Expert to Novice Informative Presentation

Presentation: 100 points

Presentation Dates: March 10, March 12, March 14, and March 24
Assignment vervie!:
In todays information age and global society, we often are faced with presenting difficult or challenging
information to an audience who may have little experience with the ideas we want to convey. In situations
like these, presenting complex information in a coherent manner is paramount. In this assignment, you
will choose a topic related to your field or an area of science interest and explain the topic to both your
audience and your reader. For example, if my major was actuarial science, I might decide to talk about the
process of determining insurance benefits for a person. I could go into calculating life expectancies and
how life expectancy affects insurance rates, etc. Or, if I was a marine biology major I could talk about the
oil spill in the gulf, and discuss the mechanics behind the leak i.e., how did this happen!", why it took so
long to fix the problem, and how technology and science led to a solution. #our specific challenges for
this assignment include further incorporating your skills of audience analysis and good delivery into an
engaging presentation that follows a specific pattern of organi$ation and uses specific types of
informative techni%ues e.g., explanations, examples, varieties of supporting evidence" to teach your
audience about your topic.
The idea is not to persuade the audience; rather, this is your chance to discuss a technical topic of
interest to you with a novice audience. Just think of a technical topic within your field that interests you
and explain it to a lay audience.
&his assignment re%uires excellent audience analysis in order to provide information at a level the
audience can process, understand, and enjoy. #our topic should be interesting, current, and relevant to
your audience. &o clarify, this assignment includes two significant parts' an annotated bibliography and
an oral presentation. &he re%uirements for each of these are broken down below.
"pecific #e$%irements:
(resent your ideas in a )*+ minute speech.
#ou will develop a presentation based on the research you conduct for your annotated
bibliography. #ou will need to condense this information to deliver it to an audience. #ou
will need an introduction, conclusion and thesis statement. #our in*text citations will
become oral citations. #ou must cite at least five different sources from your annotated
bibliography in your presentation.
,hoose the most important information from your research and present those ideas to
your audience. #ou will need to narrow the scope of the presentation. #ou may not be
able to cover all the material you read for your annotated bibliography, so be selective.
(resent the information in a way that matches the audiences knowledge and experience.
-se material from lecture to help accomplish this e.g., the quasi-scientific,
transformative, and elucidating explanations will all be helpful, along with tools such as
examples, and analogies and metaphors".
.emonstrate skillful use of organi$ation, directional transitions, and signposts.
/efined delivery' #our speaking style should be extemporaneous. &his means that you
are not to read your speech, or to memori$e your speech, but are to talk to the audience
and adapt to the audience as you speak. 0ork for both effective physical and vocal
delivery. #our will be re%uired to turn in your note cards maximum of 1, one*sided O/
2, two sided". #our instructor will be using the note cards in assessing delivery.