Seminar on Selected Topics

IE/HE/HY - 736

November 2011
 Aim

z The aim of the seminar is to evaluate

students in their mastery of (re) search
and presentation skills in particular topic.
 Syllabus

z Selected topic in irrigation/hydrology/hydraulic

and hydropower engineering or related fields will
be selected/offered by the seminar and research
standing committee/or instructor.
 Introduction
z Seminar in academic institutions is a form of
academic instruction

z It has the function of bringing together small

groups for recurring meetings, focusing each
time on some particular subject, in which
everyone is requested to actively participate.
z The idea behind the seminar system is to
familiarize students more extensively with the
methodology of their chosen subject and also to
allow them to interact with examples of the practical
problems that always occur during research work.

z It is essentially a place where assigned readings

are discussed, questions can be raised and
debates can be conducted.
 Seminar as part of teaching and learning

z Developing a deeper understanding of a topic or text

z Covering specific areas of the curriculum in more detail
z Sharing experiences
z Inviting a visiting expert to speak on a given topic
z Informing research progress, new findings etc

This helps the presenters to develop deeper knowledge and

the audience to broaden their understanding of the topic and
may be the reason why the academic institutions includes
seminars in its modules
Benefits of student presentations
z Student-centred participation in their learning

z Developing new knowledge and different perspectives on a

topic
z Practice in a known environment/situation

z Increasing confidence to speak and present in front of an

audience

z Improving marks earned for a module assessment

z Developing a wide range of communication and

presentation skills

z Preparation for skills needed in the workplace

z An exchange of roles and perspectives from audience to
presenter
Student presentation
 Examples of student presentation
1. A Viva to present an overview of your research
2. A seminar presentation
3. A group presentation on a topic allocated to the
group
4. A demonstration of your skills in using equipment
5. Non-assessed presentations to report research
progress or demonstrate your product
6. An individual presentation for a job interview
 Preparation for seminar

z Select the subject – title

z Gathering information and review
z Report writing - handout
z Presentation
Select the subject - title

z Selection of seminar titles depends on the

objectives of the seminar (can be given by
instructor, interest of the student, …)
Gather and review information
z A literature review is a systematic, explicit, and
reproducible method for identifying, evaluating, and
interpreting the existing body of recorded works
produced by researchers, scholars and practitioners.

z It shows that you have understood the main theories

in the subject area and how they have been applied
and developed, as well as the main criticism that have
been made on the topic

z The review is therefore a part of your academic

development – of becoming an expert in the field
Some questions that a literature review can answer

What are the key sources? What are the key theories,
concepts and ideas?
What are the major
issues and debates about What are the grounds
the topic? for the discipline?

Literature search What are the main questions

What are the and problems that have been
political standpoint? and review on your topic
addressed to date?

What are the origins and How is knowledge on the topic

definitions of the topic? structured and organized?
Functions of a literature review

z To give reasons why the topic is of sufficient

importance for it to be researched/ addressed

z To provide the reader with a brief up-to-date

account and discussions of literature on the issues
relevant to the topic

z To provide a conceptual and theoretical context in

which the topic for research can be situated

z To discuss relevant research carried out on the

same topic or similar topics
 Plan your literature review like this:

z Decide on what information is useful

z Determine how you should organize what is gathered

z Set up an ordinary recording or note-taking system

z Skim or read the material

z Summary of important points should be recorded on the

card
 Sources of information
z Books
z Journals
z Summaries or abstracts
z Proceedings
z Dissertations
z Reports and policies
z Knowledgeable persons
z Publications of
international
organizations
z Unpublished sources
Organizing information on an index card
For an article
authors name__________
title of article___________
name of journal and year,
vol. Number, page number

For books
authors name__________
title of book___________
Edition, place, publisher,
year, page number
Synthesizing information

z the funnel approach is

used to relate the
research problem to
the general before
presenting the
particular.
z Each subsection
should be discussed
concisely.
Handout for seminar
z Write simply, clearly, and use ordinary (common
or garden) English expressions.

z Keep it simple. It is better to say “round holes”

than “circular orifices.”

z Avoid long paragraphs.

z First, a long paragraph is difficult to read right through
without losing track of the beginning.
z Second, when several facts or concepts are lumped
together, they lose impact and this detracts from the
value of the work.
z Consequently, always start a new paragraph for each
significant statement or point that is being made.
z This results in a more readable text and lends greater
weight to the subject matter.
Research report writing
z The final and most important step in implementation of
a research project is writing a report.

z This needs interpreting the data analysed

z Interpretation refers to the task of drawing inferences

from the collected facts after analysis

z The purpose of report writing is to communicate the

results to interested persons

z It contains: what was done, why it was done, how it

was done and what the outcomes are
Draft and redrafting
z Writing up your research should start early and become a
regular and continuing activity.

z It is also likely to be an iterative or cyclical process, i.e., you

will draft a section or chapter, then move on to some other
activities, and return one or more times to redraft your
original version.

z This is partly because as the totality of the research thesis

takes shape, what you have written in subsequent sections
affects what you wrote earlier and necessitates changes in
it. It is also the case that as your research proceeds you find
out more, read more and change your mind about some
thing.

z Key skill here are: recognizing when you need to draft your
report or thesis, or part of it; and knowing when you have
done enough drafting, and it is time to present your thesis
and then move on to something else.
Reports are the product of slow, painstaking, accurate
inductive work that may involve:

z The logical analysis of the subject matter

z Preparation of working and final outline

z Preparation of rough draft

z Rewriting and polishing

z Writing the final draft and preparing final bibliography

z the following suggestions are offered as a
guide to be followed rather than rigid “rules of
writing.”
z Keep the average sentence length to 30 words
or so. The optimum length of a sentence is 3
lines or less, that is, 24–27 words. Long
sentences are unwieldy and extremely long
sentences, viz., 5 lines or more, are indigestible.
Never write sentences so long that they form a
paragraph of their own.
z Remember the report is intended for educated and literate
readers.
z There is little need to belabor a point or to repeat the
same phrase in several but slightly different ways.
z If a particular point must be reemphasized, do so in the
conclusions which are there for that purpose.

z Follow the basic rules of syntax.

z Double check for spelling errors, missed words, and always

make sure that what you have written is what you wanted to
write. In other words, does it make sense?
Elements of the report

z Preliminary
z Title page, declaration, certificate of
supervisor/examiners, preface, acknowledgment, table of
content, list of tables and figures, abstract
z The body
z problem studied/handled and objectives, review of
literature, methodology followed, results, discussions and
summary of the findings and recommendations.
z The body of the report may have several chapters which
shall start with the 1st chapter introducing the study
z The end matters
z Bibliography, index, appendix etc
 Presentation
Plan your presentation
z Part of planning a presentation means that you must ask
yourself why, not what.

z The ‘’what’’ part will be answered when you begin to

organize your thoughts.

z In the beginning, you should concern yourself with why you

are giving a presentation to a particular audience.

z The answer to this question should help you plan your

presentation.
Deliver your presentation in the following sequence:

1. Introduction (position, action, benefit)

2. Preview sentence (tell them what you’re going to tell them)

3. Main ideas and sub-ideas (tell them)

4. Review sentence (tell them what you have told them)

5. Conclusion (restate, position, action, benefits)

Communication levels

According to various studies,

we can effectively recall:

z 20% of what we hear;

z 30% of what we see;
z 50% of what we hear and see;
z 70% of what we do.
Attention grabbers

z Body language = 50%

z Vocal interest = 38%
z Verbal content = 7%
 Preparation of presentation
…but what is the best way of illustrating a particular piece
of information?

KISS (Keep It Short and Simple).

z If the audience does not get the message in five to ten
seconds, they’ll be watching the screen when they
should be listening to you.

z Careful use of colours makes the information more

interesting and more memorable.

z Use four lines per graph at most, and use a different

colour for each line if the graph shows more than one
line.
10 Tips for planning successful slides and visuals
 Conducting presentation

If it is up to you to arrange the seating at a

presentation, you need to take account of two
main factors:

z audience size;
z degree of interaction required between
members of the audience and between the
audience and the presenter.
z For small groups, and
situations where you
want the atmosphere to
be reasonably open and
a certain degree of
discussion is expected,
the appropriate seating
arrangement will be the
Round table or the Open
circle
z These set-ups can be
used for informal or
formal presentations,
as well as training
sessions and any type
of group which involves
a certain degree of
discussion, but which
does not require the
relative intimacy of the
round table or the open
circle.
Directing your audience’s focus
z Learn to direct the audience’s
focus where you want it

z When you use slides, the

audience’s focus is divided

z To win them back, you will

need to redirect their focus

z This is usually done by

‘’blackout’’ the slides, as
explained below, and taking
a step or two towards the
audience
 Placement of Equipments

Make sure that everybody can see the whole screen

which sometimes is difficult ensure
Where and how to stand
 Tips:
z Do not speak until you have eye contact with your
audience!

z Look at the screen momentarily to recall the points

you want to make and then turn to the audience
and deliver it

z If you must write something on the flip chart,

overhead, or whiteboard, stop talking while you
write
It is not just what you say, but how you say it!

z Standing stiffly, with little animation in

your body, and speaking in a
monotone voice without good eye
contact is a sure way to deliver a
speech that is a dud.

z We communicate with much more than

words.

z Our nonverbal actions carry our

feelings.

z If these channels get cut off because of

anxiety, your interaction and rapport
with the audience will suffer
Do not:
z Keep hands in your pockets
z Keep hands ‘’handcuffed behind your back
z Keep your arms crossed
z Wring your hands nervously
This is not to say that Martin spent the rest of the presentation
talking to just that one person, of course.
Making presentations:
Dos and Don’ts
z The lower line in this diagram shows how increasing
loss of concentration during the middle part of a
presentation is directly related to the length of the
presentation. Only opening and closing are retained

z The upper, wavy line shows the effectiveness of the

same material – properly structured – when the
presentation is kept to a maximum running time of no
more than 40 minutes.
 Questions and answers
Three of the many good reasons why you might want
to accept questions from your audience are:

z To create positive interaction between the members

of the audience and yourself.

z By accepting audience questions during a

presentation any misunderstandings can be cleared
up immediately.

z The questions that you get from the audience will

give you a clearer idea of their level of understanding
and areas of special interest, allowing you to fine
tune your performance ‘on the spot’.
When to allow questions?

If allowing questions at any time has advantages, it

also has certain disadvantages, from the presenter’s
point of view:

z You may get sidetracked by questions that are not

strictly relevant.

z Questioners frequently ask about things that are of

special concern to them as individuals, but which
may not be of much interest to anyone else.
Cont’d

z It is very easy to lose track of time while answering

questions so you end up having to rush through the
last part of the presentation, in order to end on
time.

z An unexpected or awkward question may disrupt

the flow of the presentation and leave you looking
ill-informed and unprofessional.

z In a ‘worst case’ scenario the questions could take

up so much time that you cannot complete the
presentation.
 Taking control of audience’s questions
One effective way could be to inform like this:

I’ll take any questions that call for clarification at

any time during the presentation, but any questions
which require additional information, or which relate
to anything not directly covered in the presentation
will be dealt with at the end of the session.
 Three basic secrets to deal with questions

Secret No. 1
z It is a natural reaction to start working out the
answer to a question while the questioner is still
speaking. Unfortunately, it is impossible to give
your full attention to two separate lines of
thought at the same time.
z So, while a questioner is speaking listen. Cut a
long-winded question short, by all means, but
only start thinking about the answer when the
question is complete.
Secret No. 2

z A common pitfall, when taking questions,

occurs when only the presenter, the
questioner and the first few rows of the
audience know what question the
presenter is answering.
z Whenever you receive a question:
z rephrase the question and then repeat it to
the whole audience before you answer it;
z then address your answer to the whole
audience.
Repeating the questions has three distinct advantages:

z If the questioner does not correct your rephrased

version of the question, you can be reasonably sure
that you have both heard the question correctly and
understood it.

z Everyone in the audience knows what is going on.

z You can think about five times faster than you can
speak, so by repeating the question you give
yourself valuable extra time in which to think about
your answer.
Secret No. 3

Avoid the trap of allowing yourself to be monopolised by just

a handful of questioners.

z Once you have accepted and repeated a question, aim to

regulate your eye contact in the ratio of 20–25 % to the
questioner, 75–80 % to the rest of the audience.

z Only look at the questioner as you finish your answer if you

actually want the dialogue to continue.

z Then you might also reinforce the message by asking

something like: ‘Does that answer your question?’
What to do when you don’t know the answer?

Be honest. Say ‘I don’t know’ or, better still,

‘I don’t know, but I will find out’.

z An even better response would be: ‘I don’t

know, but I will find out by the end of the
lunch break/tomorrow morning/etc.’ And
when you say you’ll get the answer, make
sure that you do.
 Don’t take it personally

z Be aware that there never has been, and

never will be, a perfect presentation.
z Whether any particular presentation goes
well or not so well, there’ll always be room
for improvement.
 Template of seminar presentation
z Purpose
z Assessment
z Content
z Timing
z Handouts
z Audience
z Technology
z Comment
Purpose

z You are asked to give a paper to your tutor and

your student cohort.

z The purpose of the seminar is for you to provide

evidence of your research for and understanding of
the topic or the text.

z Also, in this situation, you take some responsibility

for teaching the other students who attend the
seminar
 Assessment
z For this presentation you earn a fixed amount
of marks (35-50%)

z However, if the tutor judges it to be of a low

standard and of limited value, you will be
asked to deliver it again on another occasion.

z This is to ensure that students work towards

an acceptable standard of preparation and
delivery.
Content

z You have to design the content of the topic

so as to cover relevant subject matters
z You have to provide an overview of the text
or topic then explore key themes in more
detail.
z The tutor will be available to offer guidance
and you can communicate your progress
regularly
 Handout
z You are expected to provide some handouts that explain the
topic as it will not be covered in detail in any other seminars
or lectures on the module.

z These could be a copy of your script for the seminar.

z Alternatively, they could be a list of the main themes in your

content, with brief descriptions, examples, facts and key
issues relating to the topic.

z Both types of handouts should include references to useful

resources that can be followed up at a later date.

z The report shall not be greater than 40 pages written in

standard format
Timing
z The presentation will consist of
approximately 30 minutes for your
presentation and the remaining 20 minutes
for questions and discussion.

z You are free to decide how and when you

allow the questions to be asked.

z The tutor may interrupt during the seminar to

ask you for further explanation and may
direct the questions to ensure that relevant
themes and issues have been covered.
Audience

z This will be the seminar tutor and student

members
Technology

z Use of technology will vary between giving a

handout that is used to direct the structure of
the seminar to use of PowerPoint to cover
the content.
Comment
z In this example, your presentation skills are not directly
assessed but you will be expected to deliver the content in a
clear style that generates interest in the topic.

z Probably much of the time have been spent reading so that

you understand the topic or text well enough to present a
seminar from which the other students can learn.

z You will need to develop a logical structure that explores

key themes and draws some conclusions.

z The quality of your performance in this seminar will develop

your reputation for delivering good or poor quality seminars.

z The audience will feel more positive towards you if they

leave with some useful notes and a deeper understanding of
the topic and consider their time to have been well spent!