Your slidedoc and presentation will use the same topic and proposal.
This slidedoc will seek to persuade the same audience on the same topic as your persuasive presentation. Like that presentation, this document will use rhetoric, research, and reasoning–as well as careful slide design–to convince specific people to take a specific course of action.
Unlike the presentation, which uses aid visual slides to present a proposal at a particular moment in time, this slidedoc is a standalone document, meaning that it is meant to be read rather than presented. Hence, you will need to use the tools of written and visual communication to convince a reader rather than a live audience. This document must make more sophisticated use of more researched evidence than the presentation does. It will cover your topic and unfold your argument in greater depth.
Deck Requirements
This deck must:
- have a final word count under 1000 words
- include at least one original graphic
- include at least one financial data chart
- use a minimum of 6 secondary sources (you can do original research too)
- cite sources in a standard format (MLA, APA, etc.)
- have page numbers
- be skimmable
- use evidence and rhetoric to persuade a specific audience
At minimum, the deck must contain these slides:
- Title
- Executive Summary
- Agenda
- Introduction
- Closing
- Bibliography
How you handle the slides that comprise the body of your deck is mostly up to you (see topic pages for more guidance), but they should explain your analysis, recommendations and actions steps.
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- You will need RESEARCH and evidence to support your recommendations. Significant research means using databases, the library, experts, librarians, articles—go beyond a Google search.
- You are required to cite from at least 6 secondary sources—remember this is a minimal requirement. You may also conduct primary research. (i.e. interview, survey)
- Make use of strategies for persuasion to make your proposal more compelling.
PowerPoint Slidedoc Guidelines:
- Remember, a slidedoc is a written document. It is not a visual aid to be projected on a screen for a presentation. Instead, it takes the place of a formal, traditional report. So, although you are creating it in PowerPoint or some other slide-making app, it can be much more text- heavy (but still skimmable) than traditional visual aids.
- Review the course material on PowerPoint and visual aids. See the deck samples posted. Even though some of these decks address different topics, they will give you a better understanding of how a deck differs from visual aids.
- This should be a standalone document. It should not need a speaker to further explain things. You could send it to someone who couldn’t attend the presentation and they completely understand it.
- Use PowerPoint SmartArt and templates with care—it can be inflexible and not as clean and crisp as creating and formatting your own text boxes.
- Be sure to use summary/message headings on your deck pages and other techniques like subheadings and
bullet points for easy and clear reading. Keep in mind that just using bullets does not improve skimmability.
- Use charts, graphs, and images to quickly convey key points.
- Adhere to the 1000 word maximum—introduction through the closing. This excludes the executive summary, agenda, footnotes, bibliography. Do not exceed the word limit. On the other hand, being significantly under the word count will probably reflect thin research and poorly developed concepts.
- Review the deck criteria sheet as you write—include all the required elements.
