Academic Development and Exam Preparation I
Late Antique, Medieval & Early Modern Studies
and
Comparative History
Fall 2025/26
2 US credits, mandatory
Instructor: Daniel Ziemann
Thursday, 15:40-17:20
Venue: B-216
Course description:
Academic Development and Exam Preparation is devoted to developing the structure, topics and faculty committee for the PhD Comprehensive Exam. This involves preparing an exam bibliography (predominantly monographs, chapters in collective volumes, and journal articles, including other genres of academic publication) on a suitable topic and composing annotations explaining your choice. At the end of the term the annotated bibliography is reviewed by the supervisor and the Department’s Doctoral Studies Committee.
Learning outcomes:
Students develop an enhanced awareness of the different uses of the various forms of scholarly publications, and are better able to locate their own academic interest and work in the existing literature. As a result, they are able to submit the first draft of their documents (annotated bibliography) for the comprehensive exam.
Learning activities and teaching methods:
The course is divided into 12 seminar group meetings.
Assessment:
This course is taken for a pass/fail grade. The requirements are to submit in early December an annotated bibliography describing the logic of the titles chosen for the comprehensive exam and the application to candidacy form (provided by the PhD coordinator), including the names of the prospective comprehensive exam committee members. These materials are assessed by the prospective supervisor and the Department’s Doctoral Program Committee. Suggestions may be made for a revised submission in the winter term.
- Instructor: Daniel Ziemann