Assignment 3: The Presentation

Objective:  Develop an audio-narrated PowerPoint presentation based on the research you have conducted about your chosen species.

Assignment Instructions:  Using the course project steps completed to date, you will develop your presentation based on the work you submitted for Assignments 1 and 2 as well as the feedback you were given. 

To prepare for this assignment, I recommend that you do the following:

• Read these directions carefully.
• Review the grading rubric. The grading rubric is a detailed evaluation that I will use to assess your performance. It will also help you understand what is expected of you as you prepare your assignment. 
• Message me with any questions!

Presentation requirements:

• Your presentation will be submitted as an audio-narrated PowerPoint (leave this to me). 
• There must be a visual element (e.g., photos, videos, graphs, figures).
• Your presentation must contain approximately 10-15 slides (excluding references) and run approximately 5-10 minutes. 
• Please note that less than 10% of your presentation should contain direct quotes.
• Be sure to properly cite your work, both internal to the presentation as well as within the reference slide (this includes photos, graphs, figures, videos, etc.).
• All references listed on the reference slide should be cited internally within the presentation, and vice versa.
• You will submit this presentation to your classmates to review and discuss as a part of the Week Eight Forum.

The required elements: Your presentation should contain the following elements in the order listed below.  

In addition, I expect that any feedback provided to you from Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography and Assignment 2: The Outline be incorporated into this assignment. Please go back and review those comments.

Introduction Slide(s) – ALL

1. Organism Introduction
   1. The common and scientific name of your organism. Please see this link to help with scientific names if needed: How To Write Scientific Names
   2. Where you observed your organism (country, state, park, zoo, etc.)
   3. A brief discussion on why you chose your organism
   4. If possible, a picture and/or video of you safely observing your species in the field. If not possible, search the Internet for an image (and remember to cite your source for the image) in a typical habitat.

The Body

1. Description
   1. You must include a brief physical description. You can use your personal observations. If you cannot safely observe your organism, you must research.
      1. Size, Coloring, Leaf arrangement, flower color, etc.
2. Life Cycle and Reproduction
   1. Life Cycle: describe the life cycle of your organism.  The life cycle refers to the series of changes that happens from the beginning of life as your organism develops and grows into a mature organism.  Please see here for some hints on the Life Cycle. Plants can be a bit more complicated, so if you have any questions please feel free to ask!
   2. Reproduction: You must discuss the reproductive strategies of your organism. Are there any specific structure or cells involved in reproduction? Are the flowers specialized?
3. Structure and Function
   1. Please select one organ system of your organism that you find to be particularly interesting and describe both the anatomy and physiology of that system.
   2. If your organism is a plant, here are a list of the general plant organ systems
   3. If you have selected a fungus the concept can be more complex.  Please contact me directly for more help if needed.
4. Energy Ecology
   1. If you can observe these, that is best. If not, research.
   2. How does your plant harvest the energy from the sun? How does it store the energy?
5. Habitat
   1. Where your organism lives. This does not refer to a city or state, but rather the natural environment in which your organism lives. 
   2. You should consider abiotic factors, such as soil, water, etc., as well as biotic factors, such as predators, hosts, etc.

Conclusions – ALL

1. This section must contain:
   1. Four to six points that sum up the main topics of the presentation that you have in your outline

Reference Slide(s) and Internal Citations – ALL

1. This section must contain:
   1. Internal citations – This is not just a separate section; rather, referencing should occur throughout the presentation via parenthetical citations anytime you paraphrase, make direct quotes, or use visual components from other sources.  Please be sure to cite any language, images, videos, etc. in the presentation that should be cited. 
   2. Reference Slide – Your presentation should also have a final reference slide listing 5-10 credible sources researched for your presentation. NOTE: these are not included in the slide count for your presentation.
   3. Do not include your summary/evaluation from Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography; simply list the references utilized in your presentation in APA format on the reference slide.