Presentation Toolkit

To do well on an assignment, you must understand it completely. This guide and worksheet will help you analyze and understand your assignment.

Selecting a good topic (if you don't already have one assigned) can make a huge difference in how easy or difficult it is to find good information. This section of the LOBO tutorial gives helpful advice on selecting and adjusting your presentation topic.

Sometimes things like research take longer than you think. Use the Assignment Calculator to create your own timeline. Though geared toward the writing of papers, it may help you make the best use of your time.

You'll cover far fewer concepts in a talk than you would in a paper

What kind of resources do you need for your presentation? The most common items needed are books and scholarly articles.

• FIND BOOKS: Search the library catalog to find books
• FIND ARTICLES: Select a Database to Search for Articles

These two tools show you how to find out if the journal with the article you want is at the library, and how to get a copy of the article.

If you have a few days, use TripSaver and we’ll get the article for you from another library (free)

Ask a Librarian—we’ll help you in the library, or by phone, chat or email.

Everything from the classic outline to maps and stories.

• Outline Strategies: Feel free to mix these approaches.
• Idea Networks: Create a map of your topic.
• Narrative Approach:Your topic may have a natural story arc.

Two models to help you get started.

• Presentation Outline: One of many possibilities.
• Conference Talk Outline: Particularly good with a slide show.

Format guidelines for text and graphics.

Tips from the NCSU Writing and Speaking Tutorial Services.

How to best integrate PowerPoint with your presentation.

This well-written article offers a balanced assessment of PowerPoint's strengths and weaknesses.

Find PowerPoint software and assistance in the library and on campus.

• Learning Commons: Open the same hours as the library.
• Digital Media Lab: Staffed during all its hours of operation to answer your technology questions.
• Unity Labs: Unity Labs across campus, including the second floor of D. H. Hill Library, have PowerPoint.

Advice on how to improve your presentation while at the same time creating a set of useful notes for when you actually have to stand up and speak.

Practice in front of a mirror to identify and eliminate distracting gestures.

Space, hardware, and software in D. H. Hill Library's Learning Commons, available for practice sessions--you and your hand-picked audience.

Use a camcorder from the Learning Commons to record yourself practicing so you can review the footage to make improvements.

This chapter from Patsy McCarthy and Caroline Hatcher's Presentation Skills: The Essential Guide for Students helps you think of your presentation as an opportunity to communicate rather than as a performance.

Don't forget those last minute details.

Guidelines for actually giving the presentation.

How to handle the question and answer session at the end of your presentation.