| Instructor: Dr. Jeff Webb |
Preparing for Presentations
Read the following texts:
The chapter or essay you are responsible for presenting to the class during
week twelve.
Preparation:
The presentations are designed to help you identify a topic
to research for your third paper (though you are not obligated
to write on the text you present). Your assignment in the
presentations is to present to the rest of the class an essay
or chapter from one of three books: Political Legitimacy
and Housing: Stakeholding in Singapore by Chua Beng Huat
(from which we've already read chapter 3, "Resettling a Chinese
Village: A Longitudinal Study," and chapter 4, "Modernism
and the Vernacular: Public Spaces and Social Life"); Portraits
of Places: History, Community and Identity in Singapore
edited by Brenda Yeoh and Lily Kong; and Public Space:
Design Use and Management edited by Chua Beng Huat and
Norman Edwards. (All three books are available for your perusal
in the reading room, or by loan in Central Library.) In addition
to presenting to the class the argument of an essay or chapter
from one of these texts, you should also develop a reasonable
question based on that argument and seek out at least two
sources from the library that suggest some answers to it.
How you structure your presentation is of course up to you,
but the presentation should contain at least these elements:
summary of your assigned text, question (including of course
some effort to motivate the question--why is it of interest?),
and discussion of other sources that are relvant to answering
that question. To prepare for your presentation, then, you
must do some research. We will devote time in class to research,
first by attending a short seminar on library research in
lieu of class, then by putting what we've learned into practice
by using the remaining class time for library research.
Considerations:
- The presentations will contribute towards your participation
grade.
- The presentations will be 10 minutes long. I will insist
on this time limit--cutting short those who go over--in
order for everyone to get an equal chance to present. Please
plan your presentation accordingly.
- We will discuss the issues you've raised in your presentation
for 5 minutes afterwards.
- Strive to make your presentation exemplary in its lucidity:
speak clearly and audibly, don't ramble, and, if you decide
to use visual aids, make sure that they contribute to our
grasp of your points rather than merely distracting us with
fancy graphics. Sometimes a simple handout works better
than a PowerPoint presentation with dynamic images and sounds.
- Please let me know in advance if you need to use a computer,
overhead or other piece of equipment so that I can make
arrangements.
- Remember that the Macs in the seminar rooms have Zip drives,
not floppy drives.
Further Reading (please contact me if you find materials that should
be added to this list):
Bibliography: Landscape
and Environment in Singapore
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