Each student is asked to prepare a sentence outline of the assigned topic before making his or her presentation. The purpose of the sentence outline is not to serve as a reminder for you, but to present organized information to someone else.

• The sentence outline should be 1 page, single spaced with 1 inch margins.

• The sentence outline should be easily legible. Make sure the title and your name on the page.

• The sentence outline should be written in complete sentences.

• The sentence outline should cover the entire topic which your group is presenting. The material which you are presenting should have more depth, comprising at least half of the outline.

• The sentence outline must be submitted on the day on which you give your presentation.

Suggestions regarding the preparation for your sentence outline:

1. Read the articles through fairly quickly to get a general idea of what the topic is about. Do not try to make your sentence outline at this time. If there are unfamiliar words, you may wish to stop to look them up in a dictionary or a textbook.

2. Look at your part of the topic and keep this in mind as you read the articles again, this time more slowly. As you read, jot down in sequence the facts and ideas that seem most important to you. This series of statements will become your sentence outline. When you have outlined the articles, you should then add information you have obtained from other sources on the subject. You should then add any ideas, questions or conclusions of your own.

You will work in groups of three for the presentations. Each group will be allowed approximately 21 minutes for the presentation, with whatever time thereafter for class discussion that the topic seems to warrant. Your presentation will be cut off at 24 minutes to allow the next group to begin.

• There will not be time to cover the entire subject. In your presentation, you should cover only the facts, ideas and conclusions or controversial matters which seem most important to you.

• Have a clear message that you can describe in a sentence or two. ``I'm going to talk about ... '' is not a message, but a topic. ``Reprocessing nuclear waste would substatially reduce our nuclear waste problem because it results in byproducts with shorter halflives and is therefore worth the increased security risk'' is a message.

• Have a few examples which explain or defend your message. Use the examples to make your messsage clear to your audience. Do not have a long list of examples which you do not cover or explain the connection to your message.

• Practice, practice, practice. Know how long your presentation will take.

• Do not read from your outline or use your outline as a transparency.

• You may wish to have something in your hand or a transparency to remind you of the main subjects about which you wish to talk. If you use transparencies use at least 18 point text. Each transparency should have a title; charts and graphs should be labelled. The point of the transparency should be clearly written on the transparency so that the audience can read as well as hear what you are saying. Remember not to block the audience view of the screen!

• Speak slowly and clearly, as you would to a group of intelligent people who know less about the subject than you do. (You will have prepared much more carefully than they have.) The measure of your success will not be how much you have said, but how much your audience has understood, remembers, and finds interesting. In case of doubt, give less information and spend more time trying to make what you do give clearer.

• Your outline and presentation will be graded on the following:
  
  -Scientific content
  
  -Organization
  
  -Discussion of the ideas in the article
  
  -Your own ideas concerning the article
  
  -Interest to audience
  
  -Demeanor, clarity of expression

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU APPEAR ON THE SCHEDULED DATE OF YOUR PRESENTATION. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule his or her two presentations. THERE WILL BE NO OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE UP A MISSED PRESENTATION.