Students introduce the topic each week.  This entails critically summarizing the readings and helping to lead the subsequent discussion.  The presentations, about 10 minutes in length, are meant to develop seminar communication skills and to encourage participation by all members.

Your presentations should go directly to the heart of the analysis and succinctly state the author’s explanatory "puzzle", key arguments, and findings.  Avoid summarizing the details.  Use the following template to help isolate each author’s main topic and arguments.  The template can be used for handouts and transparencies that accompany presentations:

Note:  If an author explains more than one outcome/puzzle, you will need multiple listings.  Feel free to disaggregate readings according to the outcomes variables addressed.

• Handouts or transparencies are extremely useful.  These will help highlight main points and focus attention on areas of debate for further discussion.  Keep them simple!  As a rule, less is more.  We recommend the above template for your presentations. 

• Begin your presentation by introducing the topic.  The heading in the syllabus is a good clue but try to go beyond it, indicating, for example, why the topic is important.  For example, why is it relevant to discuss “Markets and States as Mechanisms of Allocation”?

• Close your presentation with a set of discussion questions aimed at getting the discussion going.  A visual can help here too.  You might develop a set of questions on hotly debated topics.  For example: Are equality and efficiency really tradeoffs, or is this a false dichotomy?  What evidence do proponents and opponents bring to bear to make their case?  Do you find this evidence compelling?  How would you attempt to resolve the debate?