Oral Presentation’s Guidelines

There are two ways of reading a book. One of them is reading for

pleasure. It helps you to relax and take your mind away from everything around

you. The other one is to go through a book’s pages making a critical analysis.

Being a literature expert is not a requirement for this type of reading. It only

involves doing some research, establishing relationships and having an open

mind.

The latter is the reading that should carried out at a tertiary level. All the

conclusions that come out of it will be transferred to an oral presentation. These

are the elements that should be included:

Information about the author: His or her contribution to the literary

world, prizes he or she won, details about his or her life –only if they are

relevant for the analysis of the text-, place and year of birth, period of

literary productivity must be exposed during the presentation.

Information about the literary work: Year of publication, its covers and

their relationship with the book, its impact in society, its popularity need

to be mentioned in this part of the presentation.

Context of publication: Relevant characteristics of the historical period

in which the literary work was published need to be present. This may

include historical transforming events, like WWI or WWII, and their

effects on society’s believes, politics, economy and culture. Literary or

artistic movements and their characteristics should be included in this

part of the presentation too, if they are pertinent.

Context provided in the setting (if it is different from that of the book’s or

story’s publication): For example, The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

takes place mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, and it also mentions earlier

times. In those periods, people’s way of thinking was structured in an

specific way, which differs greatly from that of the year of publication.

Plot and setting: They can be included ONLY if they are relevant to the

analysis of the literary work. For example, in “Hills Like White

Elephants,” the setting is a fundamental part of the story because it is

full of symbols and the plot is almost inexistent because of

Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory.

Characters: They should be described briefly. Features that are relevant

to different themes should be singled out and described more in depth.

Analysis of themes: Themes from the literary work have to be

mentioned and explained. Also, quotes that support their existence

must be provided.

Literary devices: If they are used to achieve an specific effect by the

writer on the reader, they should be mentioned. That is to say, it is not

required to expose and explain every literary device, but those that

cause a particular reaction to the reader and those that a typical of a

particular writer. For example, irony in “Hills Like White Elephants”

needs to be mentioned because it lets the reader know that there is a

problem between the couple, and that the girl is not as weak as she

seems. Another example may be the use of stream of consciousness

(narrative device). Faulkner makes use of it in The Sound and the Fury,

but it is a device that this author included in most of his works.

Students’ opinion: A response to or a reflection about the literary work

has to be provided by the whole group.

Extra Information

The presentation has to contain visual support. The softwares

that you can use are Prezi or Power Point.

Each slide should include only key words, which means that

those exposing are not supposed to read.

Using videos and pictures is highly recommended.

Creativity will be rewarded.