The Mature Student's Guide to Writing by Jean Rose

Author:Jean Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macmillan Education UK

Despite what I’ve said above, you’ll need to begin as though you were going to write an essay (see Chapter 2). You’ll probably have been given – or chosen – a topic. So first of all, it’s a good idea to draw a mind map so that you can be clear on what you already know and can then work out what reading and note-taking you’re likely to need to do.

Next, it’s often useful to construct a question to cover your topic (if you’ve not been given one). This will focus your mind and help you to organise your material because you’ll be working out how to answer it. Then you can underline the key words, just as you would if you were writing an essay, so that you’ll stay focused as you prepare your presentation.

If, for example, you’re an English literature student and you’re going to talk about social life at the beginning of the nineteenth century as shown in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, you might construct the question:

What does Pride and Prejudice tell us about middle-class life in the early nineteenth century?

Then you might decide to look at inheritance, housing, social etiquette and careers as described in the novel.

If you’re studying criminology and you were to give a presentation on problems in prisons, you might construct the question:

What changes in government policy would be necessary to improve prison conditions?

or

What are the main issues that have an adverse effect on reoffending?

Getting your facts right will, of course, be crucial but, because you’ll be speaking, you’ll have a bit more leeway for expressing your personal opinions. Any presentation is considerably enlivened by a presenter who comes across as a real human being with his or her own ideas and feelings. If you give any handouts, however, or circulate material by email, be sure that this material is fully accurate.

*formulating a question can keep you clearly focused on your topic

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