The Literary “I”
Group Presentations
Spring 2011
As we will explore, our authors knew identity was shaped by many factors. In our presentations,
we’re going to look closely at some of these factors, exploring the way gender, race, nationality,
and family all work to shape the self, and in particular literary versions of the self. Once over
the course of the semester, you will be working with two or three other classmates to prepare a
presentation on one of the topics listed below.
You will be graded both on the content of the presentation and on how effectively you organize
and present the ideas. It is critical that you learn how to convey a set of information to a group of
people in a way that is understandable and engaging—this ability is, in fact, one of the basic life
skills you will need after college. We have all had to sit through poorly planned and delivered
presentations, where the presenters mumble, or read mechanically from a prepared script, or
overwhelm you with information on endless PowerPoint slides. One of our goals this semester
will be to banish such presentations from our midst. Strong presentations, of course, take time
and careful planning. By the end of the semester, we want you to have a clear idea of how to
prepare and give an excellent presentation—and it’s best to learn this skill now, when you have
all of UR’s resources at your disposal.
To help you prepare, we are going to provide you with lots of assistance. Your group must come
to see either Dr. Gruner or Dr. Outka (depending on which module you are in when you give
your presentation) two weeks before your presentation so we can discuss basic strategies. You
will need to have a draft version of your presentation ready one week before you give it, as you
will have to go at least once to the Speech Center before you give your presentation in class. The
Speech Center has assigned us two Speech Consultants, Nicole Prunetti and Amanda Malloy,
who will be working specifically with our class and who are familiar with the class requirements
and our grading criteria for presentations (those requirements and criteria can be found at the end
of this document). The Center will record your draft presentation, and then Nicole or Amanda
will help your group evaluate and revise the presentation (we encourage you to return to the
Center several times to prefect your presentation, but only one session is required). Your group
should make changes and adjustments before you give the final version in class.
Wednesday, January 26
Women’s Rights and Gender Relations in the 20th Century
For this presentation, you should offer a brief history of women’s rights in the twentieth
century, concentrating on Britain, South Africa, and Nigeria. You’ll need to consider
both gender and race as you explore the relative rights and powers of women in the last
century. You should also select one or two of our readings and examine the way gender
shapes the characters we’ve considered.
Wednesday, February 2
Presentation: Family Dynamics: Freud, Trauma, and the 20th Century
Over the course of the twentieth century, conceptions of identity were radically
transformed by the ideas of Sigmund Freud and the growing field of psychology. Freud’s
ideas on aggression, on the conscious and unconscious mind, and the id, ego, and
superego offered a revolutionary new way to consider the self. In addition, the violence
that marked the twentieth century, including the two world wars, gave psychologists a
new understanding about how trauma may affect the human psyche. Your presentation
should briefly introduce the key Freudian ideas on the self and should explore the
psychological damage that trauma may produce. You should consider how these
theories are relevant to one or two of the works we’ve considered.
Wednesday, February 9
Presentation: Imperialism in the 20th Century
The twentieth century saw the dramatic unraveling of the British empire and a surge of
nationalism before and during the two wars. Your presentation should offer a brief
summary of European imperialism in the 20th century, introducing students to British rule
in India, Australia, and New Zealand, but focusing in particular on European control of
Africa, and British control of Ireland. You should also consider how the two world wars
fueled—and challenged— national identities. Your group should in particular consider
Joyce, Coetzee, and Soyinka.
Friday, March 18
Presentation: Women’s Rights and Gender Relations in the 19th Century
For this presentation, you should offer a brief history of women’s rights in the ninteenth
century in England. You’ll need to consider both gender and class as you explore the
relative rights and powers of women in the ninteenth century. Your group will probably
want to focus on Jane Eyre and consider the way gender shapes the characters we’ve
considered.
Friday, March 25
Presentation: Imperialism in the 19th Century
For this presentation you should offer a brief history of Britain’s imperialist endeavours
in the nineteenth century. What was the extent of the British empire, and what form did it
take? How did England’s status as empire affect life at “home” in England? Your group
will want to focus on Heart of Darkness and/or Jane Eyre and consider the ways
imperialism shapes identity in the texts.
Friday, April 6
Presentation: Family Dynamics: Work, Class, and Family History in the 19th Century
For this presentation your group will offer a brief history of the shifting dynamics of
family in the nineteenth century, especially with regard to work and class. How doe, for
example, industrial labor and office work affect family relations in the period? You
should select one or two of our readings and examine the play of family and individual in
the characters we’ve considered.
Requirements for Presentations
*Presentations should run about 20 minutes (no longer). Keep in mind that the topics we’ve
given you are broad; you have no chance of conveying all there is to know about imperialism or
gender relations in a short presentation, so don’t try. It’s up to your group to figure out the key
elements you wish to convey and to focus on those elements. In addition to presenting facts and
background information, you should have an argument—you must convey to the students why
this presentation is important for understanding particular aspects of our readings.
*Each member of the group must spend an equal time presenting. You may divide the
presentation any way you wish, so long as everyone has a chance to speak for an equal time.
*The shape of your presentation will depend on your topic and the group’s interests. You may
present your information in whatever way you believe will best help your fellow students
understand your topic. You may use handouts, engage students in discussion or ask them
questions, use PowerPoint (but more on that below), play a game, divide the class into groups,
etc. Creativity is welcome.
*PowerPoint can be a force for good and for evil. If you use it, use it carefully and effectively.
Please do NOT read us exactly what is written on every PowerPoint slide. If you decide to use
PowerPoint, every member of your group must go to this site:
http://www.philnel.com/2010/08/08/powerpoint/
There, you will need to read the short blog entry by Philip Nel, “The Art of PowerPoint: A
User’s Guide,” and watch the short video of an effective use of PowerPoint given by the comic
book artist Scott McCloud. Your presentation need not be as elaborate as McCloud’s, nor do you
need to use his techniques; what you should do, however, is think carefully about how your
words, your text, and your images are going to interact.
*You may speak from notes or an outline, but do NOT read a prepared text—this is a
presentation, not a speech. The Speech Center has lots of memory tricks to help you.
*Like a good paper, a presentation must have a clear introduction, clear transitions among
various sections, and a clear conclusion. Remember that the class may know nothing about your
topic, or even what your topic is, so spend some time at the start giving the class the basic
structure of your presentation. Likewise, figure out how you want to end your presentation (hint:
it won’t be by looking at each other, shrugging your shoulders and saying, ‘uh, I guess we’re
done’).
*Your group must meet with one of us two weeks before your presentation so we can go over
strategy and so we can help direct you to useful sources. Your group should have briefly met at
least once before this meeting to talk about your approach.
*No later than one week before your presentation date, you must present a draft version of your
presentation at UR’s Speech Center. Make an appointment early in the semester by visiting
their web page at http://speech.richmond.edu/. Our class has two Speech Fellows (Nicole
Prunetti and Amanda Malloy) who will be working with our class; please be sure to make your
appointment with one of these two students. The Fellows are familiar with the requirements and
the grading criteria for our presentations. During your session, the Fellow will record your
presentation and offer you helpful guidance for revisions.
*The Technology Learning Center (TLC), located on the third floor of Boatwright Library, is
available to help you incorporate technology into your presentation.
*At least one member of the group should consider specific ways that your topic links to the
literature we are discussing. You need not cover every author, and please pay particular attention
to the author under consideration for that week’s discussion.
*You need to draw your research from at least three sources, and you should give us a list of
those sources at your presentation. You may use the Web (Wikipedia does not count as a source),
but at least two sources must be from a book or an article rather than a Web page; you may, of
course, use the Web to find articles and books and to print out articles.
Grading Criteria for Presentations
Note: In general, we will assign a single grade to the entire presentation. If, however, there is a
distinct difference in the quality of the presentation among different group members, we may
assign different grades to individual members of the group (in such cases, we will keep
individual grades private from the other group members).
Your presentation should meet the following basic course requirements (i.e., a satisfactory, “C”
presentation):
• Fulfill the general purpose of the presentation (e.g., inform; persuade)
• Conform to time requirements (20 minutes)
• Have an identifiable introduction, body, and conclusion
• Be clearly organized
• Be adequately researched
• Use appropriate, clear language
• Show evidence of audience awareness
• Be delivered competently
• Show evidence of original thought (e.g., material is not simply a regurgitation of
information from a single Web site)
Presentations significantly above this level (i.e., the “B” presentation) will meet and exceed
basic requirements in ways that suggest greater audience-centeredness, sophistication,
preparation, and practice time than “C” presentations. For example, “B” presentations
typically
• Have an attention-getting introduction and a preview of main points
• Make a clear and interesting argument
• Include cited material from a variety of sources
• Indicate how the material is relevant to the audience
• Exhibit use of strong connectives (e.g. previews, summaries, transitions)
• Are delivered fairly fluently; sound extemporaneous rather than read from a text
Presentations that are outstanding relative to basic requirements (the “A” presentation) have
all of the qualities of a “B” presentation but typically exceed that level in creativity, strategic
decision-making, audience-centeredness, and polish. “A” presentations typically
• Are delivered in a very polished manner (e.g., sustained eye contact, natural gestures, crisp
articulation, sincerity and naturalness)
• Use vivid, concrete, listener-centered language and examples and professional-looking
visuals (when appropriate) to heighten audience interest and clarify points
• Are thoroughly researched and present clear and innovative supporting material
• Make a strong impression on listeners
Unsatisfactory presentations (in the D and F range) are notably deficient in these qualities.
Often they are characterized by lack of substance, trivial treatment of the topic, little or no
connection with listeners, and/or obvious lack of preparation and practice.
These grading criteria are adapted from Dr. Kris Bruss, Sewanee Eloquence Initiative