EN 425 Individual Presentations

From the syllabus, "Each of you will give a 25 minute presentation on a literary theory of your choice, using texts on reserve at library and elsewhere. You will meet with me personally as you design your presentation. You will also present it to your group members prior to your class presentation."

Your presentation should be both a summary of your midterm essay and an extension of this essay. By and large, the majority of your information will come from your midterm essay. However, you should take this opportunity to do additional research as well. In the final hard copy of your presentation, indicate what you have included that is new (not present in your original essay). Keep in mind that a presentation is not a paper. This should allow you to include pictures or music (for analysis) and many more subheadings (for organizational purposes) than a paper. Take advantage of the format to rethink the form of your material. You are required to present a practice talk to your groups members.

Your basic job is to prove to your reader that you have a deep grasp of one theoretical perspective. Since most literary theories (Marxism, feminism, postcolonial, etc) are political in nature, I recommend focusing on two essential issues. I'll use feminism as an example: 1. how does feminist literary theory explain the inequality that exists in society? What is the origin of inequality for a feminist theoretician? 2. And how do feminists combat such inequality within the fields of literature and literary theory?

When you provide examples from films or texts (as you should), don't go overboard. The example should be brief as the important thing, again, is for you to demonstrate an extensive knowledge of a theory. Be sure to address a text, literary or theoretical (you may have to make copies for the class). Have the class open a text and work through difficult passages together. If you would like the class to bring specific books to class, please let us know ahead of time.

Please dress appropriately and make eye contact constantly. And please use PowerPoint. Please do not fill up your 25 minutes with class activities. Your presentation should be very serious, and a very focused examination of theory and texts.

Consider the following:

1. Make connections between texts we have previously read and our current reading.
2. Trace the representation of, say, women or the disabled through several different texts, discussing similarities and differences in
3. Revisit ideas and concepts we have previously discussed whenever possible.
4. Provide handouts which detail key terms and issues 

After the presentation I require a hard copy of your talk. This document should include all the information you presented (with MLA formatted references when possible), and highlight those areas which were not included in your midterm essay.