Speaking Your Mind: Oral Presentation and Seminar Skills is designed with the belief that the key to good speaking is an awareness of audience and context and knowledge of the techniques of argumentation or rhetoric.  

1. Conversations and Seminars 2. Introduction to Rhetoric and Argument 3. Shakespeare and Renaissance Rhetoric 4. Everyday Rhetorics 5. Making your Case 6. Presenting your Case. Appendix 1: Sample Criteria Sheet for Peer Oral Assessment. Appendix 2: Sample Practice Presentation Scenarios. Further Reading. Glossary.

What are the skills required of a good speaker or member of a discussion or seminar group? How can these skills be acquired? Many books offer crash courses in speaking or presentation skills, but Speaking Your Mind: Oral Presentation and Seminar Skills is designed with the belief that the key to good speaking is an awareness of audience and context, and a knowledge of the techniques of argumentation or rhetoric. The book outlines a history of rhetoric and uses this to show how knowledge of rhetoric can enable readers to argue more effectively and to be more aware of the dynamics of group discussion and dialogue. The authors also introduce the reader to the skills and techniques of making a case to a specific audience as an oral presentation. Engaging and practical activities in each chapter enable the reader to practice these developing skills in scenarios that are designed to be relevant to the world of work. Speaking Your Mind and the three other books in the Speak-Write Series, Grammar and Writing, Writing with Style, and Making Your Case, are the result of three years of research, teaching, design and development undertaken by the nationally acclaimed Speak-Write Project. This project, funded by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council in England) through its Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning, was established to provide groundbreaking teaching materials to advance the speaking, writing and grammatical skills of first-year humanities undergraduates. Rebecca Stott, Anna Snaith, Nigel Wheale and Simon Featherstone are Lecturers in the Department of English, Anglia Polytechnic University. Cordelia Bryan is a freelance educational consultant.

Speaking Your Mind: Oral Presentation and Seminar Skills is designed with the belief that the key to good speaking is an awareness of audience and context and knowledge of the techniques of argumentation or rhetoric.

Trains students in effective discussion and presentation skills through a variety of practical approaches. The first chapter discusses how a seminar works to show students their roles and responsibilities in the seminar room and give advice on how to improve their skills as participants. Looks at different forms of conversation and shows how it is potentially transformative. Discusses argument and the different roles that people take when they argue, showing students how to argue more effectively. Offers practical and straightforward advice on how to prepare and deliver a short presentation which aims to make a case on a particular subject. Provides step by step activities and examples to carefully and progressively guide the student through the process. Activities can be adapted for either individual or group use, to provide lecturers with ready made seminar discussion questions. Engaging and practical activities in each chapter enable the reader to practice these developing skills in scenarios that are designed to be relevant to the world of work. Teaches students how to develop oral communication skills, the feature that employers rank as most desirable in graduates.