This 7-8-minute presentation is designed to provide the opportunity to work on group communication and further develop your persuasive speaking skills.
Getting started
In this presentation, your group will persuade the class to come over to your side of an idea, problem, or issue. Each group will begin by considering the following question:
“What can we learn from CUNY history, and how can that inform our experience as CUNY students today?”
We will use the CUNY 1969 Project to learn about students and student activism at CUNY in the 1960s. Your group will identify an idea, problem, or issue raised by the CUNY 1969 site. This should be something that comes out of your understanding of what happened at CUNY in the past, but that remains relevant to students today. This will form the basis for the subject of your persuasive group presentation. You want to persuade your classmates to think or do something related to the idea, problem, or issue your group identified.
Research and documentation
The content of the CUNY 1969 Project is the first source you will use for this presentation. Once you have familiarized yourself with the site, especially the sections highlighted in the syllabus, your group will select a topic on which to focus. As in your preparation for the Persuasive Speech, you cannot develop a reasonable argument without doing more research first. Start by looking for other sources about your general subject area. Get to know all sides of the issue and then pick one to argue for.
Once you have chosen a topic, you must do research to support it. This step is essential for making an evidence-based claim. Evidence may take the form of applicable examples, statistics, and/or testimony. There should be at least two sources per group member (so, a minimum of six sources for a group of three, and a minimum of eight sources for a group of four). Don’t forget to cite the CUNY 1969 site! As always, speak to me if you have questions or concerns about these requirements or the appropriateness of a source.
For this speech, you will once again provide documentation in MLA format. All the sources should be compiled into a single Works Cited list for the group. Your Works Cited list will be turned in on the first day that speeches are presented in class.
Planning and organizing your presentation
Your group will organize your argument, supported by evidence, just like you did for the Persuasive Speech. Refer to the readings for that assignment if you need to review the recommended organization options for persuasive speaking. Each member of the group is expected to speak during this collaboration, and so each speaker should develop the part of the outline related to their own portion of the overall presentation.
The entire group should turn in a single preparation outline. This means that the one document will include each group members’ individual portion of the speech. As always, I will provide an outline template for you to use. Your outline will be turned in on the first day that speeches are presented in class.
You will also need a visual aid for this presentation. A visual aid may be a PowerPoint or other electronic presentation (such as Prezi or Google slides), an object, or a physical demonstration. For planning purposes, I ask that your group let me know in advance what your visual aid will be.
Presenting your work
When you give your presentation, no one in your group will read from a script (remember that you may not at any time write out a full script) or from your outlines. Instead, you will use speaking notes. These notes are separate from your group preparation outline, containing only the elements that each speaker needs to remember their own portion of the speech. That is, each person should have their own notes. These notes will also be turned in on the day that speeches are due.
There will also be a brief question and answer period after each presentation. All group members should be prepared to answer questions.
Please remember:
- all group members must speak during the presentation
- all group members must speak from their notes
- all group members must be dressed appropriately (business casual)
- there should be 1 visual aid per group
Turning in the assignment
The speech presentation will begin on Monday, December 16. All groups should be prepared to present on this date.
For full credit on this assignment, all group members will need to both present the speech live in class and submit their written outline, Works Cited list, and speaking notes on Brightspace.
If you have any questions or concerns about completing this assignment, please email me as soon as possible.
You can download a copy of these assignment instructions here.
You can review the form I use to evaluate and grade your speech here.