Life in Ancient Britain & Ireland
ANT 380

Spring 2013
 

Guidelines & Format for
Weekly Presentation Outline and Summary
and
Site Presentations

 

 

Weekly Article Presentations - Overview
Each week you are to select a recent news article, one published within the past year or year or so, to read, summarize and present a summary of to two of your classmates every Wednesday during class this semester.  See below for a list of due dates for these.  You are to select an article that describes recent archaeological findings from any period of prehistory, preferably, but you may also select any article that deals with England or Ireland’s past in early historic times up to the end of the Middle Ages, in the 15th Century AD.  Here’s what you’re to do:

1)  Select a news article from one on the list on the class web page (under "UK-Ireland Archaeology News Sources").  Each article you should select should be at least a full page in length.  In other words, it has to be substantive in its coverage of a topic, place or time period (not simply a brief summary paragraph or two).  IMPORTANT - once you have selected your article send an e-mail to the class stating the title and source of the article.  This is to prevent others in the class from selecting the same article to avoid repetition.  First come, first served!
2)  Read and take notes on the content of the article, paying particular attention to the goals, methods and results of the research being reported.
3)  Create an outline of the main points of the article (see below), making sure you minimally include the goals, methods, and results of the work.  Bring your type-written outline to class to be turned in (see sample outline for format requirements below)
4)  Present a summary of the article to two students in your small group during the second half of class each Wednesday.
5)  Students in the group who are listening to a summary presentation from a fellow student should pay close attention to the presentation and write 3-4 questions or discussion points for each of the other two presentations in your group.  You’re to take turns asking your questions or bringing up your discussion points following each presentation.  Each student will turn in their discussion points and questions at the end of each class, making sure your name and date are also on the paper you turn in.

In summary, at the end of each Wednesday class you are to turn in the following:

There will be a total of six of these for the spring 2013 semester: 27 February, 20 March, 27 March, 10 April, 17 April, 24 April.

Below are the guidelines for and examples of article outlines and summaries.  Be sure to follow the guidelines and format of the article outline and summary below exactly in order to have the potential of gaining the most possible points for each presentation.

 

Weekly Article Presentations - Guidelines
Article Outline – you’ll use this during your presentation.  Minimally the outline should include an Introduction to the topic, the Goals/Objectives of the writer reporting on the work and/or the archaeologists who are conducting the work, and an outline of your main Discussion points.  You should also add Conclusions or Results to the end of your outline.  Creating an outline will help prompt you on which points you think are important to present to your classmates.  Remember, your oral presentation should be around 4-5 minutes long at most but should be no less than about 4 minutes in length.  Feel free to add to or diverge from the outline, though, as you see fit during your presentation.  Start by writing the outline first as this will help you to organize your thoughts and will no doubt make both your presentation and written summary more coherent.  Turn in your outline at the end of class each Wednesday.

Article Summary – you’ll turn in a one page, double-spaced text (typed) summary of the article you have chosen to read and present each Wednesday.  The typed text should be in 12 point font with 1” margins all around.  One page of double-spaced text works out to be approximately 250-300 total words.  The summary should be one single paragraph with no indents (see below).  Points will be deducted for summaries that are significantly less than one page of double-spaced text in length.  Your article summary should be a concise description of the main points of the article you’ve read.  Be sure to include an introduction of the topic, goals/methods used in the archaeological research, and major findings/results of the work.  If the article is written by a journalist rather than an archaeologist (as in the example below) then be sure to state what the author’s goals were – why were they writing the piece?  Why did they think readers might be interested in their article?  Feel free to use your outline to help you write the one-page summary.

 

Weekly Article Presentations - Format for Article Outline
An example -

Name: David Gilmour (your name)
Date: 27 February 2013 (Wednesday date)
Article: “Trekking Hadrian’s Wall” by Andrew Curry.  Smithsonian.  October 2009, pp. 40-47.

Introduction

 Goals/Objectives

 Discussion

The Wall itself -
·        Estimated 15,000 Roman soldiers stationed along the wall
·        Castles placed at one-mile intervals along the wall (80 total).  Castles were like small forts
·        Wall dimensions - 15’ high by up to 10’ wide, all
·        Made of stones mortared with lime – a ton of material for each cubic yard for an estimated total of 1.7 million cubic yards of stone & lime - the Wall was an incredible accomplishment!
·        Roads, earthworks and ditches parallel the wall in a number of places – all made by Romans
·        Designated a National Historic Landmark by British gov’t in 2003

Why was the Wall Built?  Disagreement among ‘wall scholars’
·        Defense of empire to the south from attacks by northern barbarians – but archaeologists have little information so far on these people to the north
·        Controlling the movement of people – for administrative control, funneling people through designated access points (gates are found at regular intervals along length of wall)

·        Some archaeological investigations completed along the wall
·        Extensive pits excavated by Romans, possibly to hold sharpened stakes
·        Excavations at Vindolanda, a Roman fort that predated the wall, by a father and son team.  Well-preserved organic artifacts found in 1972 – leather shoes, animal bones (from food) and even wooden combs.
·        One of the most spectacular finds was about 1,400 wooden tablets with Latin writing dating to AD 85-160.

·        More than 27,000 people have walked the wall from end to end since designation as National Landmark

·        UNESCO designated Wall and ancient Roman border in Germany a World Heritage Site called the ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’

  

Weekly Article Presentations - Format for Article Summary
An example -

Name: David Gilmour (your name)
Date: 27 February 2013 (Wednesday date)
Article: “Trekking Hadrian’s Wall” by Andrew Curry.  Smithsonian.  October 2009, pp. 40-47.

This was a really interesting article about a topic I knew very little about – Hadrian’s Wall in England.  The author of this article, Andrew Curry, did a fairly good job in summarizing some of the main points about the wall – why it may have been built by the ancient Romans in the first place, how it was constructed, what materials were used in its construction, and its dimensions and associated features (forts, ditches, roads & earthworks).  But he wove in his own story of “trekking Hadrian’s Wall” so he wasn’t just giving dry facts about the wall.  The reader was able to follow him along his travels from the east end of the wall, from a town aptly named Wallsend all the way across the country to the wall’s western terminus, at a town called Bowness-on-Solway.  I learned that there’s a bit of disagreement among ‘wall scholars’ about what motivated the ancient Romans to build this huge wall.  It may have been to keep ‘barbarians’ from the north out of the empire, but it might have also been a way for Romans to control the movement of the English population, who they had just conquered.  Of course, it could have served both purposes.  In any case, it’s really amazing to think of all the effort that went into constructing the wall - the incredibly back-breaking labor that went into hauling stones, stacking them carefully in place and mixing mortar.  It must have been really lonely and pretty boring for Roman soldiers stationed along the wall.  Now, it’s a really popular destination for English tourists and hikers – over 250,000 walk at least a portion of the wall each year and it has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  Overall, I really liked the article and enjoyed learning more about something I’d heard of but never really knew much about.

 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 

Site Presentations
Each week two students will be presenting summary information to the class on a particular archaeological site or museum in Britain or Ireland that we’ll be visiting in May.  Each presentation will be between 10-15 minutes in length.  Points will be deducted for presentations that are less than 10 minutes in length.  The list of presentations as well as specific guidelines for these class presentations follow below.

Place                                       Date                            Student Names                                 

British Museum, London         27 February                 Wolf, La Luz

West Kennet Long Barrow      20 March                     Castillo, Cody & Bower

Navan Fort                               27 March                     Lang, Gentry

Boyne Valley
Archaeological District           10 April                        Hawk, Englehart

Lough Crew                             17 April                        Albritton, Basnight

Dun Aonghasa                         24 April                        Tyndall, Gilbertson                                                       

National Museum of Ireland    1 May                          Ruiz, Scardino

 

Guidelines for Site Presentations
Here the idea is to present a summary of what is currently known about one of the sites listed above.  Each student is responsible for becoming a knowledgeable 'expert' on only one of the seven sites listed above.  You can use written notes and are strongly encouraged to use visuals, including slides to illustrate key points or aspects of each site.  But you are NOT to read word for word from either your notes or slides to the class.  Your notes (on index cards, in an outline, etc.) as well as text on .ppt slides are to be used as a guide only for obvious reasons, the most prominent of which is that standing in front of a group of people and simply reading text aloud is incredibly tedious and boring, both for the presenter and for the people listening.  In essence you and your partner will become an expert of sorts on a particular site we'll be visiting in May.

Each presentation should be between 10-15 minutes in total length.  You will be timed, so anything less than the minimum of ten minutes in length will result in a deduction of points from your grade.  As a guide, generally about ten slides or so, with a 1+ minute for each slide in your presentation, will probably be sufficient.  As you will be presenting this with a partner you can divide the time roughly equally so that you present the first half and your partner presents the second half, or you can present in more of a 'tag team' style, where each of you presents information more in tandem.  Creativity in your presentation will be rewarded!

Slide Format:
Slide 1 -
Name and Image of Site
Names of presenters
Date Presented

8-12 additional slides-
Each with a relatively small amount of text and mostly images, maps, tables, drawings/illustrations

final slide -
Include all of the sources of information you used in your presentation.  Use standard American Anthropological Association formatting guidelines (see http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf)

In general, keep the text on your slides simple, concise, and to the point.  In other words, limit the amount of text on your slides.  Bulleting is a good way to present information.  Each slide should be illustrative of a particular point you want to make about why the site is noteworthy or significant and why.

Content:
Archaeological Sites
Where is the site located? (hint - include a map).  What time period(s) does the site date to and what is known (summary-wise) about each period?  What is significant about the site?  When did people first learn about the site?  When did archaeological investigations take place there?  What has research at the site told us specifically about British or Irish prehistory?

Museums
Where is the site located? (hint - it's unsatisfactory to simply say "It's in London" or It's in Dublin."  Include a map showing where in London or Dublin the museum is located.  In what part of town [name] is the museum located?).  When was the museum founded?  How extensive are the museum's collections (what regions and time periods of the world are represented)?  What special exhibits will be there when we visit in May?  What kinds of research and educational programs are supported by the museum?

Sources of Information:
There are a number of sources that can provide you with the information that is required (see above under 'Content') for your presentation.  Your textbook is usually a good place to start gathering information for your presentation.  Also, check the web site for the archaeological site or museum itself.  In some cases there is a dedicated web site, in other cases there are secondary sites.  Stay away from all blogs, however.  These are NOT acceptable sources of information for this assignment.  You MAY use Wikipedia as a source for images, and to begin getting some basic information on your site.  Avoid using Wikipedia as a main or important source of information, however.  Again, begin by checking your course textbook to see if information on your site is discussed there, and then move onto other written and on-line sources.  Your summary should be your own, however.  Regardless of where you derive your information, you are NOT to 'lift' text word-for-word from other sources to include in your presentation.  All text should be in your own words, of course.

What You'll Submit for a Grade:
The only thing you need to submit is your .ppt presentation.  E-mail this to me sometime before or on the day in which you'll be presenting.  You may submit the presentation as late as the day you'll be presenting, but if you do so please send it to me no later than 3:00 pm that day.  Presentations sent after 3:00 pm will have points deducted.  If the .ppt file is too large to send via e-mail you may use any of the free file transfer programs available on the web, including YouSendIt, WeTransfer and DropBox.