STRUCTURE OF THE SEMINARS

Seminars will be conducted in teams of two. Presentations will be from both members of the team (as arranged by presenters), and will last approximately 20 minutes. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED by a short question period led by presenters. READING OF PRESENTATION MATERIAL IS NOT PERMITTED although you may consult brief notes freely. Presenters should have some questions ready to "prime" and lead the question period. For example "what did you think about the..." OR "were you surprised by the finding that...." OR whatever. The submitted paper (see below) will be by individuals and NOT from the team.

Please note: You are required to submit the following:

ONE WEEK BEFORE YOUR TALK (To class members):
An appropriate reading which will help others become informed on the subject matter .

THE DAY OF YOUR TALK (To class members):
Complete Notes on your talk - class notes of the sort you would take.
A straightforward study question relating to the relevant/significant aspects of your seminar.

To the instructor:

A term paper based on your presentation and including information on your interviews (not the transcript of your presentation) is to be submitted to instructor. While seminars are conducted in teams ALL PAPERS are to be independent submissions.

DUE DATE: Last day of classes for the term

Late submissions will be penalized consistent with departmental regulations

Grade determination:

Content of talk 25

observations 15

Presentation 25

Circulated notes 15

Appropriate reading 10

Participation 10

PLAGIARISM: The University has adopted new regulations on Academic Integrity. It is in your interest not to violate these regulations. They may be seen HERE.

PSYCHOLOGY 310

The following suggestions are intended to help students prepare for oral presentations of seminars.

Preparing the Material

1. At what level of complexity should you pitch your talk? My recommendation is that you aim your presentation at your student peers. Assume that your listeners are intelligent, know something about psychology in general, but are not specialists in the specific area of the research. [Some of your listeners may not be familiar, for example, with vocabulary which is specific to your field.]

2. You should write out a different version of your material for the oral presentation than the more detailed paper you are submitting to your instructor. Reading and listening are not the same. FOR THIS REASON -   your talk should be from an outline of abbreviated notes and not from your written version, Keep in mind that what a reader can take in is not necessarily the same as that which a listener can process; those hearing a talk can't go back and reread a sentence or paragraph to figure out what it means. For the oral presentation, you should use a simpler style and make sure that you repeat the main points.

3. Make sure that the lead sentences of each of your paragraphs are carefully constructed. Particularly when people are listening to someone else speak or lecture, it is important to be clear on where you are headed. Announce what topic you will be discussing next in some fashion.

4. It is usually better not to include authors' names and the dates of experiments unless they are absolutely critical to your talk.  Listeners quickly tune out when long lists of unfamiliar names, complete with the dates of their studies, are read off.

5. Don't use abbreviations in your talk. You may know them well, but most of those in your audience will not. Even if you explain the first time what the abbreviation refers to, it still takes time for the listener to recall what it means--by that time you will be a sentence or two further along, and the audience may well have missed important material. Anything which interrupts the perception of the logical flow of your ideas may prompt the listener to "tune out ".

6. Length: Your presentation should be 20 minutes in length. Timing is crucial. How many pages can you cover in 20 minutes? It will vary from person to person, but is probably fewer than you expect. In order to get a sense of how many pages of prepared text you should be aiming for, try reading a page of anything you have written aloud and time yourself. How many minutes does it take to get through one page? [Note that the amount you will cover in silent reading is far greater than when speaking aloud SO say it aloud!!]

Rehearsal for the Oral Presentation

1. Lots of rehearsal is the key to a successful oral presentation!  Even experienced speakers rehearse before pubic talks, lectures, or speeches. Everyone is a bit nervous when talking before peers. Very careful rehearsal is by far the most useful thing you can do to reduce your anxiety to a minimum. And remember that unless you are a bit nervous, you probably wouldn't take the task as seriously!

2. Begin by reading your talk aloud several times to yourself. Reading silently is not the same. If you are intending to read rather than talk about some of your material, ( and as stated above you should not plan to read much)  think about the exact inflection that you wish to have for each sentence. What are the important words in the sentence? What should be emphasized? When should your voice rise and fall? Try underlining the key words to remind yourself of what to stress in the sentence. This will also help you get the speed of talking right.

3. Next try the talk out on one or more friends. Get them to tell you if there is something they don't understand or which doesn't make sense.

Overheads and Other Visual Aids

1. Visual aids can be a useful tool. Decide what visual aids, if any , that you absolutely need to use and don't use more than this number. You want the audience to attend to you, not to say a screen above your head. Props can become hindrances rather than aids to communication.

2. Practice with any visual aids that you intend to use. It is important that your use of them is smooth and comfortable. Otherwise the listeners (and watchers) become edgy, diverted and wonder what is going to go wrong.

The Actual Talk

1. Think of how you will begin. Will you say "good afternoon", give the formal title of your talk, or just barge into the text? [Hint: don't do the first or the last of these.] Decide how you are going to deal with the problem of getting started before you arrive at the podium! There's is no one "right way" to get started, but you need to do something. You should begin with some general statement-perhaps about the problem with which you are dealing--and not just dive into the talk.

2. Try to make eye contact with your audience. If necessary, write a reminder to this effect in the text of your outline at appropriate places.

3. Try including a couple of "asides" where you just talk about some interesting side issue or give an example or two; plan these ahead of time. They will look spontaneous, even if they are not!

4. Questions: Remember that everyone is supportive, both your fellow students and the faculty. You will find that the atmosphere is non-confrontational. Questions, which are encouraged, are asked to clarify something in the reader's mind, not to trip you up.