CS 321 Spring 2013
Requirements for Presentations

Each student in the class is required to make an in-class presentation on some topic related to operating systems. The presentation is worth 40 points.

General Requirements

• Presentations should be around 15 minutes long. 10 minutes is too short. If you take more than about 17 minutes, then I will probably have to cut you off.
• Give your presentation in class on your assigned day, and cover your assigned topic.
• If there are two in your group, then both need to be involved in the presentation, somehow. You can split up the time (one person talks first, and then the other) or split up the jobs (e.g., one person talks while the other types).

What to Cover

You are giving a short introduction to a topic. Obviously, you will not be able to go into great detail. But your audience should leave with some useful, understandable information that they did not have before.

For most topics, it is appropriate to begin with a general introduction: what is your topic? Then move on to an overview of what you intend to present. Lastly, give the details, in whatever form is appropriate (code?). Some example presentation formats are below.

Example format 1. Aimed at implementation-of-something presentations.

• Introduce the concept you will be discussing. What is it called? What does it mean? What is it used for?
• Give an overview of how the implementation works.
• Go into the details: look at code or a table showing the structure of a packet or whatever ... and talk about how it works.

Example format 2. Aimed at using-a-feature presentations.

• Introduce the feature you will be discussing. What is it called? What is it?
• Discuss how to use it, in a broad sense.
• Look at code (if appropriate) that uses the feature. If possible, execute the code.

Grading

The presentation will be worth 40 points (a bit less than two normal assignments). For groups of two, both students will receive the same score, assuming that both are significantly involved in doing the presentation.

Criteria for grading are as follows.

• Do you follow the General Requirements above?
• Do you demonstrate knowledge of your subject?
  • You are not expected to be an expert, but you should have studied the topic sufficiently to be able to make the presentation.
• Are you prepared to make the presentation?
  • It is one thing to know something; it can be quite another thing to be prepared to tell others about it. Be organized and ready, knowing what you are going to cover, with equipment that works, and all necessary software installed.
• Is your audience more knowledgeable on the topic, after your presentation is over? Have you told them information they can use?
• Do you communicate effectively?
  • The goal is to communicate information.
  • Your presentation should be done in such a way that the audience learns something about the topic.
• If appropriate, do you demonstrate something related to your topic, as opposed to merely talking about it. (This criterion may not be applied to some topics.)

Advice

• I imagine that most presenters will be using the projector. If you do, be sure your computer can connect to the projector before your presentation. The classroom is open all day and unused part of the day. Go in and try things out.
• It can be difficult to fit the required time slot well. I suggest preparing more material than you expect to have to use, and be ready to skip some of it.
• It is not a bad idea to practice, particularly if you have not made many presentations before.
• You are not required to use slides (PowerPoint, etc.); I am not recommending that you do. But if you do use slides, then be sure you do not have too many. I would suggest having at most 4 slides.