by Martin Barnes

Created on: March 07, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Speaking from one college student to many more is probably the best way to spread advice.

Most courses available will usually result in the student having to do a presentation on a subject of their choice, here's how to make a start on it.

CHOOSING YOUR SUBJECT - Do something you like or have a interest in, most presentation briefs are set GIVING the student as much of a choice as possible for their subject, (For example, in Post-modernism and working with the effect of hyper-reality can be pushed as far as studying its pros and cons with advertising cars, a subject I worked on last year gaining myself a high mark) Working with something you like makes you more keen to do the work, so you will not slack.

SIMPLY - Choose a subject you are interested in.

PLANNING - Using what knowledge you have try to make a rough guideline of how you want your presentation to go, work topic by topic, slide by slide. One tip here is to put the contents of each intended slide onto a separate square of paper, that way you can add new topics and rearrange the order of your presentation early on, if there is one slide you are not totally happy with, write a fresh one out and throw the incorrect slide away. It is much easier to refer back to than a sheet of paper which has been scribbled and written on so much. Don't forget, you may also need these if you are planning to provide a script or any handouts.
SIMPLY - Use A4 sheets cut into 8 pieces (Making A7 sheets) to plan and arrange your presentation.

RESEARCHING - Start out by looking in books which solely talk about the subject you are working with, you may find quotes which come in handy for writing your own opinions or theories. More importantly these books can be made up of extracts from plenty of other books, you will usually find further reading lists and bibliographies in the back of the book and quite frankly there is no harm in looking through these books if they are available.
Do not forget to make a note of where quotes or extracts, as you will need to cite your references otherwise you can be suspected of plagiarism which can result in your work being declared null and void, in some cases the same can happen to your college or university placement. Make a list of where you found the book if they came from libraries.
SIMPLY - Use sticky tabs to mark pages in books and write write quote references such as (1), (2) etc. to refer back to your list. If you have access, photocopy pages to save lugging whole books about.

MAKING THE PRESENTATION

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