Giving Effective Oral Presentations

Today in class we will discuss how to give an effective oral presentation and a brief run-down on how to use a Powerpoint presentation to enhance (and not detract!) from the speech you give in front of the class.

PPT #1: Egypt

PPT #2: El Niño

PPT #3: Movie Censorship

The final powerpoint contains a few tips on how to create an effective PPT

PPT Made Easy!

TED Presentations

Example TED Talk: Richard St. John's 8 Secrets of Success

The Debate and Housekeeping

I hope everyone is ready and excited for our debate today. I have no doubt that it will be both lively and informative. I'd like to say ahead of time how much I appreciate all your effort and hard work!

And now for some housekeeping details. Below you will find the due dates for the rest of the semester. Pay close attention to these dates and let me know if you have any questions. We are now in the final stretch of the semester... a few more weeks of hard work and it'll be Winter Break!

End of the Semester Due Dates:

-First Draft of Argumentative Essay: Monday, November 26th, Noon

-Conferences: Thursday, November 29th (in-class and office hours) (mandatory)

-Presentation Materials: Powerpoints due on December 4th (in dropbox)

-Actual Presentations: December 4th, December 6th and December 11th 

-Final Draft of Argumentative Essay: Tuesday, December 11th (3:30pm) - No late assignments will be accepted!

Debate Preparation

On Thursday we will have our class debate on whether or not the death penalty should be considered an ethical option for the punishment of criminals. While the actual debate is Thursday, I hope you all had a chance to read the assigned readings as you will have a few minutes at the end of class today to get into your groups and plan which member of your teams will cover which part of your debate presentation. Today we will be talking about the parts of a debate, the procedure we will use in our debate on Thursday as well as the characteristics of good public speech (talking in front of people).

The Great Debate (PowerPoint)

Order of the Debate

Debate Team Preparation

Debate: Rubric

Debate Preparation

Hello everybody! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weekend weather. I can't remember the last time it was this warm and sunny during November. I'm sure you were all in the library or online looking up sources for your argumentative essay but I hope you got out and enjoyed a little bit of the sunshine and warm weather!

On Tuesday we will be discussing the characteristics of a good debate. Remember our topic: Is capital punishment (the death penalty) an ethical way to punish criminals? You have already been divided into your teams and positions. Before class, I would like you all to do some light reading so that you came prepared to talk about the subject.

I would like everyone to read this famous article about the death penalty written by a former mayor of New York City, Edward Koch. It's a good overview of the topic.

Death and Justice

Next, I would like you to review the list of pros and cons from the following website. Be sure to know and understand the arguments for your side of the debate and also familiarize yourself with the arguments of the opposing side so that you can make counterarguments and refutations. 

The Death Penalty: Pros and Cons

Finally, please review the issues listed in this link. It deals specifically with the morality of capital punishment, which is the actual question we will be debating. Again, make sure you know and understand the arguments for your side as well as the opposing argument. Judges: It is important you understand both sides of this argument very well. After all, you will be deciding the winner! 

Is the death penalty immoral?

Please come to class prepared to talk about these issues. Remember, the debate will not take place until Thursday, but we are going to talk about debate procedures and strategies in class on Tuesday, so it's necessary that you come prepared with a working knowledge of the topic. As always, please let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Using Opposing Arguments to Make Your Essay Stronger

Today in class we will be reviewing the necessary components of a strong argumentative essay and learning one last strategy on how to strengthen your overall argument, that of using including opposing arguments directly into your essay and refuting them (or showing how they are incorrect, not logical or not as strong of a concern as your own supporting points).

Argumentative Essay: Opposing Arguments and Refutation

Types of Evidence

Patterns of Argumentation

Argumentative Essay, Example #1

Argumentative Essay, Example #2

Evaluating Your Sources

As one of the requirements for our next essay is to have five sources, we are going to spend our class time today learning how to evaluate our sources. This will involve learning about the CRAAP strategy (a funny name, I know) as well as finding some good places to start looking up sources and doing some research in class based on the CRAAP criteria. The following links will be used in class today.

UIUC Main Library Page

UIUC List of Libraries 

CQ Researcher 

CRAAP Power Point 

Evaluating Sources of Information 

For the final part of today's class we are going to be practicing finding a possible source for our debate next Thursday. The debatable idea I would like you to find a credible source of support for is: Capital Punishment is not an ethical way to punish criminals. Using the CRAAP criteria, you will fill out the handout with a partner in class. The handout is worth 20 points. This is your time to show me that you understand what constitutes a good, credible source and that you know how to critically evaluate the sources you will be reviewing.

New Powerpoints

I hope you've all had a restful weekend. Here are the last two power point presentations that we have used and consulted with in our class discussions on argumentative writing. I think you may find some of the information helpful as you research and begin to write your final essays.

Argumentative Writing 

How To Use Logic to Strengthen Your Argument 

Argumentative Essay

We have now begun the process of writing our argumentative essay. I know you are all excited and ready to start researching. Speaking of researching, here is a look at what's up next in ESL 500.

First, due in class tomorrow are your final debatable topics and your working thesis statements. Then, next Thursday, November 15th, I would like you to submit a bibliography with the five sources you will be using to write your argument. Next, you will be submitting a draft of your essay no later than Tuesday, November 27th, so that I can check it over and let you know what changes need to be made (if any).

And we have our debate coming up next week (more about that in class this week). As you can tell, we have a very busy schedule coming up, so it's important you pay attention to due dates and work ahead.

Here's our upcoming schedule one more time:

-Debatable Topics/Thesis Statements (Due before class on Nov. 6th, 2012)

 -Bibliographic listing of all 5 sources (Due by 12:00 pm on Thursday, Nov. 15th, 2012)

-Debate: Thursday, Nov. 15th (in class)

-Complete First Draft of Argumentative Essay (Due by 12:00 pm, Tuesday, November 27th)

 

Here are some of the basic guidelines for writing your source-based, argumentative essays:

• You should use at least 5 sources in your essay. This means that you have to do extensive research on your topic. We will spend some class time to decide on your topics for the argumentative essays, but please begin to think now about what you would like to write about. You may change your topic but before doing this, please discuss your new topic with me. I suggest that you choose a topic that relates directly to your current course work in your major field, but with a few constraints:
• You will be writing for a general, educated audience, not for professional peers.
• You may NOT revise a paper you have already written. It is vital that you go through the entire writing process in this class in order to practice what you are learning.
• You may NOT use a paper that you are writing for another class (see Student Code, §I-402(a))
• All papers should be double spaced, appropriate font, with 1 inch margins.
• Grammar issues should be resolved before handing in any final draft.
• Proper citation throughout the paper is required along with a "Works Cited" page at the end of the paper. Any paper failing to properly cite will be considered plagiarized.

 And from there, we have oral presentations and the final draft of your argumentative essays due in December (we will talk about the final dates closer to when they are due).

So there is a lot to stay up-to-date on! Please make sure to check the course website often for updates and don't forget, if you've got questions, please ask! Send me an email or stop by my office hours for a chat. No matter what your question(s) and/or doubt(s) may be, we can work together to figure it out!