HOW TO ORGANIZE A PROJECT
After the research is complete and the information vetted and organized and all tasks completed according to the Task Sheet, it is time to actually put the project together. For a project with a PowerPoint or Movie Maker component, following are some pointers to help finish it.
| WRITE THE SCRIPT | This is a very important part of the project! Write the
script first, then find illustrations for what you are saying. The main part
of the project is the research in text form; the illustrations just give
visual information to go along with the text. The script should be full of
information; it should NOT just name what is on the screen. It should give
background details including location, construction or manufacture, people
involved and why this illustration is important to its historic period and
any other pertinent research. The final script should be typed and a copy provided for the teacher before beginning the presentation. |
| CREATE THE SLIDES | A collage can be nice in some instances but when you use one
in a presentation you confuse the audience--especially when you do not have
titles or indicate what the pictures represent. It is a better practice to
have one illustration per slide. Be sure that the illustrations on the slides actually apply to the subject. |
| SET THE LOCATION | Have a map. This shows the audience the area your project has as its topic. It also gives the audience an understanding of relative location and relevance to other places in the world. For example, a project on Egypt would show the Nile River and the locations of the historic sites in the project. The map can be the first slide in the presentation. |
| AVOID TEXT | This is a cardinal rule. The audience does not want to see slide after slide of the text while you are reading the material to them! This is not an intellectually stimulating thing to do. The slides should illustrate the script, not repeat it. |
| ADD TITLES | Pictures on a PowerPoint or Movie Maker that do not have titles do not have any relevance. Viewers do not know why you have the pictures on the screen or what the pictures are. A title should be short. Also, during the presentation, point to the picture or to the parts of the picture the script is describing. |
| SYNCH THE SLIDES AND THE SCRIPT | Make sure that what the narrative is describing is actually what is on the screen at the time. Having the script describe one things while a picture of something else is on the screen is very confusing. |
| CHECK YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS | Be sure that your pictures are clear on the Interwrite board. Sometimes illustrations look great on the small screen but are grainy and unclear on the big screen. Have your project ready in time to try it out and correct it if necessary. |
| PRACTICE THE PRESENTATION | If the presentation to the class is the first time the group has run the script and the illustrations together, then there is a very big opportunity for a major catastrophe. |
| TIME THE PRESENTATION | This is self-explanatory. If the teacher gives you a time limit, you need to be within one minute of it on either side. |
| CREATE ARTIFACTS (if applicable) | The artifacts should be accurate. This means that they should actually look like what the artifact is supposed to be; it should be representational. It should not be a creative interpretation. |
| SCRIPT THE ARTIFACTS | Write the description of the artifact into the script--do not improvise the description. It is always a good idea to make a "museum card" to go with the artifact. A "museum card" is a description of the artifact with the name, dates, location and description. |
| WRITE A WORKS CITED PAGE | It is imperative that the Works Cited page be in the correct format and include all of the web and print cites used in the preparation of the project. Consult the MLA website for format and citations. |
| REHEARSE | Before getting up in front of the class with your project, do a dry run to be sure that there are no small train wrecks waiting. |
When doing a project, be thorough. You must assume that the audience knows nothing about the topic and you are the expert informing them. Be lavish with illustrations and pictures so that the project is rich with detail. Remember--your teachers know the material and know what you leave out.