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Speaking assignments in arts and humanities courses (including English, history, religion, philosophy, foreign languages, art history, theater, and music) often require that you interpret the meaning of a particular idea, event, person, story, or artifact. Your art history professor, for example, may ask you to identify the various artistic and historical influences on a sculpture or a painting, or an instructor of literature may ask you to explain the theme of a novel or a poem. Some presentations may be performative in nature, with students expressing artistic content.

Rather than focusing on quantitative research, presentations in the arts and humanities rely on your analysis and interpretation of the topic at hand. These interpretations are nonetheless grounded in the conventions of the field and build on research within it.