Paper Presentations

To earn an A in the course, you must present one of the papers assigned as supplemental reading to the class. This should be a 10 minute presentation, and may be completed with a partner. Your presentation should not assume that other students have read the paper, as there are many more options for supplemental reading than there are required responses and presentations!

Your presentation might cover the following:

  • What is the core idea of the paper?
  • How does paper relate to and extend what we have seen in class?
  • What are some main takeaways from the figures/tables in the paper?
  • How do the authors evaluate their work?

In 10 minutes, you will not be able to cover every detail in the paper, so it is important to be able to identify the most important ideas in the paper and how they relate to waht we’ve talked about!

The following is a recommended timeline for preparing your presentation:

  • As soon as possible: claim the paper that you’d like to present! Assignments will be available at least 3 weeks before each presentation date.1
  • 2 weeks before your presentation: read the background reading for your paper. This will typically be the textbook chapter that is related to your paper (specifics will be on Perusall).
  • 1.5 weeks before your presentation: read the paper that you will be presenting.
  • 1 week before your presentation: have a draft of your slides ready.
  • A few days before your presentation: meet with me to present your draft. I might request revisions to your presentation.
    • Typically, if you are presenting on Tuesday, this will be the Friday before your presentation. If you are presenting on Thursday, it will be the Monday before your presentation.
    • Meeting with me before the presentation is required, but the timeline may be adjusted if necessary!

  1. There is an exception to this at the start of the semester, as the first presentation slot is at the end of week 2. I’ll work with students who choose to present that week to ensure that we can fit in our meeting before the presentation! ↩