Preparing for Study at Oxford: Notes for Freshers

Lincoln College

Preparing for Study at Oxford: Notes for Freshers

Introduction

Welcome to Lincoln College! These notes are intended to give you an idea of how you will study at Lincoln over the next three or four years. They are not intended to answer every question, nor to provide a 'universal study plan'. Part of the challenge of undertaking study at University is learning to manage your own time to fit the individual demands of your own course of study. The notes below give some information about the sorts of tuition you will receive, about ways of approaching the work which you will be expected to do, and about the support which you will receive from your subject tutors and other members of College. It may be that your own subject department or faculty will also lay on introductory sessions on approaches to study: this material is meant to supplement, NOT replace what you will have access to in your own subject, which will be tailored carefully to reflect the particular demands of that subject.

Contents

In this booklet you will find information and advice under the following headings:

1)How will my tuition be organised?

2)What happens in a tutorial?

3)Preparing for a tutorial: reading, note-taking, written work

4)Lectures

5)How do I know how I am doing?

6)Managing your time

7)Student Support

8)Study Support Resources



How will my tuition be organised?

1.1 Before coming up to Lincoln, you will have heard of 'tutorials' (or ‘tutes’ as they are known locally!): these provide the focus of learning at Oxford, and will be described in more detail in Section 2 below. In general terms, all undergraduates have one or more tutorials every week for the eight weeks of Full Term. Tutorials are given by the relevant subject tutor in College, who will normally be a permanent Fellow of Lincoln, but may also be a College Lecturer. Or you may find that you are sent to an external tutor in another college, who will be an expert in a particular area that you want to study. External tuition will be arranged for you by your own subject tutor in Lincoln.

1.2In a tutorial you meet with your tutor either individually or with one or two tutorial partners who will either be students from your own year and college doing the same subject, or students from other colleges studying the same subject. In a tutorial you will present work which is then discussed with your tutor and your tutorial partner/s. In Arts and Social Sciences this work will normally take the form of an essay; scientists in tutorials generally willbe working through problems which they have been given and prepared beforehand. The individual attention and contact time provided in these sessions is a large part of what makes an Oxford education so special.

1.3You may also be taught for some aspects of your subject in small classes either in college or in the department. You will be expected to complete reading for these classes and to produce some work over the term, which may include a presentation as well as written work. You may not be asked to produce written work as often for classes as for tutorials, but this does NOT mean that you can ‘take weeks off’ from preparation for the classes. Do any set reading thoroughly, as you will not get the most out of the class without such preparation.

1.4 As well as tutorials, you will have access to lectures, as in any other university; while tutorials are the responsibility of Colleges, lectures are organised by the various faculties of the University. Your College tutor will advise you which lectures to attend (see Section 4 below). If you are studying a science subject, you will also have timetabled laboratory periods for practicals, which are compulsory.

1.5 And, most important of all: in addition to the formal elements of your tuition outlined above, you will spend most of your working time, especially in the Arts, in independent study, preparing work for your tutorials and classes.



2. What happens in a tutorial?

2.1When you meet with your tutor for the first time in 0th week (‘Noughth Week’, the week before the start of Full Term), a time and a place will be arranged for your first tutorial. This will usually take place in the tutor's office or study in College, or may take place in their office in their own department. You will be given a reading list and a subject for your first essay or, in the case of scientists, a set of problems to prepare for working over in the tutorial.

In a tutorial you will meet with your tutor, usually in a group of not more than two or three undergraduates, and present work which is then discussed with your tutor and your tutorial partner(s). Some tutors ask you to hand your work in at a prescribed time before the tutorial, and will then read it beforehand, discuss it with you during the tutorial and hand it back to you then, perhaps with written feedback; other tutors prefer you to bring your work with you to the tutorial.

In the case of an essay, you may then be asked either to summarise the arguments in it for your tutor and tutorial partner, or you may be asked to read it out in the tutorial. In the case of a set of problems, you will be expected to be able to explain your answers to your tutor. A tutorial will normally last about one hour.

2.2 The aims of a tutorial

The last paragraph has already begun to give an idea of what to expect in a tutorial.Tutorials are a major method of teaching in Oxford in all subjects, the main method in humanities subjects and an important part in science subjects. Tutorials are not intended to be a 'mini lecture': lecture courses provide a chance to 'get information'. Nor is it the aim of tutorials to cover all the topics that can come up in the exams. Questions in the exams are set from material covered in lectures, as well as from material covered in tutorials.

The main aim of tutorials is to require you to think actively about the material being covered, dealing with the issues in a constructive and critical way and learningthrough explaining your ideas to your tutor. Another aim is to help you improve your written work, through interaction with your tutor during the tutorial. The interaction between yourself as student and the tutor is intended to make clear what you already understand, and where the tutor can help by clarifying issues and encouraging further reflection.

A tutorial will help both you and your tutor assess how far you have mastered the work assigned to you; it will help you solve difficulties which have arisen in the course of that work; and it should offer guidance with a view to further progress. It provides a framework for your study.

2.3 How to get the most from a tutorial

Not every tutorial is the same: the form it takes will vary from subject to subject and from tutor to tutor. Presenting your work in a tutorial can be daunting at first, but it is an excellent way of judging whether or not an argument really stands up or whether youreally understand the answer to a problem or the method you used. You are alwaysexpected to prepare for your tutorial and to write an essay or do a set of problemsfor it, and you must always hand in work/present work at the time required. You willget the most out of tutorials and enjoy them most fully if:

you do enough work and more in preparation for them - otherwise you won't get the points made in discussion or understand the solution to problems, and won't be able actively to participate and contribute;

you pluck up courage to put forward your own views and participate - tutorials are about the exchange of ideas, tutors are not there to lecture at you/entertain you during tutorials! Use tutorials to get your questions answered, and don't be afraid to reveal your ignorance. Tutors do not grade yourperformance in each tutorial according to how much you know;

you don't mind standing up for your own views. Tutors enjoy argument, and won't be offended if you disagree with them, provided that you have good reasons for doing so. And be prepared to argue and discuss with your tutorial partner/s inside and outside the tutorial - you can learn a lot from each other;
you’re prepared to learn from your peers- don’t wait a week if you don’t understand how to approach a problem. Learn from your colleagues and be prepared to demonstrate your understanding in your tutorial.

In short, the main thing is debate, discussion and the habit of exchanging ideas with your

tutor and fellow students.

DON'T be tempted tospend the whole tutorial taking notes; however, it is helpful for when you go back to your essays or problems for revision to have some record of how to solve the problems or of what was said, and of the course that the discussion took, as you'll find that otherwise you won't remember it accurately over time. You could, for instance, note down headings, and fill them out in detail or go through set problems again soon after the tutorial. And ask your tutor if you are anxious about what sort of notes to take.

The tutorial system is the most flexible method of teaching. Tutorials are interactions between students and tutors. As a result, a tutor may respond to and comment on students' work in a number of different ways. These will depend in part upon the students' own input and comprehension. Thus the tutor does not prepare a set tutorialbut responds on the basis of the quality of work that the student provides. This work and the discussion in the tutorial makes it clear what the student already understands,and where the tutor can help by clarifying issues and encouraging further thought.

2.4 Your responsibilities towards your tutor

Your tutor will expect you:

To attend each tutorial at the agreed time.
Not to cancel a tutorial unless you are ill or for some other important reason, and to let him/her know in advance if you cannot for any reason attend.

To let the tutor know well in advanceif you are having problems with a particular essay or problem set, or the material in general.
To read all the essential reading indicated when the assignment is set.
To produce the work by the time specified.

2.5 Sorting out any problems

Occasionally, problems may arise about your tutorials which you may feel are not of your making. You may, for instance, find that for one reason or another you do not get on with your tutorial partner, and feel that you would benefit from a change. Or perhaps you feel that your tutor is not explaining some points adequately, or not making it sufficiently clear how you are progressing. Usually the best course is to talk frankly to your tutor (normally after making an additional appointment, rather than trying to do this during the tutorial hour itself). Many problems can be sorted out in this way. If you feel reluctant to talk to your tutor (e.g. in a case where the root of the problem is a bad relationship with a tutor), then you should arrange to talk to the Senior Tutor, or to any of the members of College mentioned in Section 6 below.

2.6 Feedback on Teaching

You will be given the chance to comment (anonymously if you choose) on the teaching which you get through University classes and lectures through questionnaires that youwill be given at the end of such courses.

In College you have the chance to comment on a termly basis on your tutorials through aTutorial Evaluation Questionnaire.



3 Preparing for a tutorial

So now you have been given a topic and a reading list for your first essay orset ofproblems....now what?!In the humanities you will need to find your way around what looks like an overwhelmingly long reading list (hopefully your tutor will have given a head start in identifying the most important titles on it, and your Library induction will help you to find them); you'll need to find the books; you'll need to think about taking notes from what you read to refer to in writing your essay and you'll need to find time to write the essay in time for the deadline given to you by the tutor; in the sciences, there are generally only a few books on a subject and a complementary set of lectures particularly aimed at covering the material set.

All this must happen within a week, and must happen in parallel with any other lectures or practicals which you must attend. Planning your time will be very important. Planning your work will also be important. Before you launch into reading for your essay, find some time to think about the topic or question which you have been set, so that you understand what it's looking for. This will help you to focus during your reading and will help you in approaching the matter of taking notes.

Discussions with your fellow students over the week can also be a very valuable way to learn and can help develop understanding and argument.

3.1 How to approach reading

Your tutor should give you some idea of the priorities in the reading lists you are given. Don't be afraid to ask for such advice, or to comment on the reading lists. Although their functions may differ (check with your tutor), as a general rule, reading lists aim to give you all the background information you might want, not everything that it is necessary to read to do well in your course. It is more important to choose wisely what to read, and to read intelligently, than it is to read a lot. Tutors are always keen to improve their reading lists in the light of students' comments. Don't buy books until you have obtained advice on what is essential: your tutor can advise, and also your College 'parent' in the same subject. Always remember:

Attitudes to books vary between subjects; lawyers, for instance, need advice about reading cases and using casebooks; English students need a clear sense of primary and secondary sources; science students need texts that cover the relevant material. Get used to classifying books as to their function; this will define the way that you use them (for instance, material relating to arguments or theories needs to be read fully and understood, while a source of factual information is best used by looking into the index to find the fact that you want.).
Use librariesas tools. It's often worth browsing along the shelves in libraries to get some idea of what's available. Don't forget that the Librarians are experts in helping you to locate the items that can help you in the Library. And don't forget the full range of libraries available to you in Oxford, apart from the College Library: you'll be introduced to these during your first week at Lincoln.
There are always more sources of information available than you could possibly read. It is often useful to 'skim' through a fair number of texts first to get an idea of how much information of relevance they contain and then select a smaller number to work from. Don't just take the first book you see (or the first on the reading list) back to your room and assume that it will be good enough.
Different types of reading-matter need to be read at different speeds; a high powered article might be worth spending a whole morning on, whereas in some subjects even a fat book can sometimes be got through in half an hour.
If you have a particularly difficult piece to read, you may need to read it more than once - first to get the gist, then more closely to get answers to the specific questions you have in mind. You may need to go back and read a simpler text as an introduction.
You don't necessarily need to read a book from cover to cover. Get into the habit of using books as tools: select what you need to read, using the index and page of contents. The Preface or Introduction can be useful in giving an idea of the contents. Different books cover the same topics in different ways- one may be clearer to you than another, so look through several textbooks when trying to understand a topic
Reading is about how much you take in, NOT about the volume of pages you get through. If you get too tired or bored, take a break, or alter your body position.

3.2 Note-Taking

Notes are not an end in themselves. Making good notes will help you write a good essay or understand a particular topic, and will give you something to refer back to during revision. Don't forget that the essay question or topic should be the main criterion and focus for what is note-worthy; your notes should be targeted at the main points raised by the question or central to the topic. As you read, divisions and sub-themes of the overall question will emerge; note them down. They will both help with the topic in hand and will also provide additional points to take into account when revising that area later on. Also don't forget to make a note of any ideas that come to you in the course of your reading; even if they are not directly relevant to the week's work, thay are valuable as part of the general understanding which you are building up about that area of your subject, and, again, will be useful later for revision.