Humanities 1101/Research Project 1
Project due date: The due date for this project is listed in a corresponding course
announcement. Late work is not accepted. When the time comes, you will
deliver your presentation to a link posted in a Blackboard announcement.
Project description: For this project, students must produce a PowerPoint
presentation on one of the historical books listed in a course announcement (or on the
last two pages of this handout). Students must also provide voiceover audio1
for slide
content. (In other words, you’re doing an oral presentation on an historical book but
including commentary on individual PowerPoint slides.)
The objective of the project is to create a mini lecture where you break down,
consciously structure, and discuss your topic in a logical, well-organized, and
educational way. 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 you’re reporting on, 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.
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 select 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.
Minimum Requirements:
1. Number of PowerPoint slides required: 6 minimum
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
1
If it so happens that you cannot record audio with your home computer, then, you will obviously need to
find another computer with this capacity. This is why you have been apprised of this assignment well in
advance of the due date. Prepare accordingly. All major campuses of CTC have computer labs.
Humanities 1101/Research Project 2
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.
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 all entries following current MLA Style standards.
Note: Reading slide content at length is not an oral presentation. What you include
in the audio portion of your presentation 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 portrait, 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 Style2
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.
2 English as an academic discipline uses MLA Style for research projects as opposed to APA Style, which
is the preferred documentation style for several other disciplines.
Humanities 1101/Research Project 3
Note: I can instantly look at your Works Cited page and determine if you made a
legitimate attempt to get the details correct. Failing to create proper Works Cited
entries or failing to meet the minimum number of sources will cost big points.
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 comparable 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.
Note: Minimum means the least you should strive for; it doesn’t mean the best you
can strive for. You can include more sources to improve your grade, but you at least
want to meet the minimum.
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.
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?
3. 50/200 Presentation Research: Did you collect relevant and interesting facts about
your subject from viable sources that indicate good and accurate knowledge of your
Humanities 1101/Research Project 4
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?
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 historical significance as it relates to this class? 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. 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.
3
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 wellrehearsed 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
3 Any presentation deemed exceptional may be used as a teaching tool for other students taking this
course.
Humanities 1101/Research Project 5
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.