Big6 Skill 5-Synthesis

Teacher:

All right students, we are nearing the end of the research process. I see that many of you have a significant stack of notecards or notepapers in front of you. That is great, I’m happy to see that you were so productive with your time in the library. Now, you will need to organize your information for presentation. Remember for this assignment you will need to present your persona’s perspective to the class. Then once everyone has heard all the points of view you will work in small groups to come to a solution.

Paul:

Can we choose how we want to present our information?

Teacher:

Yes, for this assignment you can choose the format. What are some ways that you could present this information?

Paul:

We could do a speech.

Elana:

Or a video.

Paul:

Could we do a creative presentation, like a skit?

Teacher:

Yes definitely.

Elana:

Does the presentation have to be given orally?

Teacher:

No, at all. You could write a paper if you wanted to.

Ronald:

How boring, I don’t want to read everyone’s research papers.

Teacher:

Ronald brings up an excellent point. When you organize your information for presentation you should consider your audience. Remember, if your audience doesn’t understand what you are saying, or as Ronald mentioned is bored, then you have not successfully presented the information.

Paul:

Well, how could a research paper be interesting?

Elana:

If your topic is interesting, then your paper should be interesting.

Paul:

Yeah, well, maybe. It won’t be like reading a story.

Teacher:

Well, for this assignment you could write a short story in your person’s point of view, but it needs to include all the factual information.

Elana:

Or maybe a journal entry.

Paul:

Or a letter.

Teacher:

Excellent, these are good ideas. Besides thinking about your audience when you organize your information, you also need to think about your information. What format would be the best format to present the information you have gathered.

Elana:

Well, for me I think video would be the best.

Paul:

My presentation should include the timeline I’ve been working on.

Ronald:

I want to include maps in mine.

Teacher:

Very good. Now let’s think again about your audience. If you are giving an oral presentation with visuals, they need to be clearly seen. For example, Ronald if you held up a map anyone past the first row wouldn’t be able to see it and no one would be able to make out any of the words.

Ronald:

So I can’t use maps?

Teacher:

Of course you can use maps, but it is needs to be clear. Remember earlier this year when you had to create short PowerPoint presentations? That is an excellent tool to use to when adding visuals to a presentation.

Ronald:

But my map is out of an atlas.

Paul:

That’s not a problem; you can use the scanner.

Teacher:

Yes, and you can use PowerPoint animation to highlight places and things you want the audience to focus on. Let me show you (POWERPOINT SCREEN). Once your map is in you want to crop it so that only the part that is important to your presentation is viewed. Then you can enlarge it. Again, a visual is only helpful if everyone in your audience can see it clearly. I’m sure that many of you have seen PowerPoint presentations that are difficult to see.

Ronald:

They are the worst!

Librarian:

Yes, it is very frustrating for your audience. It is important to use contrasting colors for your background and text so that they are clear. Aesthetics, or how it looks and sounds, is extremely important to consider when creating a visual or oral presentation.

Teacher:

Good point, Mrs. L. But above all else, the content is important so use the technology to emphasize your content. You can circle the important city names and draw arrows to represent migration. You can even use color to highlight different occupied regions.

Ronald:

Cool!

Paul:

Can I use PowerPoint to show my timeline?

Teacher:

Definitely. One way to do that is you can have each event be a slide that includes the date, event and significance.

Paul:

Oh yeah!

Teacher:

Now remember that the words on the PowerPoint slides should be almost just an outline. Never have paragraphs of text and only have sentences if you are highlighting an important quote or idea. PowerPoint should be used to help your audience focus on what you are saying. If they are reading your presentation while you are saying it then it gets too overwhelming and you’ll lo8se them. Here are some examples (SHOW PowerPoint EXAMPLE OF TOO MANY WORDS)

Elana:

Yuck that looks too crowded.

Librarian:

It does, doesn’t it, but here is the same information in a bulleted list. The presenter will fill in the details.

I get it!

Elana:

Can’t you add video and music to your PowerPoint presentations?

Teacher:

Yes, the software allows you to do that. But always remember your content. Music should add to your content. In other words, pick music that has similar themes to your topic.

Librarian:

We can’t stress enough that during this step of the Big6 process, you really think about what information you want to convey to your audience and focus your all aspects of your presentation on those goals. Now I know you’re anxious to get started on your presentations, but I want to talk with you a little bit about citing your sources.

Teacher:

This is very important so listen up. I won’t accept any project unless your sources are cited properly.

Librarian:

I’ve been watching you research and I’ve noticed that most of you have been writing down your citation information and keeping it with your notes. That is great! That will save you a lot of time. Now that you are getting organized for your presentation you’ll want to double check that citation information and I imagine that many of you might start looking for some pictures on the internet to add as a visual to a presentation.

Teacher:

Let me say that I don’t want you to just add in pictures that don’t add to your content. If it doesn’t help you make a point; pictures can be very distracting. Remember that as you organize your presentation.

Librarian:

Exactly, but on the other hand, a well placed, well-chosen visual can really add to a presentation. Here are some examples (SHOW ON POWERPOINT). And now with the Internet it can be easy to find good visuals. However, you have to cite those as well.

Ronald:

You’re kidding. You mean if I cut and paste a picture or map from the Internet, even if it is clip art, I have to cite it?

Librarian:

Yes, exactly. There are some places on the Internet that includes a statement about how the images are free and okay to reproduce. These sites are rare and regardless of what they say, you still need to cite them. Your audience should be able to find all of your information on their own based on your bibliography.

Paul:

I can never find those pictures.

Librarian:

Let me show you. There are some great picture sites on the Internet, but I like to use gallery.yahoo.com.

Teacher:

And don’t forget that even if you are doing an oral presentation, you will need to turn in a written bibliography to me.

Ronald:

Oh brother, what is the big deal?

Elana:

I can answer that. I have worked with groups and partners before and done the work and had other people take all the credit for it. That really made me mad. If they had just given me credit, I wouldn’t have felt so cheated.

Librarian:

Elana has made a good point. Citing sources accurately is about giving credit to the creator. By not citing your sources accurately you are robbing someone of credit due to them and in a sense trying to take that credit yourself.

Teacher:

I require that you do this to practice for when you are doing research for your future job. Then, if you don’t give credit for using someone else’s work or ideas you could get yourself and your employer in serious trouble with the law. Please refer to the style sheet that Mrs. L gave you with the examples of the format for properly citing a variety of sources. Any questions? Okay, go ahead and get started organizing your presentations. They will be due in a week.