10  Semester 2 Week 7

Note: In 26-27, this session will be in Semester 2 Week 5 because the dissertation deadline is earlier than normal, due to the early Easter Bank Holiday in 2027

10.1 No-stakes presentations

In this session, I ask the students to come prepared to present five minutes on their findings. If they have results to present, they can summarise these. If they haven’t completed their analysis, then they should present on what they’ve done so far and are planning to do.

This is the practice run I mention to students back in Semester 2 Week 1, ahead of the UG conference and BPS conference. Worth reminding students of that connection, so it reads as the promised rehearsal rather than a new, unconnected activity.

I then ask students to ask questions of each other, so that they can practice asking questions and the student presenting gets practice in responding to questions. This tends to take up the whole session, so I don’t plan anything else alongside this.

I remind students of a couple of things from Semester 2 Week 1 before they start: thinking through their own study’s weak points in advance so a tough question doesn’t catch them off guard, and that it’s completely fine to say they don’t know or didn’t look at something, rather than guessing. Since some time has passed since that session, a quick reminder just before presenting helps these actually get used.

To help the peer questions land, I use the same techniques from the Semester 1 Week 7 bullet-point intro presentations: giving each listener something specific to focus on rather than leaving it open with “any questions?”, and asking students to jot down a line or two on each presentation even if they don’t ask something aloud.

I roughly decide in advance how long each person gets for their 5 minutes plus questions, so time stays predictable and fair, rather than the first few presenters getting a long discussion and the last few getting rushed.

I also flag to students that it’s completely normal at this point for progress to look uneven across the group, some will have full analyses, others will still be doing their analysis, and that isn’t a sign of being behind. Comparing yourself to someone further along isn’t a fair comparison, in the same way we’ve discussed elsewhere that comparing an early draft to a finished, published paper isn’t either.

I will also remind students about the peer review of the Discussion section if they haven’t yet mentioned organising this concretely.

10.1.1 Expected progress

  • By week 7, students will be around 2-3 weeks away from submitting
  • I should have all Analysis/Results sections sent to me for feedback by now and make sure students are aware of the last date they can send me drafts (extenuating circumstances aside)
  • If students haven’t written up their Analysis sections, they should be almost finished