ENGLISH 840C - AUTUMN 2003
GUIDELINES FOR ORAL REPORTS
The purpose of this report is to allow you to share with the group your own perspective on an issue and to open a discussion about that issue.Your report should be no longer than fifteen minutes. It should be clear and coherent; and it should give an insight into the work(s) of literature that we are reading, something that would not be immediately apparent in the text(s) or in the introductory materials for the text(s).
If you are scheduled to give a report on the same day that another person is scheduled, you may choose to make it a collaborative presentation (in which case the time limit is extended to thirty minutes). If you don't collaborate, you need to check with the other person to make sure that you are not duplicating the material that you will cover.
Part of your report should be interactive, doing such things as posing and fielding questions at the end of your presentation, setting up an informal survey before your report, or using any other method you think will get people involved in the topic. You may, of course, use the computers for this aspect of your presentation.
Feel free to do outside reading/research for your topic. If you use other peoples' interpretations of the text(s) you are discussing, be sure to give authors and titles, and to go beyond mere summary. You should assess the value of these interpretations, elaborate on some of the points (add your own "two cents") or raise some questions regarding this material.
Feel free to include audio-visual aids, and feel free to ask for help with those media. (See me about borrowing any equipment that isn't in our room or that you can't provide on your own.)
Although I have assigned the texts and dates, you may negotiate these assignments. You may switch dates/texts with someone else. (The only thing that can't be changed is the date of a particular text, since we obviously need to have the report on the date that we're scheduled to discuss a particular text).
I encourage you to confer with me about the topic for your report, mainly to help both of us clarify what you want to accomplish and also to help me plan the class period for which you will report. Minimally, I would like you to send me an email message at least two days before your presentation, to give me an idea of what you will be doing.
After your presentation (usually the next class period), I will give you your grade and some feedback on your report.