Accounting and Literature
Group Presentations
Spring 2013
The group presentations are designed to convey background information that may be helpful in reading and interpreting the novels, as well as giving you experience in conveying material efficiently to an audience.
You will be graded both on the content of the presentation and on how effectively you organize and present the ideas. It is critical that you learn how to convey a set of information to a group of people in a way that is understandable and engaging—this ability is, in fact, one of the basic life skills you will need after college. We have all had to sit through poorly planned and delivered presentations, where the presenters mumble, or read mechanically from a prepared script, or overwhelm you with information on endless PowerPoint slides. One of our goals this semester will be to banish such presentations from our midst. Strong presentations, of course, take time and careful planning. Thus your group should plan to meet with me at least once before you make your presentation; if you do not already have considerable experience with group presentations, you should also make an appointment for a consultation at the Speech Center (make your appointments as soon as you have secured your presentation date, remembering that the Speech Center will not meet with you less than 48 hours before your presentation).
Presentation dates and topics:
Wednesday, January 30: Victorian Industry
For this presentation, you should offer a brief overview of industrialism in the 19th century—where it took place, what industries were first mechanized and why, who the laborers were and what their working conditions were, etc. You’ll need to consider both political and economic history in this discussion—how was industry regulated? Who were the important players? Your group will want to consider how accurate contemprary workers and/or mill-owners might have found Gaskell’s depiction of the situation.
Wednesday, February 20: Victorian Crime and Punishment
For this presentation, you should offer a brief overview of the criminal justice system in England in the 19th century. What were the most troublesome crimes? Who were the criminals? What were the punishments? What were the rights of the accused? Dickens was famous for his depictions of a criminal underclass in many of his novels, but there were also other popular crime literatures of the time—why was crime literature so popular? Who read it and what form(s) did it take? What relationship can you draw between that kind of literature and Great Expectations, if any?
Wednesday, March 6
Presentation: Victorian Imperialism
For this presentation you should offer a brief history of Britain’s imperialist endeavours in the nineteenth century. What was the extent of the British empire, and what form did it take? How did England’s status as empire affect life at “home” in England? Your group will want to focus on North and South and/or Great Expectations and consider the ways imperialism shapes the texts.
Wednesday, April 3
Presentation: Victorian Women
For this presentation your group will offer a brief overview of women’s rights in Victorian England. You’ll need to consider both gender and class as you explore the relative rights and powers of women in the ninteenth century. Your group will probably want to focus on The Mill on the Floss, though you may consider any of the three novels we’ve read as you the way gender shapes the characters we’ve considered.
Requirements for Presentations
*Presentations should run about 20 minutes (no longer). Keep in mind that the topics we’ve given you are broad; you have no chance of conveying all there is to know about imperialism or gender relations in a short presentation, so don’t try. It’s up to your group to figure out the key elements you wish to convey and to focus on those elements. In addition to presenting facts and background information, you should have an argument—you must convey to the students why this presentation is important for understanding particular aspects of our readings.
*Each member of the group must spend an equal time presenting. You may divide the presentation any way you wish, so long as everyone has a chance to speak for an equal time.
*The shape of your presentation will depend on your topic and the group’s interests. You may present your information in whatever way you believe will best help your fellow students understand your topic. You may use handouts, engage students in discussion or ask them questions, use PowerPoint (but more on that below), play a game, divide the class into groups, etc. Creativity is welcome.
*PowerPoint can be a force for good and for evil. If you use it, use it carefully and effectively. Please do NOT read us exactly what is written on every PowerPoint slide. If you decide to use PowerPoint, every member of your group must go to this site: http://www.philnel.com/2010/08/08/powerpoint/
There, you will need to read the short blog entry by Philip Nel, “The Art of PowerPoint: A User’s Guide,” and watch the short video of an effective use of PowerPoint given by the comic book artist Scott McCloud. Your presentation need not be as elaborate as McCloud’s, nor do you need to use his techniques; what you should do, however, is think carefully about how your words, your text, and your images are going to interact.
*You may speak from notes or an outline, but do NOT read a prepared text—this is a presentation, not a speech. The Speech Center has lots of memory tricks to help you.
*Like a good paper, a presentation must have a clear introduction, clear transitions among various sections, and a clear conclusion. Remember that the class may know nothing about your topic, or even what your topic is, so spend some time at the start giving the class the basic structure of your presentation. Likewise, figure out how you want to end your presentation (hint: it won’t be by looking at each other, shrugging your shoulders and saying, ‘uh, I guess we’re done’).
*Your group must meet with me a week before your presentation so we can go over strategy and so I can help direct you to useful sources. Your group should have briefly met at least once before this meeting to talk about your approach.
*The Technology Learning Center (TLC), located on the third floor of Boatwright Library, is available to help you incorporate technology into your presentation.
*At least one member of the group should consider specific ways that your topic links to the literature we are discussing..
*You need to draw your research from at least three sources, and you should provide a list of those sources at your presentation. You may use the Web (Wikipedia does not count as a source), but at least two sources must be from a book or an article rather than a Web page; you may, of course, use the Web to find articles and books and to print out articles.
Grading Criteria for Presentations
Note: In general, I will assign a single grade to the entire presentation. If, however, there is a distinct difference in the quality of the presentation among different group members, I may assign different grades to individual members of the group (in such cases, I will keep individual grades private from the other group members).
Your presentation should meet the following basic course requirements (i.e., a satisfactory, “C” presentation):
• Fulfill the general purpose of the presentation (e.g., inform; persuade)
• Conform to time requirements (15-20 minutes)
• Have an identifiable introduction, body, and conclusion
• Be clearly organized
• Be adequately researched
• Use appropriate, clear language
• Show evidence of audience awareness
• Be delivered competently
• Show evidence of original thought (e.g., material is not simply a regurgitation of information from a single Web site)
Presentations significantly above this level (i.e., the “B” presentation) will meet and exceed basic requirements in ways that suggest greater audience-centeredness, sophistication, preparation, and practice time than “C” presentations. For example, “B” presentations typically
• Have an attention-getting introduction and a preview of main points
• Make a clear and interesting argument
• Include cited material from a variety of sources
• Indicate how the material is relevant to the audience
• Exhibit use of strong connectives (e.g. previews, summaries, transitions)
• Are delivered fairly fluently; sound extemporaneous rather than read from a text
Presentations that are outstanding relative to basic requirements (the “A” presentation) have all of the qualities of a “B” presentation but typically exceed that level in creativity, strategic decision-making, audience-centeredness, and polish. “A” presentations typically
• Are delivered in a very polished manner (e.g., sustained eye contact, natural gestures, crisp articulation, sincerity and naturalness)
• Use vivid, concrete, listener-centered language and examples and professional-looking visuals (when appropriate) to heighten audience interest and clarify points
• Are thoroughly researched and present clear and innovative supporting material
• Make a strong impression on listeners
Unsatisfactory presentations (in the D and F range) are notably deficient in these qualities. Often they are characterized by lack of substance, trivial treatment of the topic, little or no connection with listeners, and/or obvious lack of preparation and practice.
These grading criteria are adapted from Dr. Kris Bruss, Sewanee Eloquence Initiative