1 CM 220 College Composition II Unit 7: Presenting Your Big Idea in an Innovative Way R. Michelle Salman General Education, Composition Kaplan University

Unit 7 Activities ActivityDetails ReadingThe Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing, ch. 16 on peer review Review tech labs for units 2-6 Invention LabDraft of tech presentation Tech labGames, animation 2

THE TECH PRESENTATION Part I 3

Multi-media Outlets for Communicating your Big Idea How can you BROADCAST your message?  Blogs  Podcasts  Facebook and other online communities  PowerPoint Presentations  Other ideas?  Where do you go for information and Why?  How does each outlet affect or change the message?  What strategy or outlet would you use to broadcast your message?  Who would be your audience and what would your purpose be? 4

Reminders Units 2-7 contain tech labs with links to tutorials on various technologies. You will find sample presentations in Doc Sharing. The Writing Center has several workshops on technology. 5

Guidelines for Tech Presentation Draft Choose a technology and create a presentation with that technology. Technologies can be combined, such as adding audio clips to a Power Point presentation. Even if you are not visually creative, the message of your big idea should be clear in the method and outcome of the presentation. 6

Guidelines for the Presentation Draft Overall message is clear and effective Minimally, five facts, arguments, and/or insights are presented Audience is considered in technology choice and design Research sources are cited in APA format (put in separate Word document if desired) Presentation is an original creation (except for cited material) 7

Guidelines for the Presentation Draft You do not have to (and probably will not!) cover every idea that is in your essay draft in the tech presentation. You may choose to focus upon one supporting point from your essay You might do a presentation that is supplemental to your essay, such as an advertisement or public service announcement about this problem. 8

Tips Choose technology wisely—what can you reasonably learn how to do or what do you already know how to do? Use your strengths (and know your weaknesses!) Plan your message before creating your presentation (use the draft as a starting point) Keep it simple Design for your audience Motivate your audience—what do you want them to do/believe after seeing the presentation? 9

Where to Post? Post the tech presentation in the unit 7 Invention Lab/discussion. Attach file if needed (PPT, for example) Include link to external site if needed (Animoto video) Review sample posts! 10

Example: PPT 11

Parallelism When you make a bulleted list, as you might in a Power Point slide, you want the structure of that list to be parallel. So if your first item in the list is a noun phrase, make all items in the list a noun phrase. You can read more about parallelism in The Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing on pages

Example My classes last semester were difficult for the following reasons: Lengthy reading assignments Numerous unannounced quizzes Difficult final exams Note: the list follows an adjective/noun structure. 13

Animoto and Prezi Alternatives to traditional presentations Animoto “animates” slides and images Prezi creates a more dynamic “flow” and allows easy uploading of YouTube videos 14

Animoto and Prezi 15

Podcasts and Blogs Methods for disseminating information to a wide audience, either in audio or written form Podcasts can be saved in audio files like an MP3 16

Effective Writing Podcast Series 17

Fed Up with Lunch Blog (fedupwithlunch.com) 18

CITING SPECIAL SOURCES FOR PRESENTATIONS Part II

Citing Guidelines Cite copyrighted material This includes photographs, graphs, charts, maps, music, and videos –I have posted a handout in Doc Sharing in the “APA Help” section. 20

Photographs Artist's last name, artist’s initials. (Year). Title of work [Photograph]. Retrieved from URL or web address. Tilcock, W. (2011). University of California, Davis [Photograph]. Retrieved from picks-the-top-10-photos-of-the-year/#5 21

Music Recording Songwriter, W. W. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from song writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date). Lovett, L. (1996). That’s right (you’re not from Texas). On The road to Ensenada. Nashville, TN: Curb Music Company. 22

YouTube Video Poster last name, first initial. (Date). Name of video [Video file]. Retrieved from... Anner, Z. (2010, June 13). Zach’s audition: Oprah’s search for the next tv star [Video file.] Retrieved from T4. T4 23

EFFECTIVE PEER FEEDBACK Part III

Peer review in the real world Journals use “peer review” to critique and select articles for publication Architecture schools use “juries” of peers and instructors to critique projects and offer advice Many jobs will ask groups of employees to work on a project, and typically, the collaboration will involve critique and revision

How have I been using peer review? Comments from classmates and friends about your project Discussion board responses Formal peer reviews in previous courses?

Common misconceptions and concerns “I’m not a great writer (or technically savvy), so how can I offer advice?” “I’m scared about getting critiqued by someone else. What if she hates my paper?” “How can a classmate give me good advice? I don’t care about what anyone but the teacher has to say since she is the one giving me the grade.”

Things to avoid Not helpful...why? I really liked this presentation/paper. I thought the images on your slides were great! Some other examples would be helpful. This is boring.

Helpful feedback Much better While you have a lot of interesting information in your presentation, I’m unsure what your “big idea” is. Maybe you could include a slide that covers your proposal for solving the problem you outline in the rest of the presentation. You might include a statistic to let your audience know how big of a problem this is. I read this great article in the Washington Post this week that would give you some good numbers; here is the link... I have had a really hard time creating parallel structure in my bullet points, too. I found this helpful website that you might review...

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” What is Ebert’s point about film criticism in this blog post? 30

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” What is Ebert’s point about film criticism in this blog post? –“Film criticism is a matter of subjective opinion. Only rarely does it stray into objective fact.” What examples does he offer from reviews of Inception? 31

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” What examples does he offer from reviews of Inception? –“I found it refreshing that Nolan's villains didn't wear matching uniforms (do the bad guys in "The Matrix" and the Bond movies all share locker rooms?). –“Nolan successfully made the film he had in mind, and shouldn't be faulted for failing to make someone else's film.” 32

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” What does he see problematic about a site like Rotten Tomatoes? –“When a movie is running at 100% on the Tomatometer, an inevitable death watch occurs, as readers await the first negative vote.” –“Sites like Rotten Tomatoes are where critics bring their ideas to market, but some readers come only to window-shop. It is a melancholy fact that for some, ideas have been replaced by the Meter reading itself. It doesn't matter nearly so much what anyone actually said, as whether "everyone" agrees with you.” 33

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” How would his recommendations relate to the peer reviewing process or persuasive writing in general? 34

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” How would his recommendations relate to the peer reviewing process or persuasive writing in general? –Your goal is NOT to write someone else’s paper using someone else’s ideas. –It is important to not see a critique as an attack on you as a person. –Support and vindication is not important –You have a choice what you will accept as a valid critique and what is simply someone’s subjective opinion. 35

“Whole Lotta Cantin’ Going On” The main thing: –“There's a human tendency to resent anyone who disagrees with our pleasures. The less mature interpret that as a personal attack on themselves. They're looking for support and vindication.” 36

Responses for this week’s Invention Lab Be specific in your suggestions for improvement. For example, note difficulties in reading text on a slide and recommend how the author could make the slides more visually appealing. Be constructive and note strengths as well as weaknesses in the presentation. Be honest and sincere in your response. Remember that the more advice everyone provides in this week’s Invention Lab, the better the final projects can be! 37

Guidelines for critique Be tactful Be specific Don’t focus on grammar, usage, mechanics, or spelling Highlight strengths Note phrasing that needs clarification Indicate how the presentation can be strengthened based on the assignment guidelines Note any questions you still have about the author’s “big idea” that the presentation is not answering 38

Questions? Do you have any comments or questions? 39 Have a great week, and I look forward to reading your formal and informal posts!