DISCIPLINARY VALUE OF GEOGRAPHY 223 



THE DISCIPLINAKY VALUE OF GEOGEAPHY 



By Peofbssoe W. M. DAVIS 



HAEVABD UNIVERSITY 



Part II. The Art of Presentation 



Oral and Printed Presentation. — At the close of a study, an investi- 

 gator naturally wishes to make report of his results and thus to submit 

 them to the criticism of others than himself and his immediate teachers. 

 He has then to consider whether the report shall take the form of an 

 oral statement before a conference of his associates, or a written essay 

 to be printed in a scientific journal for near and distant readers. 

 There are certain striking differences between the styles appropriate 

 to these two forms of presentation. An oral report ought to be so 

 clear that its meaning can be apprehended during its presentation; 

 hence it must be neither so terse as to be obscure, nor so full of detail 

 as to be confusing. It should be spoken, rather than read from manu- 

 script, because the style of a written presentation is usually so condensed 

 that it is not easily understood when read aloud. A printed report 

 may, on the other hand, either from terseness of style or from abundance 

 of detail, require more than one reading before its full value is 

 learned. A printed report may, if desired, be condensed into a short 

 paragraph of ten or twenty lines, giving only an abstract of results; 

 or it may be expanded to fill many pages. An oral report should not be 

 so short as to seem abrupt, or so long as to be fatiguing. An oral report 

 can not be followed easily, if it contain many local names, or numerous 

 quantitative statements and bibliographic citations; but such details 

 are appropriate enough in a printed report, if the subject treated and 

 the space allowed makes them desirable. The selection of topics and 

 the order of presentation should be very carefully considered in an oral 

 report, because the hearers have no escape from the speaker's plan: 

 they must listen to the first part, first, and to the last part, last; and 

 they must hear the whole of it. In a printed report, selection and order 

 are still important, but for different reasons, inasmuch as the readers 

 may run over printed pages rapidly if they wish to, skipping such details 

 as they do not care to read, and even reading the last page first, if a 

 summary is presented only at the end instead of also at the beginning. 

 The preparation of an oral report demands critical care in the selection 

 and definition of terms and in the phrasing of explanations ; so that the 

 right words may be immediately used; for the recall of a spoken word 

 is impossible, and the correction of a wrong word by substituting 

 another for it, is awkward and. distracting. The preparation of a 



