Online Class Period on Preparing an Assertion-Evidence Talk

Description of Class Period

Assertion-evidence talks in engineering and science are comprehended better by audiences and project more confidence for speakers. ​This online class period on the assertion-evidence approach was developed for students both in technical courses and in technical communication courses. Ideally, this class period precedes by a week or more a technical presentation that students make in the course. 

Objectives of Class Period

  1. Make students aware of the inherent weaknesses in using the defaults of PowerPoint for technical presentations.
  2. Have students understand the rationale behind the three principles of the assertion-evidence approach: (1) build your talk on messages; (2) support those messages with visual evidence; and (3) explain that evidence by fashioning sentences on the spot.
  3. Have students create a few assertion-evidence slides for an upcoming technical presentation.

Online Class Period

Assign students to do the following
  1. View the five 5-minute films on www.assertion-evidence.com/principles.html.
  2. From www.assertion-evidence.com/templates.html, download a PowerPoint template and create two to three assertion-evidence slides.
  3. Assign comprehension quiz

Notes on Class Period

Available for the class period are instructor slides that pose and answer questions from the tutorial. When I show these slides, I call on specific students to answer the easier questions (the ones directly discussed in the tutorial). For the more difficult questions, I pose the questions to the class. For "yes or no" or multiple choice questions, I have students raise their hands.  

One caution is that because the assertion-evidence approach is new, students might receive resistance using it in courses, internships, and jobs. The website www.assertion-evidence.com has suggestions on addressing that resistance. 

Comprehension Quiz

At the following link, you will find a comprehension quiz .  To obtain a key for this quiz and all quizzes for the Writing Lessons, please email Michael Alley at [email protected]. Title the email as "Requesting Quiz Keys for Writing Lessons." Once we have verified that you are an instructor, we will send you the link to the quiz keys.

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, 2nd ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2013).
  2. Nathans-Kelly, Traci, and Christine Nicometo, Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields (New York: IEEE Press, 2015).
Sponsors
     Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, Penn State
​     National Science Foundation, NSF EAGER Award  1752096

​Content Editor
     Michael Alley, Teaching Professor, College of Engineering, Penn State

Film Editors
     Richelle Weiger, College of Engineering, Penn State
     Casey Fenton, College of Engineering, Penn State
​For the academic year 2019-2020, we are collecting comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions for the films, text, and quizzes of each lesson on scientific writing. To help us understand your input, would please let us know what your discipline is and whether you are a student, professional, or faculty member?