HST6802: Research Presentation
15 credits (semester 2)
2012-13 Module Leader: Dr Phil McCluskey
Module Summary
This core module is designed to equip students with the generic skills and experience necessary to undertake an academic presentation in history. It will provide students with the skills they need to present and communicate their research findings in an oral presentation. The subject of the presentation will be the student's research project and so, in the case of MA students, will contribute towards the successful completion of the dissertation.
Module Aims
This module aims to equip MA students in history with the generic skills necessary to present a defined research project to an academic audience, identifying specific research questions and explaining what sources and approaches they can use to answer such questions. The module will provide an opportunity for students to communicate their research findings to an audience made up of both specialists and non-specialists and looks to enhance students' skills and confidence in self-presentation, so furthering the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development.
Teaching
Two formal seminars will be held at the start of the module to introduce the learning outcomes and familiarise students with the task ahead. These seminars will also cover the practicalities of research presentation, introduce technical aids as necessary, and allow students to consider how they might structure a presentation: whether it is feasible to cover an entire dissertation project for example, or how such a project might be broken down into topics suitable for an oral presentation.
As part of the module 'Research Presentation', you will be asked to bring to bring to the class a two-page report that compares two research presentations. This exercise is designed to help you reflect on the different ways historians choose to present their work to an audience. This is a non-assessed exercise, but will form an important part of the discussions in this module.
Students will then be divided into groups, who will meet twice more in informal workshop or problem-solving sessions. Academic support will be available for these sessions as necessary but their purpose is to allow students to try out different aspects of their presentations before a small audience of their peers, respond to questions in an informal and supportive environment, experiment with technical and visual aids, and familiarise themselves with equipment and a venue similar to the one in which they will speak. Such sessions will thus encourage a professional standard of presentation. They will also allow students to have developed some expertise in academic paper-giving by the time of the postgraduate day conference when they have both to give their own presentations and evaluate those given by others.
Assessment
The presentations will be given within the context of the 'postgraduate conference' to an audience of postgraduate students and academic staff. This is a day for MA students that the Department of History has run successfully for some years. Each presentation will be evaluated by those who hear it. There will also be an academic assessment and the final mark is derived from both the academic evaluation and the audience evaluation.
