Group Presentation Guidelines

Political Science 310

A group presentation should familiarize you and your fellow classmates with the important themes and concepts from a particular section. You should assume that the rest of the class has read the articles/chapters, and build on that shared knowledge. A group that merely summarizes the readings will receive a lower grade. A group that analyzes and applies (theories from) the readings will receive a higher grade. A group presentation should perform (at least) three functions:

• Identify and analyze the theories. What theories do the authors use to answer the questions they raise? What are the primary components of those theories? In other words, what do the authors seek to explain, and how do they explain it?
• Examine recent occurrences in American politics. What features in American politics exemplify the themes? Do the theories do a good job of explaining current practices in American politics? If not, where are the theories the weakest? In other words, what do they fail to explain about current political practices? Remember that each person in the group must have a separate current event/institution (not used by the authors) that he or she will later use in his or her final paper.
• Synthesize the readings.
  • Themes. Identify the one or two most important questions that the readings seek to answer. What are those themes? Are they recent questions or have they been with America since its founding?
  • Democracy. What is the particular dimension of democracy around which the questions or themes revolve? If the authors are correct, what is the future of American democracy?
  • Progress. Which theories are progressive?
  Where appropriate, make connections between this week's readings and previous readings.

You are encouraged to be creative. You can use video clips from news programs or movies to illustrate a particular point. You may want to use music that expresses the same themes found in the readings. You may want to involve the class in activities that exemplify the themes/topics. The class period belongs to you. You are responsible for helping us to understand why these theories and the questions they raise are such persistent patterns in American politics.

Sixty percent of your grade will be based on my evaluation of your presentation. Forty percent of your grade for the group presentation will depend upon the evaluation of the other members of the group. If the other students do not think that you contributed significantly and meaningfully to the presentation, they can penalize you. I will be looking for three features:

• Clarity: Does the presentation analyze the themes and concepts clearly and concisely? Is the material placed in a theoretical framework that helps me and the other students to understand the arguments of the authors?

• Creativity: Do you present the material in a timely and interesting manner? Are the examples recent and relevant?

• Correctness: How well did you understand the concepts and themes? Did you include the most important elements? Did you correctly relate them to current practices in American democracy?

You have 45 minutes for the presentation. A presentation that fulfills the functions above in an uninteresting manner will receive a B ("good"). A presentation that fulfills the functions above in an interesting and creative manner will receive an A ("excellent"). A presentation that fails to fulfill the functions above, no matter how interesting, will receive a C ("satisfactory") or lower.

Back to syllabus.