PhD seminar

KuFo organises the seminar series for PhD students at the Department of Language, Literature and Intercultural Studies (ISLI). Usually the seminar focuses on developing dissertation-related drafts. Dates and times may be found on KuFo's schedule of activities here. The instructions below apply to regular seminar participants.

PhD seminar instructions

Before the seminar

  • Texts for discussion should be distributed ten days before the seminar, preferably both as PDF and Word documents.
  • Texts should preferably not be longer than 8 000 words (about 20 pages). Please attach reading instructions, a short description of the text type (e.g. dissertation chapter, conference paper) and the status of the draft (all texts are treated as works in progress, but it is a good idea to provide the seminar with some information about the text’s state of completion).
  • PhD students and their supervisors decide whether drafts are to be read by the supervisors before distribution.

During the seminar

  • Usually, one fellow PhD student has been especially appointed to read and discuss the presented draft, but material may also be presented without assigning readers, as necessary.
  • The discussion should be around 45–60 mins. Subsequently all other participants may make comments or ask questions.
  • The reader starts by providing a short summary of the draft before the beginning their discussion. After the seminar, the most important comments and errata should be given in writing to the writer.

Planning

  • PhD students decide when and what to present in consultation with their supervisors.
  • Usually a PhD student should present one draft and act as reader for one draft per semester. During their last year, PhD students are not expected to act as readers.