Only two caveats. First, you have to give the presentation in person. I'm serious. Last year I had one student ask this. I had another ask if they could video tape themselves giving a talk, then just play the tape. The answer was "No" to both requests. Second, your presentation should last 25 to 30 minutes, of which I expect you to be talking for most of it (i.e., no popping a thirty minute Mutual of Ohmaha Wild Kingdom video tape in and just standing off to the side making play-by-play announcements). If you go much over thirty minutes (I know, I know, it's hard to believe but it happens) I will stop you. Therefore, plan your time accordingly. There will be time for about five to ten minutes of questions after you present (or, if you would rather, you can take questions during your talk).
Also, I want you to give me an outline of the material you will cover in your talk at least the morning of your presentation. The outline doesn't have to be terribly complex; a point form listing of the topics being addressed will be fine. I just want to have some idea of which direction your talk is going to go before you begin. You are not being marked on this outline. Your grade for this assignment depends entirely on the presentation itself.
Unlike the short oral presentation, your research presentation is not on a single article. Instead, your research presenation will reflect the topic, or area, as a whole that you have been investigating. For instance, if you are studying path integration in the desert ant Catglyphis for your research project, you should consider how to teach the class about this topic in general, rather than focusing on one or two articles about path integration in Cataglyphis in particular. Go for the big picture.
Depending on when you do your research presentation the content of your talk might be very different from another student. For example, if you are giving your research presentation on 22 October, you might be talking more about a work in progress than if you were to give your presention on 3 December, by which point you would probably be discussing more conclusive ideas. It is important to remember that giving a good work in progress talk is not as easy as one might think. You can't simply say, "Uhm, well, I guess I'll probably be looking at this. I think." Rather, you have to lay out what you have investigated so far and discuss what interesting follow up questions and research directions you will be taking, and why. Likewise, a presentation for which much of the research has been done is not easy either. In this case you have to integrate a great deal of information and present it in an interesting and informative manner, all the while making sure that you don't "bury" your audience in mind-numbing technicalities and details.
Another difference between the short oral presentation and the research presentation is in the delivery. Unlike the short oral presentation, it is not permissible to simply read a prepared paper for your research presentation. As I have mentioned, you will be the instructor of the class during your research presentation. Instructors of university courses (the good ones, at least) do not read prepared texts for the entire time of their lecture. This is not to say that you can not refer to detailed notes. That is totally acceptable. Just keep in mind what effect you are going for. As mimicry is the highest form of flattery, think about the lecture styles of some of the instructors you have enjoyed the most and attempt to incorporate these techniques into your talk.
I suggest that you devote a fair amount of thought to what sorts of visual aids you will want to use during your talk. When will a picture or graph be useful? Will a short outline of topics to be covered provide guidance and direction during your talk? Last year one student used stuffed animals quite effectively to demonstrate his points about sea turtle navigation. As always, there will be an overhead projector available. If you want handouts made to distribute to the class let me know and I will have the photocopying done. Just make sure to get me the handouts a day or two before class if you want me to make the copies. If you need a slide projector, computer projector, video machine, or other equipment, let me know and we can book it as well.
While I know that the prospect of talking in front of a class for up to thirty minutes may seem daunting, try to have fun. By this point you will have survived your short oral presentation. Remember Nietzche's famous words: "That which does not kill you makes you stronger." By this point in the course you're going to be pretty strong! So relax. Have fun with the class. If you loook like you're excited about what you're talking about your audience will be more interested and get more out of it.
Because of the wide variation in the types of talks that will be given I don't have a hard and fast breakdown for grading on this assignment. The following items, however, indicate some of the features I will be looking for: content (accuracy, overall treatment of topic, integration of ideas, etc.), synthesis of information (bringing material together from different sources), informativeness (level of detail, amount of information extracted from talk, etc.), presentation style (speaking, eye contact, lecture aids, etc.), ability to field questions, and length of presentation.
Take this link for some ideas about how to get started.