mwman

Hello all, So I am getting ready to present some research (Folklore) at a conference (Western States Folklore Society) this weekend and I am getting the jeebies about presenting from an outline as opposed to an already written paper. This will be my third conference, but the first time I am presenting on relatively new research--as opposed to research I have already composed into an article or at least a term paper. I see other presenters both reading papers and presenting more preliminary, open-ended topics all the time, but I am worried about staying on track, explaining my points well, citing everyone who should be, and sounding like an expert on something that is at this stage. Without getting too far into it, I did some research and found problems in the methodologies we use in folklore (fieldwork, interviews) to accurately and effectively deal with the topic I am studying (anonymous internet users). While I have some findings from the fieldwork I did, my presentation is more about how we can develop new methodologies for working in new media channels. I am getting nervous about trying to open up this territory as opposed to the (I looked at this, I found this) format that I have presented before. Any advice on how to have a clear, but open-ended presentation? I want to get opinions on these methodological troubles because it will allow me to do better research in my thesis (next year), but I also want to seem like I am contributing something rather than just asking for advice. Thanks!