Initial instruction

Groups

During the semester, students are required to engage with a historical academic work process that is integrated into classroom teaching in the form of a writing workshop.

As preparation for the workshop, students must complete the following three submissions:

• Assignment topic:
  • In week 2, students submit an assignment topic within the theme of the course. Based on these topics, the teacher puts together groups of between four and six students.
  • Students are given supervision on their individual topics in these groups.

Individual

• Research question and individual supervision:
  • In week 5, students submit a research question.
  • In week 6, students receive individual supervision on their research questions.
• Summary and outline:
  • In week 6, students receive classroom teaching on how to write a summary and an outline, after which they submit their summary and outline.
  • In week 8, students receive group supervision, during which they can ask questions about their summaries and outlines.

Writing workshop

Individual

During the rest of the semester, the class meets once a week in connection with teaching and students write sections of their assignment. The workshop is based on the Pomodoro method (See section "Work with time intervals"), whereby students write intensively for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break.

Students may not access social media or leave the room during the writing workshop. They must all write. By doing so, students learn how extremely effective they can be if they concentrate on a writing task.

During the semester, the students must (among other things):

• Write a research overview: Students are given three different models for a research overview.
  • As part of their preparation, students write three to four lines about every book or article they want to use and how they will use it.
  • They then write for approximately 15 minutes on each of the three models to find out which one works best for them. After this, they write about their chosen model for one hour and then we discuss the problems that arose.
• Work with methods and source criticism: In the following week, the teaching focuses on methods and source criticism. The students re-read a textbook on source criticism (used in the first semester) and consider which source-critical concepts they can use in their own material. They then write on this for one hour.
• Edit a core text: Students must edit a published text that they read in the previous semester. The core text is between two and three pages and is poorly structured. Based on this, we discuss what a good analysis is, and then I ask the students to edit and improve the text. The main purpose of this is to get the students to understand that they can edit a published text and make the writing better – this is a surprise for some students. They can transfer their experience from this task when editing their own texts.

Assignment "emergency room"

Individual

After classroom teaching has finished, students attend a supervision session in the form of an assignment ‘emergency room’. To enter the emergency room, students must send a text to the teacher – either an excerpt of an assignment they are having problems with or a description of a problem.

Questions that focus on reading strategies whereby the students can try out different approaches to reading and note-taking.

A weekly timetable, a six-month calendar and a teaching schedule, so that they students have an overview of the course and can plan their work. We do the same later in the semester in relation to the writing process.