Class reports

Goal:

To structure your material to help your listeners to understand and to encourage discussion.

Method:

Make sure you have read and understood the material thoroughly (if in doubt, ask!); prepare a clear overview of the talk to start with; illustrate the body of the talk with examples, diagrames and tables; summarise results, open issues, problems at the end; use overhead slides, handouts, and any other presentation devices which are appropriate (for instance, audio, computer).

Result:

Address your listeners, point out where you had problems in understanding (your listeners will have the same problems), suggest examples and points for discussion (not just questions); time your paper for a 20 minute talk, and remember that questions, clarification, further examples will make it longer; hand in a written version (about 6 pages, following the Term Paper format), and mail me an ASCII version to include in the Web class notes.

Planning:

Preferably discuss your plans with me beforehand, at the latest in the office hour immediately before the class in which you will be holding your report. If you are prevented from holding the report by illness or accident, please let me know as soon as possible - by email or phone. A `no show' is a serious breach of confidence. Make a bibliography. Consult dictionaries and encyclopaedia of linguistics as well as the specific material you use.

Presentation:

Check that you have prepared the following aspects:

1. Introduction: `Say what you are going to say.' (Define the problem; outline your method of treating the problem and why you chose it in preference to other methods; outline the structure of your presentation.)
2. Body of paper: `Say it.' (Discussion of data type, collection, processing; outline of theory; discussion of results; comparisons with other approaches.)
3. Conclusion: `Say what you said.' (Summarise problem, method, and what you have achieved in relation to what you set out to do; problems; open questions; applications.)
4. Media, materials: Blackboard, transparencies, handouts (What is most suitable for which medium? - Simple overviews, examples: blackboard; overviews and complex graphics: transparencies; complex graphics, extensive examples: handouts.
5. Interactivity: Lecture - introduction, theory. Examples - supplement to theory, not substitute for it. Exercises - discussion of texts, short analytic problems. Use questions sparingly.
6. Don't forget to provide your sources (books, articles, internet addresses).