IS 1003
Fall 2008

Paper/Presentation

Assignment:

Choose a topic to explore dealing with information technology. Examples of acceptable topics include: shopping and selling on the Internet (e.g., eBay), banking online, sharing files and music, searching the Internet (e.g., Google), dating on the Internet (e.g., eHarmony), social networking websites (e.g., FaceBook, MySpace), computer viruses, digital cameras, computer software (e.g., Adobe Flash), etc. You may use the library, the WWW, or any other sources for information. As you search for information be sure to keep track of the sources. If you find information on the WWW make sure to site the URL in the bibliography.

Paper

Length: At least 3 complete pages typed (not including bibliography, citations, tables, charts, or images), double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font.

Requirements: Your paper must include the following five objects integrated into the paper: 1) a table, 2) a chart, 3) a clip art, 4) an image created using Microsoft Word's drawing toolbar, and 5) at least one footnote. All pages must contain a footer that displays the current page number out of the total number of pages. When submitting your paper simply staple the pages together. You do not need to place your paper into a special folder.

Bibliography: This section should include references to any books, journal articles, or URL(s) from which information was gathered.

Due: All papers are due at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25. Late papers will be accepted according to the rules outlined in the class syllabus.

Points: 50 possible. My evaluation of your paper will be based on your ability to organize and present your ideas and facts in a coherent, clear, and concise manner. Before starting your paper read the section title Plagiarism in the class syllabus.

Presentation

	Due:	Student presentations will be given the last week of class December 4 - December 10. When your name is called out, you must be ready to present or late points will be deducted. A hard copy of your presentation must be submitted to the instructor immediately prior to giving your presentation.
	Format:	Create an electronic multimedia presentation that outlines and illustrates your paper. Create a minimum of 6 slides with at least one image per slide. The first slide must be a title screen containing your name and the title of your presentation. Hopefully, we will have access to a desktop projector so that the whole class can easily observe your work. However, be prepared to give your presentation without a desktop projector in the event one is not available or stops working.
	Points:	25 possible. Higher points will be awarded to those presentations that 1) clearly have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, and 2) follow the How-To's of Powerful Presentations listed below.

The HOW-TO'S of Powerful Presentations
By Robert Lindstrom

Text and Graphics

Keep the design clean and the effects simple.
Keep the backgrounds consistent and subtle.
Use no more than four colors on one slide.
For bullet slides use one thought per line, 5 to 6 words per line, and 5 to 6 lines per slide.
Establish a color scheme at the beginning and stick with it.
Do not use more than three fonts in a presentation.
Do not overuse boldface, italic, or all caps.
In general, do not use a font size smaller than 18 points.
Headlines should be in the range of 35-45 points.
Posture and Movement

Avoid nervous hand movement.
Do not hunker down behind the computer.
Never turn your back to the audience.
Never lean on the podium or the equipment.
Eye Contact

Do not tell your audience that you are worried about the equipment by looking at it.
Do not read text off the screen.
Voice

Never compete with your media. Let sound clips finish before you speak.
Do not speak over video that has sound.
Other Points

Rehearse enough to become comfortable with the material, but not so much that you kill your own enthusiasm and spontaneity. As a general rule, run through the entire presentation no less than three times, but no more than six.
Test the presentation on a live - but friendly audience.
To determine how large an image you will need to project, estimate the distance to the back row of seats and divide by 8 to get the recommended image height, e.g., 24 feet (farthest from screen) divided by 8 = 3 feet recommended minimum image height.
If you have a fixed screen size (image height) you can reverse the formula to determine the optimum viewing distance. Multiply the image height by 8 to get the maximum distance. Multiply by 2 to get the minimum recommended distance. For example, an image 3 feet high is best viewed between 6 and 24 feet.

Goals of these two assignments

Allow you to explore a topic relating to information technology in more detail.
Improve your public speaking skills.
Encourage you to comprehend and synthesize information.
Help generate new ideas.
Allow you to distance yourselves from ideas and evaluate them more objectively.
Improve you writing, oral, and critical thinking skills.
Finally, be creative and have fun with this!

	Length:	At least 3 complete pages typed (not including bibliography, citations, tables, charts, or images), double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font.
	Requirements:	Your paper must include the following five objects integrated into the paper: 1) a table, 2) a chart, 3) a clip art, 4) an image created using Microsoft Word's drawing toolbar, and 5) at least one footnote. All pages must contain a footer that displays the current page number out of the total number of pages. When submitting your paper simply staple the pages together. You do not need to place your paper into a special folder.
	Bibliography:	This section should include references to any books, journal articles, or URL(s) from which information was gathered.
	Due:	All papers are due at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25. Late papers will be accepted according to the rules outlined in the class syllabus.
	Points:	50 possible. My evaluation of your paper will be based on your ability to organize and present your ideas and facts in a coherent, clear, and concise manner. Before starting your paper read the section title Plagiarism in the class syllabus.

Paper/Presentation

Assignment:

The HOW-TO'S of Powerful Presentations By Robert Lindstrom

Goals of these two assignments

The HOW-TO'S of Powerful Presentations
By Robert Lindstrom