presentation – research topic 40 design H u m a n i t i e s

In your presentation, you can give a brief background of the island group to set the context for
your major research topic, but I don’t want you to spend too much time on background. Start the
presentation with the assumption that the audience has read the Canvas lesson on Contemporary
Culture and already knows the basics of this island group regarding colonialism, the economic
situation, politics, etc. You can remind the audience of a few key points to provide context for
your topic, but mostly I want you to jump right into the main research topic. This is because I
want you to go into detail about the topic and you have only 8-10 minutes.
o Special note for Easter Island – although tempting, don’t only talk about historical
environmental destruction, archaeology, and moai. You must talk about a contemporary
issue. You can start with that history, but it has to lead to a discussion about
contemporary life on the island.
o Special note for New Zealand and Hawai’i – New Zealand and Hawai’i are 2 Pacific
islands that now have a minority of indigenous islanders. I would like for you to pick a
topic that is relevant to the native islanders (native Maori in New Zealand and native
Hawaiian in Hawai’i). That doesn’t mean you can’t pick a topic that is relevant to
everyone on the island (poverty, climate change, etc.), but I would like for you to
highlight the lives of indigenous islanders. When in doubt, ask me for clarification!

Your presentation must have an audio recording of your voice presenting the material

GUIDELINES:

Presentation:
• All presentations should be in PowerPoint

Once the presentation is created, you can either (in order of my preference):
o

upload a PowerPoint file
o convert the PowerPoint file to an MP4 format and

upload the MP4 file

Recording a Presentation: • All presentations need to have an audio recording of your voice. You don’t need to video record
the presentation , but at the very least I want to hear audio of you giving a
presentation. I don’t want to read it.

• Here are step-by-step instructions on how to narrate and record a PowerPoint presentation

Record a narration during a slide show

1. When you record a narration, you run through the presentation and record each slide. You
can pause and resume recording any time.

2. Ensure your microphone is set up and in working order prior to recording your slide show.

3. On the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click Record Slide Show.

4. Select one of the following:
a. Start Recording from Beginning
b. Start Recording from Current Slide

5. In the Record Slide Show dialog box, select the Narrations and laser pointer check box,
and select the Slide and animation timings check box (this is important).

6. Click Start Recording.
Tip: To pause the narration, in the Recording shortcut menu, click Pause. And to
resume your narration, click Resume Recording.

7. To end your slide show recording, right click the slide, and then click End Show

8. The recorded slide show timings are automatically saved and the slide show appears in
Slide Sorter view with timings beneath each slide.

Presentation length:

• Your presentation should be 8-10 minutes. Pay attention to the time. Many previous students
have lost points for the presentation not being long enough. REHEARSE your presentation so
that you know how long it is….don’t guess.

Slides:

• There are many great tips for creating a good PowerPoint presentation. Take a look through this
link for some ideas: http://blog.ted.com/2014/07/15/10-tips-for-better-…

o The key is that “less is more.”

o Don’t put a lot of text on the slide.

o The text is there to guide the audience…not to have the audience read the presentation.

o Don’t put full sentences on slides, just key phrases that you then verbally explain. It is
shocking to me how many students lose points because they put full sentences on slide,
despite my warning here and on the grading rubric! Don’t do it! No full sentences unless
you are quoting. If you put full sentences on your slides, it will be an automatic 5 points
off.

o Don’t use a lot of animation or crazy colors either.

o Don’t use pictures as background. It’s hard to see the text when you do this.

o Use a template so your slides look nice and consistent. There are 100s/1000s of them out
there. Don’t use white as a background color.

o I have included some examples of good presentation from previous years to guide you.
Those links are on Canvas.

Images:

• You must include at least 1 map and 5 other images of contemporary culture and society. A good
place for images is the Google Search Engine – under Images.

References:

• You can use books, journals, or Internet sources for this research, but sources must be from 2010
– present.

• You will need to have a list of references as the last slide of your presentation.

• You need at least 5 references

Submission:

• When saving your file on your computer, title your file: “[last name, first name] [island nation]”
for example: Henry, Lisa French Polynesia

Using the correct file name is crucial. We will download all the files and if yours doesn’t have
your name on it, it will be VERY difficult to find out who it belongs to. Be sure that the file on
your computer has the right file name because that’s the file name that will be downloaded. It
won’t work if you try to change the file name during the uploading process. 5 points will be
deducted for not including your name in the file name

Grading Rubric:

Content of the Presentation – research topic 40

Design of presentation – use a template. If you
don’t use a template, you’ll get an automatic 5
points off.
20

Audio presentation – if there is no audio then
you’ll get an automatic 20 points off. Then
you’ll get more points off because the content
of the presentation will be lacking if I can’t
hear what you have to say.
20

Following file name instructions 5

At least 5 references 5

At least 5 images (plus 1 map) 5

No full sentences on slides unless using a
perfect quote. 5