later in the quarter.  The difference between this presentation and a more formal presentation is that 1) you should not read your presentation but instead just use a bare-bones outline to talk us through your ideas; and 2) it’s ok to talk about the challenges you are facing in your research, rather than projecting an air of omniscient authority.  The basic goal of your presentation should be to educate the class on your research AND lay the groundwork for a post-presentation Q&A session that will help you develop your final paper.  Here is an outline of what the presentation should accomplish:

1. Briefly explain your topic.
2. Explain your working thesis or some of the various options you are considering for your thesis.

3. Talk us through one or two of your primary sources.  This could be a primary source that you find extremely fascinating and want to share with the rest of the class.  Alternatively, this could be a primary source that you find very puzzling and that you don’t yet know how to handle in your final paper.  Create a one-page hand-out that contains all or some of that primary source, and make enough copies of the hand-out for everyone in the class.

Each presentation will then lead to an informal Q&A session.