(1) Attitude adjustment. You put yourself into a time hole, chose a topic without proper study, and made a sweeping, derogatory generalization about the faculty. If you’re going to deal with the situation, you’ll really need to focus on what you *can* do, and what resources you *do* have, rather than playing this victim game.

(2) Determine and organize the requirements and resources for your presentation. Is this something you set up and leave for others to read? Do you stand there to answer questions? Do you make a prepared speech? Do you get to use physical aids? Visual aids? Do you have PowerPoint, Internet access, an overhead projector, etc. available? How large / long does the presentation have to be? Does it have to hit certain points, or perform specific types of analysis?

(3) Find an interesting aspect or two of the topic. Enter “Greenhouse Effect” and “causes” into your favorite search engine, and see what factors come up. If you don’t handle Internet searches well, try an information librarian — they’re all likely to be well-versed in this topic, and can often read your needs much better than an internet search.

(4) Once you’ve chosen the general attack, make a schedule. When will you complete the initial research (to get a topic)? When will you finish an outline (and have all your references identified)? When will you complete the first draft of the presentation? When will you gather all of your visual aids (links to photos, graphs, etc.)? When will you practice delivering your speech?

Make sure you allocate enough time in your study week for each step, and keep checking your schedule to make sure you’re on track. If you’re falling behind, decide what you’re going to adjust. Will you give up that swing downtown Wednesday afternoon to finish the graphs, or will you replace the graph with a slide containing 3 bullets you can write today?