Assessment of MPhys Introductory Presentation

Each student will give a presentation lasting for 15 minutes, with a further 5 minutes for questions. The presentation should be pitched at a level comprehensible to the other MPhys project students, who will be expected to attend all the talks in the session in which their own presentation is scheduled. Each presentation will be marked by two assessors nominated by the MPhys Projects Co-ordinator, who will also ensure that at least one MPhys project-group supervisor, not involved in supervising the project in question, will attend the presentation. In accordance with the published Marking Strategy, each assessor should complete an individual pro-forma, on which comments are to be made and marks recorded. These, along with a further pro-forma of 'agreed marks' are to be returned to the Module Lead. All marks are subject to consistency checks and, if necessary moderation. The marks for this assessment contribute to the overall module mark in proportion to the weighting indicated in the module description.

The timetable for presentations is not finalised until a relatively late stage so presentations should not assume that the audience has already seen another related presentation.

The overall mark for this assessment (out of maximum 100) relates to the following four areas each of which is marked out of 25 using the scale below:

• key aspects
  (exposition of topic and aims of project; conclusions; audibility and legibility of presentation; keeping to time)

• interaction with audience
  (tactics for involving audience, making the presentation interesting; appropriateness of level for audience)

• technique
  (logical structure of the presentation; display of data, etc., to emphasise important points)

• handling questions
  (understanding questions and responding appropriately)

21 - 25	At the standard expected for a polished, high quality conference review talk, perhaps with one or two minor deficiencies.
18 - 20	Outcome at excellent level. Could reach the standard above if several minor deficiencies were attended to.
15 - 17	Outcome at focal level. Generally good level of knowledge or ability, with only one or two significant deficiencies.
13 - 14	No major flaws, but a number of significant deficiencies. Showing acceptable levels of basic knowledge or ability.
10 - 12	Outcome at threshold level. Only one or two major flaws. Lacking effectiveness in some aspects.
5 - 9	A number of major flaws. Evidence of a lack of basic knowledge or ability.
0 - 4	Nothing approaching an acceptable performance.