RESEARCH SEMINARS

Professor: Judith Shapiro

In the Third and Fourth modules, second year students are divided into two groups, by (Russian) alphabetical order. Each group meets once a week for two academic hours. 50% of the mark for the Research Seminar (which is 2 full course units) is based on activities in this time period, and 50% comes from the mark for the Term Paper, which is given by the group leader.

During the course of the two modules each student presents their own work in progress once, and is a discussant of the paper of another student once. There are 2 or 3 presentations each week, and these presentations are followed by floor discussion. The working languages are Russian and English. Either may be used, but there is encouragement to use English.

Presentations are made in the medium of the student's choice. PowerPoint facilities are always available, and so is an overhead projector. It is also possible simply to elect to use the board. Of the 50% mark for seminars, half of this is for presentation, 20% for the discussant's job, and 30% is based on contributions to the discussion, for which simple attendance is obviously a necessary, but not a sufficient condition. (Quality of contributon is as important as quantity).