Huminites

Description

Project description: For this project, you must produce a PowerPoint presentation on one of the historical books listed in a course announcement (or below). You must also provide voiceover audio for slide content. (In other words, you’re doing an oral presentation on an historical book but including commentary on individual PowerPoint slides.) Going into this project, the assumption is that you are already familiar with the basic features of how to produce a presentation using PowerPoint. If not, it will serve you well to review the videos included in the project folder. Insofar as research, you have two tasks that require some modest investigation on your part. First, locate good, scholarly information about your subject to include on the various slides of your PowerPoint presentation. Second, supplement this information with the best possible graphic images you can find for whichever one of the historical books you’ve selected for your topic. Any data included on slides should be reduced to bulleted points organized in a logical fashion on presentation slides and preferably free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Any source material you use from a website, online database like GALILEO, book, periodical, etc., you should rewrite using your own verbiage. Incorporate graphic images onto slides along with your bulleted points. Insofar as graphic quality, this is part of your grade, so you should choose the crispest, cleanest images you can find to cut and paste into your presentation and make sure they look good on a large screen. To go into a bit more detail about the factual information you must include as part of your presentation, let me add you are expected to try to produce a mini-lecture where you break down, consciously structure, and discuss your topic in a way that is logical, well-organized, and educational. During the oral part of your presentation, think of yourself as a teacher as you talk about the material. Obviously, the nature of this assignment allows you to create a script for your presentation, but you should still try to speak off-the-cuff and then record/re-record your audio until you’re satisfied with its quality. If you choose to do so, certainly, you can read the book, but this is not mandatory. All the books listed can be found on the internet if you do a search for them. Websites such as Project Gutenberg include text files for thousands of works in what is called the public domain. You can also usually find links to the work by scrolling down to the bottom of a Wikipedia entry. If you prefer not to read the book, obviously, you must still be familiar with its content, and a bit of research will help you with this. Minimum Requirements: 1) Number of PowerPoint slides required: 6 or more 2) Audio tracks: PowerPoint has a feature that allows a user to record an audio track to go along with slide content. Every slide except for the Works Cited should have an audio track. PowerPoint also includes a feature that allows you to run a presentation on a timer, so a viewer need only sit back and watch as if the presentation is a streaming video. If you prefer not to use the timer or can’t master this feature, I can click through from slide to slide. Note: When placing the audio icon on a slide, it is preferable to place it in the lower, right-hand corner, so I can easily access it and run it. Placing it in the upper left or right-hand corner makes it impossible for me to access the play button, and I have to move the icon to do so. 3) Presentation content: The presentation should include an introductory slide where you MUST introduce yourself and your topic, both on the slide and orally. If you do not, I will not accept your presentation until you fix this issue. The content of your report is subjective, but the choices you make about what to cover and how you organize the details indicate a lot about how much research you did, how much you thought about the topic, and how much you tried to follow instructions, all of which will influence the grade. Your final slide should be your Works Cited with entries following current MLA Style standards. Note: Reading slide content at length is not an oral presentation, so what you include in your audio should expand upon what text is included on your slides. Even if you are reading a script, it should still sound as if you are lecturing on your subject. Note: In terms of the presentation’s structure, as a rule of thumb, you might want to break the content down in this way and in this order: Discuss a book’s author (20%), a book’s contents (60%), and the work’s historical significance (20%). And make an attempt to produce an introduction, a body, and a conclusion comparable to what you were taught about writing essays in English 1101. Note: Do not turn this presentation into a biography of the author. It is a book report on a historically significant book. Make sure you mostly focus on the book and what is in it. 4) Graphic materials: Although you should technically document images in a presentation, you can forgo doing so for this project. I would encourage you to have at least one image per slide other than the Works Cited slide. Graphics add visual interest to a presentation. Since this presentation is essentially a book report, graphics might include an author’s image, an image of the book, but also things that may have some relevance to the book’s content or the historical era in which it was produced. Be creative; be interesting; be logical. 5) Factual data: Any details, information, etc. included in the presentation should be reduced to bulleted points. Do not overload a slide with too much text. Expand upon a bulleted point orally. Note: Bulleted points should be easily readable. You are advised to make text a minimum of 20/24 point in terms of its font size. Anything less can be difficult to read from the back of a room if you had to deliver the presentation to a classroom group. Also choose a very readable font such as Times New Roman or Arial. Don’t mix a bunch of different fonts. 6) Works Cited slide: As an English teacher, I prefer that you indicate your sources with a Works Cited page and using MLA Style1 to create your Works Cited entries. All sources consulted and used in your presentation must have a Works Cited entry on the Works Cited. You’ll find helpful links in the project folder that will help you format your Works Cited as well as properly prepare the entries. Note: I can instantly look at your Works Cited page and determine if you made a legitimate attempt to get the details correct. 7) Number of research sources: Employ a minimum of three documented sources. The number and quality of your sources will be taken into consideration, so you should do more than just visit websites. Note: Books and scholarly articles found in GALILEO or in CTC’s library collection are always superior to .com websites and especially sources like Wikipedia and other encyclopedias, SparkNotes, CliffNotes, eNotes, Schmoop and the like, which is pretty meager research from a college perspective and will be regarded as substandard if they are included on your WC. 8) PowerPoint animation/slide transition: You are encouraged to include slide transitions to move from one slide to the next as well as a modest amount of slide animation. As mentioned above, you can also add a timer to your presentation so that slides advance automatically. Appreciate, however, that overuse of the more elaborate transition options can undermine the quality of a presentation. In other words, overly flashy transitions between slides or too much animation on individual slides gets annoying quickly. Bottom line: Employ both but keep it simple and use it sparingly. 9) File copy: As noted above, when you have finished your presentation, deliver a copy of the file to me by uploading it to a link provided in the corresponding announcement in Blackboard. If asked to log-in when you click on the link, do so using your CTC email log-in information. Also as noted above, there will also be a separate drop box in Blackboard. Project grade: The project is worth a maximum of 200 points or 20 percent of your semester grade. The grade will be determined subjectively based on how I assess you executed the parameters of the assignment. Expect grading to be strict. In particular, I will look at four elements and judge each separately and award points accordingly. The points will then be added to determine your project grade. 1) 50/200 Presentation Professionalism: Is the presentation professional? Does it look slapped together, third-rate, or is it easy to see the time and energy you put into this to create something aesthetic and appealing? Are the materials arranged in an intelligible way that adds value to the display or in a way that is confusing or distracting? Did you follow directions? 2) 50/200 Presentation Graphics: Did you choose graphic materials of a high caliber and that present the subject from various angles, both to enhance the presentation and to garner interest? Or did you choose graphic materials that differ little, are fuzzy, black and white, irrelevant, cheesy clip art? Did you include an adequate number, just a few, or nothing? Did you follow directions? 3) 50/200 Presentation Research: Did you collect relevant and interesting facts about your subject from viable sources that indicates good and accurate knowledge of your subject? Did you meet/exceed the required minimum for sources or fall short? Did you find good sources or resort to those already defined as substandard? Did you create a Works Cited that is correct in terms of entry content and format? Did you follow directions? 4) 50/200 Oral/Audio Presentation: Were you able to discuss your topic in a fluid, interesting, logical way that indicates you know your subject and understand its cultural and historical significance as it relates to this class, which is a survey of cultural history? Was your PowerPoint presentation’s audio content interesting, rehearsed, organized, comprehensible, relevant, easy to hear and understand? (Since you are not literally delivering your oral presentation to a live audience, it is assumed you will take the time and opportunity to polish your remarks and record them as many times as necessary to make yourself sound scholarly.) Did you follow directions? (If you hem and haw your way through this part of the assignment, it will be rather obvious you gave the presentation no thought and possibly made up your comments on the fly or just read the scripted comments through the one time, which will not bode well for this part of your grade.) To earn the maximum amount of grade credit for the exercise, make sure you complete the exercise in accordance with the specifics listed above. Expect the grading to be rigid. I do not award either A’s or B’s if you don’t earn them and if your work is substandard in some respect. Check below for further insight into what the expectations are for a particular grade.2 A: Distinctive (200—180 points): Work that was distinctive exhibited a high degree of professionalism in all/nearly all respects. The student produced an exceptional display and delivered an enlightened, lively presentation over it that was fluid and well-rehearsed and expanded on slide content. It was obvious the student put in the time, energy, and thought necessary to produce something exemplary. In the case of the presentation, the materials were relevant, of exceptional quality, and well-chosen. They exhibited logical, intelligent, aesthetic organization and fastidious craftsmanship. The graphics were diverse in terms of content and were arranged aesthetically on the slides. Slide text was concise, relevant, readable from a distance and free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. The sources used were of high caliber but also exceeded the minimum required and were properly documented/formatted. B: Good (179—160 points): Work that was good was distinctive in one or more ways but something was still lacking; something could have been better. It showed time, energy, and thought went into the work, but several small things could have been done more effectively, or one big thing in particular undermined the overall quality of the effort. The student produced a solid presentation and delivered an enlightened, lively lecture over it that was fluid, adequately rehearsed, and expanded on slide content. In the case of the slide content, the materials were relevant, of good quality, and well-chosen. They exhibited logical, intelligent, aesthetic organization and suitable craftsmanship. The graphics were diverse in terms of content and mostly well chosen. Slide text was concise, relevant, readable from a distance, and mostly free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. The sources used were of high caliber but also met the minimum number required. They were properly documented/formatted. The presentation was a good, solid effort in many but not all respects. (FYI: Meeting all minimum standards but not exceeding them in any clear way should ensure a grade of a B for this project.) C: Unexceptional (159—140 points): Work that was unexceptional failed to meet minimum standards in one or several ways. Little, if anything, stood out. It included graphics, but they were not well placed or well chosen, diverse, or adequate in number. They were not arranged aesthetically. Research was poor and not properly documented/formatted on the Works Cited. The oral part of the presentation was unrehearsed, difficult to hear, awkward, don’t work properly, and/or failed to expand on slide content, which was brief and superficial. The presentation detail was not well researched, adequately expressed, particularly enlightened, or readable at a distance. Slide text was too concise or too excessive, and included grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Directions were only generally followed. D: Below Average (139—120 points): The work lacked aesthetic appeal, looked tossed together posthaste with no definite sign that time, energy, or thought went into producing a display. Pictures were repetitive, not well chosen, not diverse, not aesthetically placed on slides, inadequate in number. The oral presentation was unrehearsed, unremarkable, marginally relevant, off topic entirely, or failed to expand on slide content. Slide text was too concise or too excessive and loaded with grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Perhaps a key part of the exercise was neglected entirely. F: Inferior (129—00 points): For anyone who made a legitimate attempt to do the project, it will be difficult to earn a grade this low. To do so required neglecting several aspects of the presentation or doing everything so poorly that below average or inferior grades were given for each of the four grade categories. It is true that some work a student submits is so underwhelming/misses the mark so spectacularly that it is difficult to place a point value on it. Assuredly, every aspect of the assignment was executed in the most minimal way possible or not at all. Be aware that it is possible to earn less than a 50% on this exercise if a student cuts too many corners. Choose one of these books as your topic of research: 1. Plato: The Republic (Among other topics, Plato details his ideas about the just city-state.) 2. Herodotus: Histories, aka, The History (The father of history.) 3. Gaius Julius Caesar: Commentaries on the Gallic War (Caesar goes to war and provides a compelling account of the campaign.) 4. Pliny the Elder: Natural History (The sum of human knowledge in the days of the Roman Empire.) 5. Augustine of Hippo: The City of God (Next to Aquinas, probably the most important Christian theologian. Augustine answers all your questions about biblical scripture.) 6. Augustine of Hippo: Confessions (Next to Aquinas, probably the most important Christian theologian. Augustine details his path to Christianity.) 7. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica (Aquinas is regarded as the most important Christian theologian ever.) 8. Héloïse d’Argenteuil and Pierre Abélard: The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse (One of the great tragic love stories of history.) 9. Marco Polo: The Travels (Polo of Venice travels to China–maybe–and provides an account of his adventures.) 10. Giovanni Boccaccio: De Mulieribus Claris, i.e., Concerning Famous Women, aka, On Famous Women (An early work on the subject of notable women.) 11. Heinrich Kramer, Jakob Sprenger: The Malleus Maleficarum, aka, Hammer of Witches (Need to prosecute someone for witchcraft to ensure conviction? Better have your copy of Malleus Maleficarum handy.)3 12. Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince (Want to rule a kingdom and maintain power? Here is your how-to handbook.) 13. Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (Modern science is born.) 14. René Descartes: Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences (This one is more of an essay than a book, but it is pivotal to defining and understanding a scientist’s mentality.) 15. Christine de Pizan: The Book of the City of Ladies (Misogyny was rampant in the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. Pizan was an early proponent for her sex in a male-dominated world.) 16. Georgio Vasari: Lives of the Painters, aka, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (Art history.) 17. Galileo Galilei: Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (Modern physics is born.) 18. Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (Want to build a strong national economy? Smith explains how.) 19. Thomas Paine: The Rights of Man (a pivotal work behind the rise of modern ideas about government and human rights.) 20. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Another feminist champion of women.) 21. Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species (by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) (Darwin introduces the theory of evolution.) 22. Charles Darwin: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Darwin discusses human evolution, which he doesn’t address in Origin.) 23. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto (The handbook of modern communism.)