IRT

INITIAL RESEARCH TOPIC

IRT Plus Delta (click here to leave comments)
3 minutes / 3 slides

 Tell the audience your 'big' question right away. Don't lead up to it.

 Focus on that one really interesting aspect of your topic.

 Pare it down to the essentials. Tell an interesting story. Its what people will remember.

 Presentation is the 'transfer of emotion' ('presenter extraordinaire' Seth Godin)

"Make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you're saying is true not just accurate." (Seth Godin in Reynolds, Garr. // Presentation Zen : simple ideas on presentation design and delivery // . Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2007. Print) (We have this book in the library and he has a great blog on presentation )

Use awe-inspiring images. Check out stock photo websites. (istockphoto, gettyimages, etc.)

 Think creatively. Use your imagination.

 Think of your presentation as a work of art.

=IRT - What is it?= The IRT is a fast and furious way to to unpack the essential nature of research. It is an opportunity to dig deep into a topic you know nothing about (most likely have never even heard of before) and present to your cohort the most interesting or important aspect that you uncover through your own unique analysis.

You will have one week to create an effective presentation on this randomly assigned research topic. You will receive the topic on the first day of class. Presentations on those topics will begin exactly one week later. Presentations can be no longer than __six slides/six minutes__. You will have no class time to work on this project.

=PURPOSE:=

Present a creative, thoughtful, and critical analysis, via a slide presentation, of your topic. You must examine, review, and evaluate the scholarship.* Create an interesting (and somewhat unique) POINT to your research. “Essentialize” the data.

=DO:= As Spike Lee said, “Mo better, is mo better.” This is a good rule of thumb for research (not so for presentations nor for writing). Be exhaustive in your research. Be selective and concise in presenting the information. Cite and document everything.

=DO NOT:= Regurgitate (aka plagiarize) facts. We are interested in your insights. If your presentation deals with the facts that we could find on wikipedia, then do not bother presenting.

=AUDIENCE:= SYP faculty and SYP peers


 * (Scholarship = better because it is peer reviewed. “Jimbo’s House-O-Research.com” is not an acceptable source of critical research)