ABSTRACT

There are several different types of presentations. These are defined by the nature of the inputs and the type of performance. The seminarstyle presentation is a research report employing several different sources to lay out a problem, resolve a contradiction, or test a hypothesis. The

difference between a seminar-style presentation and a seminar presentation proper lies in the absence of the coherent methodological context of the seminar. Seminar-style presentations tend to be performed by individual students, rather than pairs or teams, and they involve a written report and sometimes handouts. These are distributed ahead of time and read by the class before the presentation begins. The presentation itself is an outline or a summary of the written report. The presenters hope to generate discussion. This discussion is sometimes assigned to a specific individual, who prepares a second report (based on the first report), to provide a critique that will engender discussion. In a common variation on the seminar-style presentation, the writer of the initial report distributes it, but does not present it orally. Instead, the discussant (who prepared the second report) presents his or her report orally and leads a discussion in which the initial presenter is a participant. I have seen this work very well at the graduate level. Undergraduates may be too timid for the potential conflicts unless ample community building has taken place beforehand.