Presentation Format

Students present their work in one of two formats: a poster presentation or delivery of a paper. Students delivering a paper are grouped into panels that encourage discussion about their topics. The audience is made up of fellow students, faculty members, staff and administration, and friends and family members. Presentations can be based on substantive in-class papers, scientific research, thesis work, independent study projects, community service activities,etc.

Oral Presentations

Each oral presenter will have ten minutes for his or her presentation and five minutes for a question/answer period. Students may submit individually and the conference committee will group your paper with other presentations, or students may get together as a panel and submit a series of papers (three is the ideal number) on a common topic. For example, three students might have three different approaches to Shakespeare, so a panel heading "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Shakespeare" might be appropriate. With such a limited time to present it will be a good idea to prepare and practice. The Chronicle of Higher Education has some helpful advice on preparing to present a paper at a conference at http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/03/2008032101c.htm .

Poster Presentations

Presenters need to provide their own poster boards. A table or floor easel will be available for mounting your poster. The poster is usually a mixture of a brief narrative paper intermixed with tables, graphs, pictures, etc. The presentation should intellectually communicate your research and help synthesize your main ideas and research directions.