The first big project for the semester will an individual presentation discussing recent discoveries and analyses of fossil information. These will be presented in Discussion during the middle section of the course.

There are several steps for this project. The first one is selecting your paper:

Dr. Holtz has selected a number of papers from the recent paleontological literature to choose from. These are from technical journals, so they will contain terminology and concepts beyond the scope of this course. That said, you should be able to glean the important information from your reading. (If you are having problems, though, feel free to talk with or email Dr. Holtz for clarification.)

Go to the paper sign up sheet (provided on ELMS) and examine the papers provided. You can use the links in your browser to access the papers: these have been selected from the "open access" literature, so you should be able to access them from wherever you are without having to use the University's library system. Take a look at them and see if they interest you. You can choose them in advance, but make sure you have a final choice by February 27.

When you find one you like, write your name and your section number in the space provided. No two students from the same section can "claim" the same paper, and the paper can only be used by two different people at most. (So if two other students (from two separate sections) have already claimed that paper, keep on looking from the available unclaimed options!)

These papers are weighted towards dinosaurs, marine reptiles, mammals (including early humans), and other vertebrates, as these are topics that students tend to relate to better. That said, there are papers here talking about Precambrian life, plants, paleoenvironments, trace fossils, and others.

(If you come across a paper in the recent technical literature that isn't currently listed and you REALLY want to do the report on it, send the link to Dr. Holtz and see if he will approve it. There might be some reason he didn't include if (for instance, he might be talking about it in a lecture, or it might be in a homework or an exam.) But he might approve it, so it is worth checking.)

Since you are presenting your paper to other students (and your TA), you want to understand it as best you can. So you may need to do some outside reading to get more background. This is the sort of thing that going to Wikipedia (for a start) is great for: looking up additional information about concepts, definitions, etc. You may have to look up other sites and resources as well.

(Just to warn you in advance: there will likely be a bewildering amount of terminology involved, in particular about stratigraphy and geologic time, anatomy, taxonomy, and (perhaps most especially) data analysis.)

In general, you want to be able to understand the basics of:

• The fossil organisms or ancient environment being studied.
  • If organism-centered: What type of species are they? When and where did they live? What was their basic ecology? Is it one species being studied, or many? If many, are they closely related species (a clade) or are they instead associated in the same environment (an ecosystem)?
  • If environment-centered: Where in the world was it? When in geologic time was it? What was the environment and ecosystem like at the time?
• What is the question being asked/aspect being examined in the paper? Is it some feature of the evolution of those fossils? Their environment? Their functional anatomy? Their diversity over time?
• How is the question being approached? What attribute of the fossils are being measured or examined? What methods (broadly speaking) are being applied to the data to test the question?
• What results did they find (if any)? What conclusions did they come to? Did it result in a new understanding of these fossils?

Creating Your Presentation: The primary delivery of your project will be a presentation on PowerPoint, Google Slides, or other presentation software shown in discussion section. You will be informed in advance which day you are going to present. Plan for a presentation about 4-5 minutes long.

You'll want to do your research in order to understand the paper and to find images to populate your presentation well prior to presenting.

We suggest the following basic structure for your presentation:

• An introductory title image with the title of the presentation, the phrase "GEOL 204 The Fossil Record "Notes from the Fossil Record" Project", "Section 010x" (with the appropriate 'x'), your name, the date of the presentation, and the bibliographic reference for the paper. You can just copy-and-paste that last item from the Google Sheet, if you want. (Note that you don't have to read out this information to the class; just leave it on the screen.)
• Background: describe the taxon/taxa (life habits, environment, age, etc.) or environment (location, age, important taxa) or whatever in question
• The question being tested
• The analysis conducted to test the question, including:
  • The data which were analyzed
  • The methods used to test the question
• Results of the analysis: what does it imply
• Concluding thoughts on the analysis: do you think the conclusions were justified, or was the analysis problematic? Can you think of new lines of research that might expand from this study?

But feel free to show your creativity. It might be helpful to examine the following online resources for suggestions on effective PowerPoint Presentations:

• http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/10-tips-for-more-effective-powerpoint-presentations.html
• http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/powerpoint.html

We encourage the use of images, charts, graphics, and animations, keeping in mind at all times University regulations about plagiarism, proper citations, etc. Each and every such item must be properly referenced: at minimum, we expect to see a small caption from the source on the page. (We will provide examples of how to do this in discussion section). (However, you do not need to cite figures from the main paper itself; you've already given the citation details for that.) We most DEFINITELY expect to see illustrations when you are explaining taxa or fossil sites, and to see the graphics used in the analyses! Please, no text-only PowerPoints!

Consider that your PowerPoint is the equivalent of a major term paper, and is held up to the same academic standards. Thus, we expect:

• All items presented to be factual, supported by primary references, and properly attributed
• The dialog and text is your own; where you must give a statement in someone else's words, you must distinctly and clearly indicate that is what is going on
• Correct spelling and proper grammar
• Presentation style appropriate for a university course
• Dialog is clear and understandable
• Images, video clips, music clips, etc., are done so strictly following the "Fair Use" doctrine. In general, it is safest to limit images you use to those from scientific technical publications, government agencies, and Wikimedia. And, of course, to give proper citation for these!

Some observations and comments:

• You are expected to understand the paper you are presenting. If it is apparent that you do not understand it, you will be down-graded.
• Learn to use and say the right words! It is your responsibility to learn the material.
  • A common one: the proper word is "adaptations" (four syllables), not "adaptions" (three syllables).
  • If you don't know how to pronounce the word, email Dr. Holtz and he will send you a video response on how he would pronounce it.
• You need to incorporate the facts and material from class into your presentation as well.
• Many students create slides where the pictures or graphs take up less area than the text. This is bass-ackwards!! PowerPoint is primarily a visual medium; emphasize the visual elements!
• Related to that, the majority (if not all) the slides should have pictures on them
• Do not distort images (that is, shrink or stretch the width a different amount than the length).

As you can see, this will take a fair amount of work.

ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY please do NOT put this off until the last minute (i.e., the night before it is due), because there is no reasonable way you will do a decent job on it in that case.

We definitely recommend practicing your presentation (by yourself, or to friends) several times before the time you present it in section. Learn which slides are the most important, and on which you do not need to linger.

Each person will present on a different discussion section meeting in the middle of the course. There will typically be three presentations per section meeting.

The day and order of which students present when will be established by your TA, by whatever method they chose. To make sure this is done with as little difficulty as possible, PLEASE be aware of any potential conflicts (e.g., missing a section due to doctor's appointments or trips or whatever) in advance, so the schedule can be worked out accurately in advance!

Obviously, not every student can go on the last day! (Furthermore, there is the benefit of being able to relax by getting your presentation over with earlier rather than later.)

Should a scheduling conflict arise after the schedule has been drawn up and announced, contact your TA IMMEDIATELY!! Ideally there will be time for you to switch with another student who can take your place. Do not wait until the last minute to let people know about the conflict: that is irresponsible and creates unnecessary challenges to your TA and to the rest of your discussion section.

(That said, obviously in extreme unforeseen circumstances we will have to find some other solution. But rest assured: every single student is required to present in discussion section.)

Not only do you have to research and present; you also have to observe and comment! Each student has to do a peer evaluation (using the rubric on ELMS) of all the other students' presentations. There will be an assignment on ELMS for each section: select the student to be evaluated, and click on the grading rubric based on what you see (and then submit). (On the day you present, you will still evaluate the other presenters.)

On March 4 (the day of the first presentations), please upload your presentation on ELMS under the "TA Evaluation of Presentation" assignment. If you presented as PowerPoint, upload as is. If you used Google Slides or some other format, please download/convert/save as PowerPoint and upload the file. (If, after you present, you discover typos or other items you want to change, you may reupload a final version after you are done.)

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Last modified: 22 February 2024