Oral presentation and handouts together count as 15% of your final grade. Click here for Schedule of Presentations.

All students should meet with me to discuss possible angles for the research presentation and report any problems they are having with research assignments by the end of week 4 at the latest!  Failure to do so will cause an "F" to be averaged into the Research Report component of your final course grade.

Starting at the end of week three, selected readings will be introduced by a student research presentation of 15-20 minutes maximum.  After a brief overview of background information on your text, you will present to your classmates an aspect of or approach to the medieval work that you find particularly interesting or helpful, quoting liberally from the primary text to illustrate your points. The approach you take may be thematic, structural, generic or stylistic -- and it may be your own, or a critic's (whom you identify) -- it's entirely your call. (But do see me for some suggestions. . .)

This brief ORAL PRESENTATION will be the starting point for class discussion, led jointly by the student presenter and the professor. Please note: you are NOT expected to become a world expert on your assigned text; you are merely responsible for helping to introduce it to your classmates! You are encouraged (but not required) to develop your presentation topic more fully in your research paper.

Begin your presentation by briefly summarizing what we know about the work (e.g. its author, date and manuscript tradition; its genre and form; its primary sources, if known). Because this information will also be summarized at the beginning of your Pedagogical Handout, it should take up no more than five minutes of the oral presentation itself.

Then, draw our attention to an aspect of the primary text which you find particularly interesting, referring liberally to SPECIFIC PASSAGES (be sure to note the page and/or line numbers so that your classmates can locate cited passages easily).  For this part of the presentation, you may use any thematic, stylistic, formal or structural approach you find useful or illuminating; particularly fruitful issues to explore are suggested on the study guides for each reading.  While you may choose to refer to a critic whose work you have found helpful, be sure to keep your focus firmly on the way in which the secondary source helps us better understand the primary text -- don't let your presentation degenerate into a book report on someone else's scholarly work.

On the day of your presentation, you will distribute two handouts, each of which should be no more than one double-sided page long: Make enough copies to give one of each to every classmate and two copies to Prof. Schwartz.

1) A pedagogical handout summarizing background information (including author, date, manuscript tradition, genre, form, primary sources, and any necessary definitions) and outlining the main points in your presentation. You may use both sides of the page; feel free to get creative; illustrations are welcome! (graded for mechanics, clarity, and pedagogical effectiveness).

2) An annotated bibliography of at least five secondary sources on the medieval work you are researching (e.g. journal articles, essays in edited collections, full-length works by one author, reference works, and reputable web-based resources used to prepare your presentation).  Each entry should begin with a complete, correctly formatted bibliographic citation (follow link for guidelines; fuller details are found in your MLA Handbook). Arrange the bibliographic entries alphabetically by author's last name as you would on a list of Works Cited. At the end of each bibliographic citation, provide a parenthetical indication of the mode of access which you used to obtain the resource in question and, finally, an annotation which briefly summarizes the subject and main point of the article. The annotation should be concise (a single paragraph) but specific, indicating not only what topics are covered, but what the author argues about these topics.  (Note: if you include an item that you come across in an annotated bibliography, be sure that your summary is in your own words.)  The complete annotated bibliography should not be longer than one double-sided page. The annotated bibliography will be graded for complete and accurate bibliographic citations, the relevance / clarity of annotating comments (as well as mechanics/style -- proofread for typos!), and whether you include all required types of sources and modes of access required -- see below).

Distribution of Items on Annotated Bibliography: You are expected to use the full gamut of research tools and resources available to you (following the Research Assignments linked to the course syllabus) to gather a broad range of secondary source materials on your topic. Your bibliographic entries should therefore include at least one of each of the following kinds of sources: 

• a book written entirely by an individual or joint author(s) (i.e. not an edited collection); 
• an essay from an edited collection published in book form (what the MLA Bibliography refers to as a "book article" -- be sure to cite the specific essay by author, title and inclusive page numbers, rather the collection as a whole); and,
• a scholarly journal article.

• an item from Cal Poly library's print collections (indicate "Cal Poly" and provide call number in parentheses after the citation); 
• an item obtained through LINK+ (e.g. an essay in an edited collection or another book not available in Cal Poly's print or electronic collections; indicate LINK+ in parentheses after the citation); 
• an item obtained through ILL (e.g. an article from a journal not avilable in Cal Poly's collections or a book not available through LINK+; indicate ILL in parentheses after the citation); and,
• a REPUTABLE SCHOLARLY SOURCE accessed electronically (typically, an article from one of the online journal databases or an ebook from NetLibrary; less frequently, an item found using an online search engine).  There is no need to provide a parenthetical reference to the mode of access for an electronically accessed item, since the complete bibliographic citation already includes the database used and/or URL of the site.

How to begin? Start with the obvious. . . 

• Check any bibliographies included in your primary text for useful references. 
• Work your way through the research exercises on the class syllabus. 
• Don't neglect to browse the Kennedy Library stacks and course reserves. 
• Check Polycat to see if there are specialized bibliographies on your topic in the library's collections; if so, consult them. 
• Piggy-back on the work of other scholars!  Always peruse their bibliographies and use Polycat, LINK+ and/or Interlibrary Loan to locate or order any listed items that sound interesting. 

NOTE 2: Start making your LINK+ and ILL requests NOW, or you risk not obtaining necessary materials in time for your research presentation and to complete the Working Bibliography which you must submit as part of your Paper Prospectus (due week 6 of the quarter. . .)

Keep in mind that every item on your bibliography need not be on the specific work you will present in class, as long as it provides information useful to our understanding of that text (e.g. a study of genre, form, or a theme relevant to your work rather than of the work itself).  You should have no problems locating sufficient sources on your topic if you begin your research in a timely fashion. If you are having difficulties, come see me for assistance!
 

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2005

Return to ENGL 512 Home Page

Return to Dr. Schwartz's Teaching Page

Return to Dr. Schwartz's Home Page

Return to Dr. Schwartz's Schedule

Send me Mail