Guidelines for Student-Given Lectures

1. The purpose of giving a lecture is not to show off how much you know, but rather to help your fellow students understand the material. If they cannot follow you, then your lecture is a failure.

2. Try to emphasize the physical concepts first, so your listeners don’t get lost in the mathematical details.

3. Landau & Lifshitz has one major flaw: it has almost no figures and diagrams. Your lecture should contain many figures and diagrams. Diagrams drawn on the board must be large enough and clear enough so that your classmates can understand them. We are not looking for artistic talent, but you should make the effort to make the diagram meaningful. For example, parallel lines should be parallel; perpendicular lines should be perpendicular.

4. The book often skips steps in mathematical derivations. Most of the time you should fill in the missing steps, unless they are so obvious that your audience would be bored if you filled them in.

5. Speak slowly and clearly, and not too softly. Do not talk to the blackboard, but rather to your audience.