Course Syllabus

The goals of the presentation. The goals are to summarize and characterize the author's ideas, to highlight points of particular interest, to present an interpretation of difficult passages, to raise questions, to stimulate discussion, and to show how the author informs leaderships and information management within organizations. A modest enterprise.

Important.

• The use of scaffolded diagrams is highly encouraged.
• Since the book we'll be reading this quarter is about communication, students leading each week's discussion are expected to play around with, incorporate, test, probe, demonstrate, challenge, exemplify, design guidelines that engage with the main ideas of the reading.

How to prepare a presentation. Here's one approach, among many. Read the chapter over once, to get a general idea of it. Read it a second time slowly. During this second reading, underline important points.
Write marginal notes. Put question marks alongside confusing areas. Jot down questions that come to mind. During the third reading, outline the major ideas page by page (or relevant section by relevant section), as you would present them to an informed audience – us. Try to work out what sections are important and concentrate your attention on them. After you have gone all the way through the chapter on this detailed level, reread your outline and write a summary of the main points, the overall issues at stake, and the central questions of interest. Use these ideas to write an introduction, and to provide structure and cohesion to the pages you have outlined. At this point you should have a solid outline on which to base a presentation. Some people also prefer to polish the outline to have it reflect more closely what they will say. Either way, you might find it helpful to practice your presentation (especially your introductory remarks) on a pretend audience.

The presentation. Here's the general idea. First, set the context of the chapter. For example, what has preceded the chapter? What is the author trying to do in the current chapter? Perhaps describe the central questions or issues that you think we will want to key in on during our session. Then start at the beginning of the reading and summarize and characterize the first segment – from one paragraph to as much as, say, 3-4 pages, depending on how you have organized the ideas. Point to specific sentences and passages that support your interpretation. This support is essential to substantiate your interpretation. In some cases, you may be confused on how to understand a section. If so, no problem: just explain what the passage might mean and why, and where and why you got confused (e.g., do you think the passage contradicts an earlier passage? is the language downright confusing? or what?). You might want to pose specific questions to the group to help you solve problems of interpretation.

After each of your summaries, group discussion will follow. First, we as seminar participants should
consider whether the interpretation of the summary matches our own. If not, we need to be prepared to offer alternative passages or sentences that support our own interpretation. Sometimes our interpretation might come from placing the passage in the context of an earlier passage or chapter. When the presenter raises a question of interpretation, we need to be prepared to offer an intelligent answer, again based on textual evidence. (Though keep in mind sometimes passages will remain ambiguous or confusing, and that we might need the full context of the book – and indeed sometimes the full corpus of the author's work – to reasonably understand the passage.) When we are satisfied with our understanding (for the present) with the section under discussion, the presenter moves on to the next section. And the above process repeats itself.

Presenters need to be flexible in summarizing and leading discussion. Sometimes a section is straightforward and/or relatively uninteresting, and the presenter presents a largely uncontested summary.
Other sections can generate intense and long discussions. Often these discussions are great fun and lead to perceptive understandings. Sometimes, however, a discussion can get off on a tangent, and the presenter will need to refocus the group to the text at hand.

Sometimes a discussion can ramble too far a field and for too long. If you sense that happening, here are three ways for a presenter to reign in discussion (of course, there are other ways, these are just three suggestions). From a previous reading seminar instructor:

1. The We'll-Be-Discussing-This-Excellent-Point-Later Approach. Here the presenter is on top of
   what issues are being taken up later in the chapter (or book) and can tell people that the issue
   under discussion can be handled better when we get to later material.
2. The Elegant Synthesis Approach. Here the presenter synthesizes the 7 different positions on the table, shows how they fit within the author’s overarching theory, and – building on the previous approach – explains that this theoretical point will be explicated in later chapters.
3. However, if neither approach is possible, then follow this last one: The Brute Force Approach: Stop discussion and tell people we're moving on. Remember to smile.

Guidelines for Preparing for Seminar Participation
Preparation for class participation will likely follow part of the process undergone by the presenter. For instance, you may want to read the chapter three times. The first reading might be for the general idea. The second time for substantive inquiry, underlining important points, writing marginal notes, putting question marks beside confusing areas, and jotting down questions that come to mind. During the third reading, you may want to start the written preparation.

While there are surely many successful formats for written notes, here are several things to keep in mind. Generally, simply outlining key words or sentences that the author uses during a chapter will not go very far in helping you understand what the words mean. To go beyond highlighting key terms and sentences, consider quoting an interesting passage and try putting the ideas in your own words. Or provide a quotation, and then comment on what is and is not making sense. For example, during a previous seminar, a student used a format where she would interrupt the outline and start a new paragraph saying "Memo" – and then she would be off and running to work out what's important or problematic in what she had been outlining. The key point is to experiment and to strive for a format that helps you engage with the text and prepares you for focused discussion.

Another way to prepare is to develop a couple of questions or issues that you would like to discuss. The questions might/should set the context for framing the discussion, perhaps by paraphrasing an issue or working off of a quotation, such that everyone can immediately understand what you are getting at. The questions can range from broad conceptual issues to specific interpretations of a single passage, or even a sentence. Note that usually when you pose a question of what a particular passage or sentence means, something is at stake on a somewhat larger level; so try to key in on what the larger concern is about.
Frame the questions as if the author was joining us in discussion and you have the opportunity to ask them. Likely enough, the questions will build on your previous written preparation.

Guidelines for Participating in Seminar Discussion

We will need some sensitivity with this issue of participation. If you don't normally talk in classes, now is the time to change! Use your written work and jump into discussions. Ask your written questions. If you can't explain passages, at least explain where and why you find the passage perplexing or interesting (or even boring).

On the other hand, if you normally have lots to say, great, except be aware that others may want to talk – indeed they often do want to talk – but can't quite find a way to interject. Accordingly, try to be aware of when this occurs and back off. Also be aware of the general group dynamic. For instance, sometimes in the middle of a heated discussion many people will have things to say, so back off a bit; other times, it's dullsville, and the group desperately needs you to make something happen.

Bring at least one question you'd like the class to discuss. Try to find the opportunity to ask it.