AN ACADEMIC GUIDE FOR THE ASSOCIATE MEMBER OR VISITING STUDENT

The Tutorial System

At Oxford, teaching is done primarily through the tutorial system. This unique system offers unrivalled opportunities to study concentrated topics in particular subjects. The tutorial consists in essence of an approximately one hour meeting between the tutor and one or two students, at which a piece of written work ("an essay") will be read and commented upon, with discussion frequently branching out beyond the original topic to embrace cognate areas as well. At the end of the tutorial the tutor will assign the topic to be studied over the forthcoming week and will suggest reading.

During your time in Oxford you will usually study one 'primary' and one 'secondary' subject, consisting of nine and five tutorials respectively, spread out at roughly weekly and fortnightly intervals in the term. We say 'roughly' because problems sometimes occur which make absolute adherence to this schedule impossible: You or your tutor may be ill; your tutorial course may start later in the term for some reason; or you may both simply decide that you wish to "bunch up " tutorials. As so often in Oxford, there is no absolutely "normal" pattern!

It will be apparent that the success of the system relies upon your engaging in extensive independent work, using the resources available to you, under the broad guidance of your tutor. The tutor's function is not to spoon-feed knowledge down compliant throats; sometimes you may leave one tutorial armed with only a reading list and the title of the next essay. But through the tutorial method you learn the skills of critical evaluation of material and organization of ideas not fostered by any other system - which is one reason why Oxford graduates are so highly prized in the outside world. Indeed, one might sum up the tutorial system by saying that its greatest function is to teach you how to teach yourself, probably the most important academic lesson you will ever learn.

The tutorial thus forms the focus of the week's work, providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas. A common concern of students is naturally that they wish to know how they are progressing during the term, since the only formal evaluation comes at the end of the tutorial course. In general Oxford tutors tend to confine their criticism (and praise!) to the particular topic under discussion in the tutorial and unless pressed refrain from more general comment. It is therefore in your interest to ask the tutor outright if you wish to know how you are progressing and how you may improve. Communication is a two-way affair and unless you ask questions information may not always be forthcoming! This is not because tutors do not wish to deal with such matters, but rather because they are not generally accustomed to being asked such questions by matriculated British degree students. However, once confronted they will usually be delighted to discuss your general progress.

You should always remember the Oxford tutor will be on your side, he or she will wish to see you do your best work so he or she will prod you but they will understand that the first tutorial will be a new experience for you. If you are selected for this program it will be because you will be able to do work at the Oxford level.

The Oxford Tutorial & Essay, with advice on reading lists, etc.

Excerpts Taken from "Student Survival Kit", Dr Ian Archer, Fellow in History, Keble College. Accessed 13 June 2006 at http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/ These very useful comments are published with the kind permission of Dr Archer. He wrote this advice for his own students in history but generally these comments can be applied to any of the social sciences or humanities.

• You are also encouraged to consult the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (OxCHEPS) Occasional Paper No. 1: "The Oxford Tutorial" by Mr David Palfreyman, MA MBA LLB, Bursar and Fellow, New College, Oxford University. It is available at: http://oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/MainSite%20pages/Resources/OxCHEPS_OP1.doc. It includes chapters on the sciences and other subjects.

What is your tutor looking for?

Initiative: how hard have you tried in seeking out books? have you gone beyond the demands of the reading list?

Intellectual curiosity: have you asked questions in tutorials? have you shown a willingness to study different types of history? how flexible are you in the face of new approaches/evidence? have you confined yourself narrowly to the demands of the syllabus?

Argumentative flair: have you structured your essays well? have you shown an interest in conceptual issues?

Fluency: what is the standard of your written English? how wide is your vocabulary?

Responsiveness: have you made an effort to implement any advice your tutor may have given you? do you make an effort in tutorials? do you engage with the work of your tutorial partners?

Originality: have you made a real effort to engage with the contents of what you have read? have you thought critically about the arguments of the historians?

Professionalism: have you been punctual for meetings? have you responded promptly to tutors' requests for information? have you respected the additional calls on your tutors' time?

Efficiency: how well have you managed the balance between academic and other commitments? have your assignments been completed on time?

Team-work: have you contributed constructively in seminars? have you managed to avoid the expression of personal animosities in your academic dealings with your peers?

This may seem like a tall order, but these are precisely the range of qualities on which we regularly are required to comment to employers. Please do not expect us to perjure ourselves.

Tutorials

The tutorial should be a mutual exploration of a topic. It is not a one-way transaction; you are not there to be spoon-fed. You should expect your tutor to provide some feed-back on the content and structuring of your essay, but you should not let the initiative lie always with him/her. You should always go into the tutorial with an agenda of problems you feel need discussing. If you feel a little intimidated by the set-up - and perhaps some of you will at first - then write down the things you want to discuss before you go in. You should pay careful attention to the issues the tutor raises with you and the range of alternative approaches he/she suggests. By all means take notes during the tutorial, but not at the expense of your own intellectual engagement. If you do not take notes during the tutorial, then write down what you have learned immediately the tutorial is over. Make sure that your notes are clear, and tidy them up if necessary after the tutorial. Tutors get extremely irritated when they find themselves going over in revision stuff through which they know they have laboured in tutorials.

[If applicable] Always listen patiently to what your tutorial partner(s) say, and be prepared to comment on their arguments. Don't always wait on your tutor's judgement. Never dismiss another person's point of view without arguing a case, and avoid posturing.

Relationship between assignments

The weekly assignments should not be viewed in isolation; they are simply convenient divisions into which the material is divided for the purposes of learning... This means that you should endeavour to make connections between one week's work and the next. Sometimes students find the themes of papers rather alienating at first, but many of the ideas and approaches you use early on can be applied to later assignments, and you will also find that the insights of one paper can be applied to another.

Assessment Criteria

Your work will be assessed according to the following criteria: focus on question, overall structure, coherence of argument, depth of reading, use of evidence and accuracy, and prose style.

Oxford has not yet surrendered to the new barbarism of subjective spelling and grammar. Illiteracy will be penalised [dyslexic students have special guidelines].

Essay planning

Planning your essay is essential, and you should ensure that you leave enough time to do it properly. Planning the essay is something you should be doing throughout the time of your work for it. Some students are paralysed at the point when they come to write the essay often because they have not been thinking about the demands of the question while researching the assignment. It is a good idea to keep a sheet separate from the main body of your notes on which you should record thoughts and ideas relevant to the essay title as they occur to you in the course of your reading. These jottings do not need to be elaborate, but making them will assist you in shaping an essay.

Essay writing

Your guiding principle here should be clarity. Much of what I say below relates to making your case explicit and providing signposts to your argument. Aristotle helps us here: 'A speech has two parts. You must state your case and prove it. You cannot either state your case and omit to prove it, or prove it without having first stated it; since any proof must be a proof of something, and the only use of preliminary statement is the proof that follows it'. The introduction obviously plays a key role in providing the reader with guidance as to where you stand and how you propose to tackle the question.

Introductions have a number of functions. They can be used to IDENTIFY the issues which the question raises and the range of previous historical opinion (the 'historiography') on the question. Where opinion is divided - and it usually is - the introduction also provides an opportunity to EVALUATE the arguments (albeit in a preliminary fashion), either by indicating the kind of evidence on which they are based, or by looking at some of the conceptual difficulties raised by historians' different approaches. This evaluation should help you to SIGNPOST your own approach, in other words to establish an analytical strategy. The type of strategy you adopt will depend on the kind of question you have been asked but it often helps to break the question down into a series of sub-questions, each of which can be addressed in a separate paragraph.

Another (perhaps more interesting) technique is to begin the essay with an example which in some way encapsulates the nature of the problem you are exploring. You might use your example to generate the questions which determine the sequence of subsequent paragraphs.

Undergraduates often ask tutors whether they should or should not put their conclusions in their introductions - and they often misunderstand our answers, because there are not hard and fast rules. It is more important for the introduction to define the problem than to give a solution; so stating the conclusion should never be a substitute for opening up the issues. Having said that, it may be obvious by the end of the introduction what you are going to argue because of the way you are tackling the question: all well and good. But try to avoid the mechanical, 'In this essay I am going to argue that...': there are more artful ways of doing this.

Likewise conclusions are often difficult to handle, and I will confess that they give me more trouble than any other bit. If your essay has developed a clear line, you won't need to sum it up! You may want to find an appropriate image, example, or quotation which sums up your position.

Your essay should be clearly organised into paragraphs. Each paragraph should have an argument that is somehow related to the main question. If it does not, it should be eliminated. The argument of the paragraph (its proposition) should be announced in the first sentence of the paragraph (the 'topic sentence'). The following sentences should prove the proposition by means of evidence. It is also legitimate to use the topic sentence to introduce a question or state a problematic provided that (i) it is related to the main question; (ii) the paragraph addresses that question/problematic, and sticks to it; and (iii) your answer to the problematic is clear by the end of the paragraph. You should not drift from the subject matter announced in the topic sentence. It should be possible for the reader to make sense of your essay by reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Test for yourself.

Some students have difficulties linking their paragraphs. Much depends on whether you have successfully identified an analytical strategy at the outset. If you have done this well, you will already have given the reader the necessary signposts to the argument, so that he/she will know where each unit stands in relation to the whole. But there are other devices for linking material. One is by means of a brief summary of the argument so far, pulling the strands together, and indicating the thus far unanswered questions. Another is by providing a numbered sequence of points: 'There are (say) three reasons for this' ƒ then list them in summary form ƒ then devote a paragraph to each. Numbered sequences can also be used to organise material within paragraphs.

Another common source of difficulty lies in the use of evidence. Students either give no evidence at all for their assertions or they wallow in superfluous detail. Remember that you should never substitute an historian's opinion for a discussion of evidence on which it is based. In other words it is not adequate to say that 'Archer has shown that x is true', without indicating something of how Archer got there. After all Archer may be a historical mountebank! But neither is it necessary to reproduce all Archer's evidence. A telling example, contemporary assessment, or persuasive (if you are convinced) statistic is often enough. Still more impressive is the classification of types of evidence: 'Contemporary assessments by ƒ (give example) suggest that ƒ This is confirmed by the evidence of A (give source type and example) and B (give source type and example)'. You should try to weave in evidence allusively rather than feel the need always to labour points.

As a matter of fact it is unwise to name-drop, not least because it is likely to lead you into the trap of substituting opinions for evidence. It is sometimes helpful to indicate historians' opinions in the introduction, but thereafter it is best to get down your own response. Name-dropping is also dangerous because of the risk of getting the wrong name. Some students show a distressing propensity to credit the writers of textbook cribs with the insights copied out from an original authority the student has been unable to consult.

Always move from weak points to strong ones. In other words don't end your essay (or indeed an individual paragraph) with a whole series of qualifiers thereby undercutting your argument. If you are dismissing a given line of argument do it at the beginning of the essay, not at the end; you must end on a positive note.

An argument is always strengthened by anticipating the obvious objections. The best historians will attempt to answer those objections.

Students sometimes get confused by the bewildering variety of historical experience, e.g. the problem of local variations. But remember that it is the historian's task to identify the variables which explain those differing patterns of behaviour. A standard rhetorical device which helps here is structuring the argument as follows 'Although example x shows that in a given set of circumstances y outcome z applied, nevertheless in the majority of cases circumstances b applied producing outcome c, as shown by examples a1, a2, a3 etc.'

Avoid purely descriptive material; make sure that everything you write is problem orientated.

Your essay should be concise; normally somewhere between 2000 and 3000 words should be adequate.

Your essay should be clearly presented, and your tutor will probably be pleased if it has been word-processed using the facilities in the College's Computer Room. You should, in any case, acquire word-processing skills while at Oxford, as they are a definite career advantage.

All essays should include a margin of sufficient breadth to allow for written comments by the tutor.

You should always include a list of books and articles you have read at the end of each essay, or you may wish to footnote quotations. [Whatever notation style you use, it must be clear and consistent]

If your tutor has marked an essay, always read his/her comments, and try to act on advice given. If you cannot read the comments ask for them to be deciphered.

Reading Lists

One of the most initially intimidating aspects of learning at Oxford is the reading list. You will undoubtedly be expected to read more than you have ever done at school. Your tutor should give you some guidance as to the order of priority to be observed among items, distinguishing between outline surveys, monographs, and articles. It is important that you realise that different types of text require different types of reading. You will read a few sources, articles and chapters in full. But you will also need to read some things at speed, especially if you are just trying to get a general sense of the argument. Varying your focus and speed so as to take in what you need, but no more, is one of the skills you will need to develop.

Textbooks you should read to get an idea of the order in which events happened and a notion of key personalities and historical issues. They are best read in the vacation preceding the term in which you study the paper. I do not advise you to take extensive notes from textbooks; you will end up virtually copying them out, and they will often leave you ill-equipped to answer questions because they rarely give a sense of the current debates. It is better to buy the textbook and use it for reference purposes as you cover the paper. Confine any note taking you make to analysis rather than narrative, while taking care to ensure that you have supporting evidence.

Students are often deterred from reading monographs because of their bulk; this is a pity because they can often provide new angles on familiar topics. Monographs do not necessarily have to be read from cover to cover; pay careful attention to tables of contents; sometimes your tutor will direct you to individual chapters; monographs are often susceptible to gutting; you can look at introductions and conclusions, and at the beginnings and ends of chapters; sometimes an article can be skimmed by reading the first and/or last sentence of each paragraph (the appropriate technique will depend on the author, and spotting the correct technique is something at which you will become proficient over time). Because writers of monographs are engaged in an academic discourse they tend to labour their conclusions, giving ten examples where one will do. Look out for the framework of the argument, and don't allow yourself to be swamped by detail - except where, you think, the detail is at the heart of an argument or is the crux of a whole topic or essay. Similar prescriptions apply to the reading of articles.

Make sure that you learn to use indexes. Sometimes you will be looking for information on a specific topic or individual; if the book has been properly indexed (alas, not always the case) you will be able to pinpoint what you need. But look carefully at how the index is arranged (in particular at the level of thematic indexing); sometimes it is necessary to engage in a certain amount of lateral thinking to find what you want.

Your reading should always be active. It is perfectly possible to spend long hours in the library but to make zero intellectual progress. This happens when you read passively, in others words without a set of questions in your mind. To generate a set of questions: think about the assignment you have been set (what is the broad structure of the subject? what parts can it be divided into? what seem to you to be the main themes within the topic? what interests you most about it? what broad questions does it raise? what is the range of alternative answers to the question you have been set?); think about the types of evidence the author is using; think about how the author relates to other authorities you have read; think about definitional and conceptual issues; think about other essays you have covered which address the same kind of historiographical issues; follow up any hints your tutor may have given you. Use textbooks for initial orientation, then move on to monographs and articles, preferably looking at as many as possible briefly in order to determine which will be most useful for the kind of questions you have become interested in.

Remember that while reading you are thinking about the ways in which the past has been investigated and interpreted and debated by historians, as much as trying to learn about the past itself. So, think about what the book/article is trying to do. Is it offering a synthesis or overview, making available some new information from primary research, or challenging older opinions with new arguments, ideas, and/or facts - or a combination of these? When was it written (especially in relation to other items on the same topic)? What are its assumptions and prejudices? Which sources is it relying upon and which has it missed out: do these make a difference to its line of argument? You should always be building up a picture of how historians work, and of the variety of ideas they entertain about the past.

• A further point which I can't emphasise too strongly. Don't feel hide-bound by the constraints of the reading list; if something interests you follow it up through the foot-notes; browse along library shelves by all means; look out for short-cuts to the monograph literature, e.g. by reading the reviews in periodicals like the English Historical Review, Historical Journal, Journal of Modern History. ...

A note on 'relevance'. Some students seem to think that a text is irrelevant if it does not directly answer the question they have been set. This is to fail to recognise that there would be little point in asking the question if there were a 'pat' answer somewhere. The reading you will be given often requires thought; some of the connections will not be immediately apparent. But, and this is very important, if you feel that a text has been irrelevant (or indeed if you have had difficulties in understanding it), use the tutorial to ask about it.

Monitoring progress

Students often complain that they do not know where they stand. There are a number of mechanisms for feed-back. Sometimes tutors do not use them properly, and students have cause for complaint. But remember that any act of communication involves two parties, and if the mechanism has broken down, it may be because you have done little to activate it. Your tutor should provide feedback on essays in tutorials. If he/she does not, ask.

Note that by feedback I do not mean grades. My personal view is that it is unhelpful to label a student's work on a week-by-week basis with a raw grade. This can have the effect of discouraging students who are trying hard but who do not necessarily register improvement in the short-term. You can only expect to make significant strides by sustained effort. But note that you may ask for some indication of the level of your performance at the end of each term.

Punctuality

Once your tutorial time has been set, you should stick to it. If you know of some regular commitment which may make attendance at a particular time difficult, you should tell your tutor in Noughth Week. Note that it is particularly difficult to rearrange the times of group classes once they have been fixed because of the number of parties potentially inconvenienced.

Always turn up for appointments on time. If you think that you are unable to make an appointment, please write to the tutor indicating your reasons. Never leave apologies until after an appointment has been missed; your failure to arrive on time will have generated a considerable amount of resentment in the mean time. These considerations apply with added force to tutors outside Keble.

If your tutor has asked for an essay to be handed in prior to the tutorial, please ensure that it is handed in by the time specified. If it is late, you should not be surprised if your tutor refuses to mark it. It is illegitimate to expect your tutor to be marking your essay in the early hours of the morning simply because the poverty of your own organisation has resulted in its being handed in late.

Courtesy

Behave courteously towards all those with whom you have dealings (fellows, secretaries, College staff, and other students). Always show yourself willing to apologise, preferably in writing, if you have lapsed in any way.

Balance between academic and other commitments

The first call on your time must be your work. This does not mean that you are not encouraged to engage in other activities (sport, drama, music, College and University Societies). On the contrary the flexibility of your timetable is one of the chief advantages of an Arts course. But you must learn to organise your timetable so that your work does not suffer. Some hints on time management are offered below. But one important point to be emphasised is that before undertaking any time consuming activity (e.g. holding College or University Office) you should discuss the matter with your tutor. You should avoid such commitments in the third year.

One hopes that your enthusiasm for the subject is such as to make these exhortations unnecessary, but bear in mind that there are sanctions against students who do not work.

Time management

In many ways this is the biggest challenge of your time at Oxford. For much of your previous academic career you have been bound by timetables imposed by external agencies. It is also worth emphasising that most future careers will also impose demanding schedules. While at Oxford, however, you are given a considerable degree of freedom to manage your own time.

  1. The most important point is to make sure that you work steadily. Do not leave your work until the last minute, but allocate a set number of hours each day to your work.
  2. One source of problems is the cycle whereby students do one set of assignments weekly [a primary course] and another concurrent set of assignments fortnightly [a secondary course]. This means that in some weeks one essay has been completed, in others two. It is tempting to take things easy in the 'lighter' weeks, but this is foolish as it piles up work for the following week. Create a timetable for each week which allocates time to both assignments.
  3. Remember that efficient work depends upon a degree of concentration. One implication of this is that the efficiency of your work will depend on where you work. Some students use the College Library as a talking shop; others find that working in their rooms leads to continuous interruptions from friends wanting cups of tea; you may find it better to work where there are fewer distractions, and this is particularly true if you are a social animal. There is a great choice of academic venues in Oxford: the Bodleian has numerous reading rooms of varied character, and you will probably find the Faculty a congenial environment. This is not to say that you should not socialise, rather that you should canalise your social energies into set times of the day.
  4. Some students know that because of major extracurricular commitments they will be extremely pressed in particular terms. If this is the case, then they should discuss the matter in advance with their tutor. In these cases a sensible course of action is to build up an essay bank during the vacation preceding the term in question, i.e. to prepare a number of essays beforehand.
  5. Keep financial affairs in good order, because disentangling them will take up a lot of your time. Settle your bills promptly; ensure that you have the funds to meet your obligations; and apply for grants and loans at the start of the year. Failure in this area is rarely balanced by academic success.
  6. Keep your correspondence in good order, replying promptly to the communications you receive.

Invitations

You may occasionally receive invitations while at Oxford, some from tutors, some from College Officers, some from College and University Societies. If the invitation says RSVP it is frankly rude not to reply. Some people are unclear on how to reply to formal invitations. The usual form is as follows: 'AB would like to thank CD for his/her kind invitation to whatever and is delighted to accept/regrets that he/she is unable to come'. If you have enjoyed a social occasion hosts generally enjoy receiving written thanks, particularly on nice postcards! It makes the host feel that the occasion has been worthwhile and induces the kind of benevolence which is likely to produce further invitations!

References

Never give a tutor's name as a referee unless you have asked permission of him/her. It is a good idea to send your tutor a copy of your C.V. or an application form to ensure that the reference is written from an informed position. Make sure that your instructions are crystal clear, e.g. with respect to deadlines. Such instructions should be written down. Always allow your tutor plenty of time to write the reference, and make careful enquiries as to the tutor's availability during vacations (there is a possibility that he/she will be absent on research).

Enjoying the course

Oxford can provide an incredibly vibrant and stimulating intellectual and cultural environment. How far you benefit from this will be the real test, because the fulfilment of your intellectual and cultural potential depends on choices you make. Many of those choices are outlined above, but note the following tips to increase your enjoyment.

  1. Try to broaden the range of topics you study. There are opportunities within the outline papers to study social, economic, cultural, ecclesiastical, intellectual, military, diplomatic, and political themes.
  2. Be prepared to talk about historical topics with your peers. Historians should make good dinner-time companions with interesting conversation!
  3. Try to let your historical understanding inform your perceptions of contemporary political issues, and talk about them with your friends.
  4. Seek out some of the special lectures, particularly those given by visiting academics. They will broaden your horizons.
  5. Make your holiday travel arrangements mesh with areas of your historical study. Your enjoyment of a place will be much enhanced by an understanding of its history.
  6. Read some historical novels.
  7. Read a decent newspaper or news magazine like Prospect, The Economist or New Statesman and Society. Historians should always be alert to the world around them. They do not live in the past.

[The above advice is obviously geared towards historians, but is generally applicable]

Finally,

Please remember that the demands on your tutors' time are multiple. They are not merely undergraduate teachers, important though that is to their role; they have administrative duties in both the College and the University; the have responsibility for graduate students both in their College and elsewhere; and, most importantly, they are part of an international research community. This is not to discourage you from approaching them; but it is to encourage you to observe the guidelines outlined above. Remember that Oxford gives its students a unique level of access to its faculty members, and you should therefore respect the demands on their time by conducting your relations with them in a thoroughly professional and mature manner. In that way you will get the most from them.