Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate ability to translate written work into oral presentation
- Demonstrate ability to gauge an audience’s needs and interests
- Demonstrate ability to discern most important elements of a written project and summarize them in a brief presentation
- Demonstrate ability to organize, practice, and deliver a professional oral presentation
Resources
You will get to focus on an author/person of your choice for your Letters of Note presentation. You will select a letter from Letters of Note website and books, or another source. Everyone must select a different letter/author. Use the following resources to select your letter(s):
- Letter of Note, Vol 1; link to ebook
- More Letters of Note; link to book on reserve
- Website Archive
- Other background information / research
Audience
Fellow FYS183 Classmates
Length of Presentation
Presentation must be between 8-10 minutes. Points will be deducted for presentations that are under 8 minutes as well as those that are over 10 minutes. The presentation must be on a cloud-based drive, such as Muhlenberg’s Google Workspace, that can be accessed on the class computer.
Prompt
Provide an oral presentation on your analysis of your selected Letter of Note. You should also provide some context on your selected letter–about the persons involved, history, culture, etc. You will be working with primary resources, including letters, newspapers, and other resources. You will not only analyze the letter(s) but also examine the individuals for whose letters you are working. Part of this exercise is that you will analyze the letter(s) and get to know the people and history through other artifacts and resources. You may not just read your analysis, but rather present your analysis by providing background information, relevant related information, and your overall analysis in an oral presentation.
There may be elements that you do not include in your written notes that should, however, be included in your presentation. This may include a brief biography of the author of your letter, including a historical, social, or cultural context that may be relevant to your analysis. This can be a summary of an event that prompted the letter. It can also include other letters that provide additional or supporting evidence.
Presenting well involves writing in various formats. One aspect may be to write out your analysis of the letters. One aspect of the presentation is what material you will actually include in your presentation. The other aspect is what material you will be presented orally. These will obviously overlap, but should not be the same throughout.
Your presentation should have a clear and concise central message, as well as supporting evidence. Examples of this include, explanations, illustrations, quotations, and other kinds of information or analysis that support the principal ideas of the presentation. Then, briefly analyze for your audience why and how your argument/central message works or does not work. You may choose to analyze the rhetorical situation, the appeals, the warrants, and/or the style of the argument. You do not have to address all of these points, but you will address at least one.
You are encouraged to use note cards to aid in your delivery, but you should not read your presentation. You can engage your audience as well, but having them read parts of the letter, answer or ask questions, or do other activities.
You will also practice your presentation in the library using the one-button studio. You will need a USB drive for this.
There are two submissions for this assignment. **You must share a link to your video by Sunday 10/30, 6pm. You can modify your presentation after this, but you must practice your presentation prior to presenting in class on November 1. You must upload your presentation file no later than the start of class on November 1.
Your presentations should be well-organized and clear. Part of the grade for your presentation will include effective delivery, looking at such things as posture, hand gestures, eye contact, use of voice, etc.
