Guidelines for Discussants

After the presentation, the discussant has approximately 10 minutes to talk about the presented paper. A typical presentation by a discussant would include – as a general guideline – a title page and no more than five slides.

We will announce the discussants for each paper in early spring.

Abstracts for all papers will be provided to all registered participants before the symposium. As a discussant, you will be provided with a working paper version of your assigned manuscript by March 21.

A laptop computer will be available for you to present your presentation. We ask that you email your presentation (PowerPoint) by April 2 to marketing@unl.edu. The laptop will be connected to the Internet.

If you have questions, feel free to contact us at 402-472-2316 or marketing@unl.edu.

Tips for Discussants

The following are some ideas of what you can include in your discussion. Please note that the following are only ideas and the list is by no means mandatory or exhaustive.

1. Potential Goals of a Discussant

• A discussant provides a brief (10 minute maximum) presentation regarding the paper.
• You could provide input on a paper
• You could provide your assessment of the paper
• You could suggest ways to make the paper even better
• You could attempt to stimulate further conversation within the audience

2. Potential Topics for Slides

• A general assessment of the paper
• What they think the significant contributions of the paper are or could be
• What they may consider the relevance of the topic to academia and or industry
• Areas that are especially interesting or provide a unique contribution that may be underemphasized
• Additional or alternative theoretical perspectives that could aid the paper
• What other literature streams may also be pertinent to aid the paper
• Generative results (i.e., the types of topics that the paper's results could generate) and future research streams we could look forward to from the paper
• Other ways to aid the author(s) to improve the paper even more

These are just some best practices. Indeed, not all of the following areas will be relevant for each paper and each discussant. These are just ideas to begin the creative processes.

3. Most of All, Have Fun!

The Mittelstaedt & Gentry Doctoral Symposium is a great way to interact with your future colleagues and current faculty, and the discussant role provides a means to help others with their research collegially.