ABSTRACT
A mode of generating feedback is to tape one's talk and evaluate it oneself. The ultimate justification for dancing to other people's tunes is not so much that the job talk is a rite of passage but more that skills learned–varying the length of talks, pitching them to different audiences, grabbing audience attention–are useful in talking and teaching. It is by enriching lectures with learning, in short, that talkers live up to their moral responsibility to give the audience value added that justifies giving lectures. Seminars are a different phenomenon altogether. Seminars on specific subjects offer an opportunity for graduate students to be taught to write research papers. There may be a difference of opinion over whether seminars should be directed wholly to research or whether preparation for teaching should also play a significant part. One is to devote the second semester of a seminar to revising a paper the student has written in the first semester.
