Year One Seminars

FIRST YEARS ONLY:

Here's an email I got from Year One Combined Jenni and my reply.

Jenni writes: "Hi Chris Horrie. Looking at the seminar groups list I see that I am one of the people to present a seminar paper tomorrow. I understand that this is meant to be a summary of Russell's chapters 1-9 (book 3 part 1), but I am still not sure as to what sort of piece of writing is meant to be (although I am putting something together anyway). Am I meant to bring in a printed copy of what I write or is it something you refer to, reaching it online (ie. like student blogs, could I put it on my blog)? Do I actually have to present it, if so am I allowed to read it out or is it meant to be an ingrained 'speech'."

Chris Horrie replies: Hi Jenni - It varies from person to person. All you have to do is lead off the discussion, giving an opinion or asking questions of the group (not the tutor). At this stage many students will simply produce a summary of their reading, and that is fine. Others will feel more confident and will want to provoke a discussion. We are monitoring to see that all students have done the reading and have something to say. Tutors will check this by asking any students who appear not to have done the reading to join in or respond. It is tough with such very large numbers of students, but we will do what we can. At the end of the session you need to hand in your notes. This is to help the tutor remember who said what. It does not have to be written up like an essay, it can be a few bullet points, or page references to help you remember what you wanted to say. But at this stage some students might write out what they want to say and read it. We don't really like that - because it generally does not lead to a good discussion (just the reading out of papers one after another which can be dull). We are starting seminars of this sort with papers every week with year one journalism. Seminars are done in a slightly different way on year two and year three journalism. Seminars are also done differently on other modules, such as intro to media. The important thing is that everyone has done the required reading and that there is an interesting and informed discussion based on that reading. Thanks once again for your excellent notes on the first lecture, which are a great benefit to all students and I think that - come Xmas time - you can reasonably demand a free drink from the rest of the cohort.