How to Present a Seminar Paper University students of

In this talk, I am going to give some advice on how to present a seminar paper.
   At one time, most university teaching took the form of giving formal lectures. Nowadays, many university teachers try to involve their students more actively in the learning process. One of the ways in which this is done is by conducting seminars. In a seminar, what usually happens is this. One student is chosen to give his ideas on a certain topic. These ideas are then discussed by the other students (the participants) in the seminar.
   What I’d like to discuss with you today is the techniques of presenting a paper at a seminar. As you know, there are two main stages involved in this. One is the preparation stage which involves researching and writing up a topic. The other stage is the presentation stage when you actually present the paper to your audience. It is this second stage that I am concerned with now. Let us therefore imagine that you have been asked to lead off a seminar discussion and that you have done all the necessary preparation. In other words you have done your research and you have written it up. How are you going to present it?
   There are two ways in which this can be done.
   The first method is to circulate copies of the paper in advance to all the participants. This gives them time to read it before the seminar, so that they can come already prepared with their own ideas about what you have written. The second method is where there is no time for previous circulation, or there is some other reason why the paper cannot be circulated. In that case, of course, the paper will have to read aloud to the group, who will probably make their own notes on it while they are listening.
   In this talk, I am going to concentrate on the first method, where the paper is circulated in advance, as this is the most efficient way of conducting a seminar; but most of what I am going to say also applies to the second method; and indeed may be useful to remember ally time you have to speak in public.
   You will probably be expected to introduce your paper even if it has been circulated beforehand. There are two good reasons for this. One is that the participants may have read the paper but forgotten some of the main points. The second reason is that some of the participants may not in fact have had time to read your paper, although they may have glanced through it quickly. They will therefore not be in a position to comment on it, unless they get some idea of what it is all about.
   When you are introducing your paper, what you must not do is simply reading the whole paper aloud. This is because:
   Firstly, if the paper is a fairly long one, there may not be enough time for discussion. From your point of view, the discussion is the most important thing. It is very helpful for you if other people criticize your work: in that way you can improve it.
   Secondly, a lot of information can be understood when one is reading. It is not so easy to pick up detailed information when one is listening. In other words, there may be lack of comprehension or understanding.
   Thirdly, it can be very boring listening to something being read aloud. Anyway some of your audience may have read your paper carefully and will not thank you for having to go through all of it again.
   Therefore, what you must do is follow the following seven points:
   1. Decide on a time limit for your talk. Tell your audience what it is. Stick to your time limit. This is very important.
   2. Write out your spoken presentation in the way that you intend to say it. This means that you must do some of the work of writing the paper again, in a sense, You may think that this is a waste of time, but it isn’t.
   3. Concentrate only on the main points. Ignore details. Hammer home the essence of your argument. If necessary, find ways of making your basic points so that your audience will be clear about what they are.
   4. Try to make your spoken presentation lively and interesting. This doesn’t necessarily mean telling jokes and anecdotes. But if you can think of interesting or amusing examples to illustrate your argument, use them.
   5. When you know exactly what you are going to say, reduce it to outline notes. Rehearse your talk again, this time from the outline notes. Make sure you can find your way easily from the outline notes to the full notes, in case you forget something.
   6. Look at your audience while your are speaking. The technique to use is this. First read the appropriate parts of your notes silently (if you are using outline notes, this won’t take you long). Then look up at your audience and say what you have to say. Never speak while you are still reading. While you are looking at your audience, try to judge what they are thinking. Are they following you? You will never make contact with your audience if your eyes are fixed on the paper in front of you.
   7. Make a strong ending. One good way of doing this is to repeat your main points briefly and invite questions or comments.
   Perhaps I can sum up by saying this, Remember that listening is very different from reading. Something that is going to he listened to has therefore got to he prepared in a different way from something that is intended to be read.