Essay in.
Now make it speak.
Submit the essay, then begin the hardest, best part, turning eight written pages into a talk people remember.
Last week, in brief.
- Introductions funnel from broad to thesis, five moves.
- Disciplines differ: HASS lingers on debate, STEM on the gap, Business on stakes.
- Conclusions restate, then add altitude, answer “so what?”, no new evidence.
The essay, Writing #2.
Workshop it one last time, then begin turning the page back into a stage.
This week.
- Last peer review of the essay
- The submission checklist
- Submit the essay (Writing #2)
- Why a talk isn't a read-aloud
- What to cut, what to keep
- One paragraph → one slide
- Map your essay to a deck
Workbook Ch 22 & the Adapting an Essay into a Presentation guide, structure, hooks, and visual aids.
The essay.
Writing #2.
Your full commentary essay (~800 words): thesis, developed body, a counter-argument, intro and conclusion, four sources cited correctly. The biggest single piece of the course.
The essay self-check.
- A clear thesis that the whole essay serves
- Body paragraphs in LEAF, two-thirds analysis
- A counter-argument, acknowledged and answered
- An introduction that funnels to the thesis
- A conclusion that adds altitude
- Four sources, cited correctly & consistently
- Cohesive flow; calibrated, active voice
- Writing Clinic visited at least once
Run a final check: every borrowed idea cited, every paraphrase truly yours, no undisclosed AI. This one carries 25%.
Last eyes before submission
Trade full essays. Read once for the argument, once for the detail.
- State your partner's thesis, is it kept by every paragraph?
- Find the weakest analysis and name what's missing.
- Check one citation for correct format.
You have a few hours to act on this. Fix the biggest issue first, then submit.
A talk is not
an essay aloud.
Your essay delivers detail to a private reader. Your final presentation delivers the same argument to a live room, in a fraction of the words.
What changes when you stand up.
- Every nuance, in depth
- Complex sentences
- Detailed in-text citations
- Read privately, re-readable
- The argument's spine only
- Short, spoken phrases
- One visual per point
- Performed once, no rewind
- Which strength of your essay will be hardest to carry onto a slide, and how might you keep it?
Keep the spine. Cut the rest.
- The thesis, said out loud and early
- 2 to 4 strongest points
- One vivid example each
- Your counter-argument, in brief
- Sub-points and caveats
- Long quotations
- Every secondary source
- Sentences you'd never say aloud
If you had to cut your essay to three sentences for the stage, which three survive?
- → What detail are you tempted to keep that the room won't need?
- → Which point earns a visual, and which is just talk?
- → What's the one line you want them to walk out repeating?
Each body paragraph becomes a section.
Your essay opens with background. Your talk opens with a hook.
A reader will wait a sentence for your point. A room will not. Lead with a story, a statistic, or a question, then drop your thesis, out loud, in the first thirty seconds.
Turn a paragraph of data into one image.
“By 2023 Coupang operated fulfilment centres within ten kilometres of most of the population, having expanded from 12 sites in 2018 to over 100…”
A line chart: 12 → 100+ centres, 2018 to 2023. You say the rest.
Map your essay to slides
Sketch your final deck, one line per slide, no design yet.
- Hook + thesis slide.
- One slide per body point, name the visual each needs.
- Closing slide with your final line and a question for the room.
Aim for 6 to 10 slides for a 5 to 6 minute talk. If you have twenty, you're reading the essay.
Homework & what's next.
- Submit the essay (Writing #2)
- Draft your slide map, hook to close
- Identify the visuals you'll need
Advanced presentation & slide strategy. Pacing a longer talk, slide flow, and rehearsing the final presentation.
This week in one slide.
- Essay (Writing #2) submitted
- A talk carries the spine, not every detail
- Each body paragraph → one section
- Open with a hook, not background
- Turn data paragraphs into single visuals
- 6 to 10 slides, not twenty
From page
to stage.
Week 11 · Next, Advanced Presentation & Slide Strategy