Information on presentations:

From the email I sent out:

For the presentation aim at 45 min (about 45 slides). You will see that that's not very much time, once you start introducing the topic comprehensively. The purpose of the presentation is mostly to introduce the class to your topic and to get feedback and discussion on your ideas and insights. Try to keep it interesting and entertaining and don't try to pack in too much info. Think about what you would like the people to really learn and take home from your talk. Some multimedia is always nice: graphs, images, numbers. Don't treat it like a focused, well-practiced, information- packed, fast-paced conference talk. Keep it more casual and open to questions and discussion from the audience. Nevertheless, try to be thorough with the selection of your sources and back up your statements and claims where appropriate.

Here are two documents that I created as hints for a senior seminar class. You can look at them for some guidance and a better idea of my expextations or ideals in presentations. Remember, however, that I wrote these for undergrads. You will get a kick out of some points, some won't apply to you at all, others will be old news to you.

Pointers for presentations.doc       

Speakerevaluation.doc