Preparing and Structuring Lecture Notes

A general strategy for the preparation of good lectures includes three steps

 • Plan carefully both content and format of your lecture.
 • The lecture’s structure should clearly point to the objectives and key ideas that are presented.
 • Budget your time: allow time for feedback from your students

Lecture Preparation
• An outline is especially useful in organizing a lecture and providing an overview of general structure, subordinate points and transitions.
• A list of major points highlights the lecture’s key ideas or issues to be covered; this format requires a speaker who knows the material well.
 • A tree diagram (e.g. a flowchart) provides a system of pathways through important points with optional stopovers, tangents, useful illustrations, or examples.

Use visual cues and notes to aid your delivery:
• Color code your notes with highlighters to identify difficult points or distinctions between major examples.
• Include notations in bold type indicating time to pause, ask questions, raise your voice
Prepare your lecture for the ear, not the eye:
 • Avoid lecturing verbatim from a script; use short simple words and informal diction, including personal pronouns; speak succinctly in short sentences.

Structuring a Lecture

Begin the lecture by making a connection to the previous day’s topic:
 students want the direction of the course to be apparent as they proceed.
 • Identify your key points (what you most want your students to remember about the topic), specify the main topic or topics, and outline clear objectives for your lecture (an objective is an aim that guides action).
Structure the lecture to suit your audience and the subject matter:
• Structure the lecture in outline form and flesh it out with examples and illustrations.
• Design your lectures in ten- to fifteen-minute blocks




Sources
Davis, Barbara Gross. (1993). “Preparing to Teach the Large Lecture Course.” Http://uga.berkeley.edu/sled/bgd/largelecture.html.
Davis, Barbara Gross, et. al. “Giving Lectures that Are Easy to Outline.” Http://uga.berkeley.edu/sled/compendium.