For your classroom presentation, I'd like you to research some society and nature controversy of interest to you. You can choose an informative format, in which you basically lay out the various aspects of the issue, or an advocacy format, in which you develop a position on the issue and argue for your stance. If you choose the latter, you are quickly to summarize the other side, making sure not to caricaturize it to make it excessively easy to attack. In other words, fight fairly.
Then, after you've mastered the basics of the controversy, develop a short presentation on it. This should be from 15 to 20 minutes long. Be sure to practice your paper several times in front of friends, family, or just the bathroom mirror, so that you know you'll come in within the specified time limits. It is usually safer to write out your presentation and read it, but this can be fatally boring if done improperly. If you have practiced the paper several times, you will give a polished, professional presentation, and it won't seem as though you are reading it. If you are more comfortable using an outline or card format, that's okay, but you REALLY need to practice to make sure that your remarks will fit in the time allotted.
Like the midterm, final, and interpretive essay report, this presentation counts for a quarter of your overall grade. You will be graded on two bases in this presentation. First will be the presentation itself: content, argumentation, sophistication, and the professionalism of your presentation style. Second will be an annoted bibliography on the issue. The bibliography needs to represent both (or all) sides of the controversy, must include at least ten sources on the controversy or relevant topics, and, of these, at least five must be articles in refereed scholarly journals. By annotation is meant a very short synopsis of the key points in the article or book (e.g., 100 words or less). Please format your bibliography in Annals of the Association of American Geographers format.
The presentations will be given over the last five sessions of the class, that is, from Thursday, 29 April through Thursday, 13 May. Your annotated bibliographies are due on TUESDAY, 11 May.