Title (Make it descriptive—not mysterious)

1. Title(Make it descriptive—not mysterious) Names of team members

2. Introduction • Provide a compelling reason for studying your topic (Use one or more of the following): • Widespread social significance • Provide statistics • Scholarly importance • Links to theoretical issues • Examples of earlier studies • Personal importance • Impact on individuals in team, etc. (Anecdotes) • Questions that are especially intriguing • Provide questions, etc. that should draw interest of the audience

3. Literature Review • Theoretical background • Provide a very simple outline of the theoretical basis for your research • May take a specific scholar’s work, provide a very simple explanation of it and then say that it can be applied to your topic • May summarize overall findings relating to a theory

4. Literature Review • Synopsis of previous findings • Provide a short summary of previous research that is closely related to your topic • Evaluate the quality of the research • What are the findings? • If closely related research is not available, use something you consider parallel and then make the case for its implications

5. Literature Review • Hypotheses and Research Questions • Immediately after outlining the theory and previous findings, you should be able to provide simple predictions or else be able to say why you cannot yet predict findings in the area you are studying • E.g.: “H1: Heavy players of first-person shooter games will be more likely than non-players to assume those arrested for robbery are guilty of the crime.”

6. Methods • This section should: • Name the method you will use to test your hypotheses /bring data to bear on your questions • Justify your choice of method • Identify the population you will study and tell why that choice was made • Provide an explanation of the means you will use to sample from that population • Explain why you chose the method you did • Anticipate problems and say what you will do if you encounter them

7. Next: • State what your instrument will be and why you made the choices you did in constructing it • Provide specific questions, manipulations, etc. Don’t just give a vague summary • Explain how the instrument will be administered and why you chose that method • E.g., handed out in class? Distributed via e-mail? • Finally: • Provide an overview of the methods you will use to analyze the data you have collected

8. Time involved • Approximately 10 minutes • ~8 minutes plus questions • 1-2 minute intro • 3 minute literature review • 5 minute methods section • If you don’t practice you will go way too long • You’ll get stuck at places and not know how to advance • Then you’ll jump ahead and leave out some important part of the discussion

9. Good practice • Have one person talking at a time (probably good to have two or more speakers during the presentation) • Have someone who knows the presentation running the PowerPoint (if you use that method) • Don’t have a disconnect between the slides and the discussion • Speak in short, declarative sentences • Don’t repeat yourself any more than necessary

10. Good practice • Don’t ask a whole lot of questions of the audience—you are supposed to be explaining what you are doing • Those who are not speaking should be riveted by the brilliance of the speaker (don’t stand on the side and talk to each other or look around the room) • Dress according to the image you wish to convey • It matters