10 credits
Objective
The basic seminar in the PhD programme aims to ensure that the PhD candidate has basic knowledge and skills in areas that are of fundamental importance for scholarly production in general and for the thesis work in particular. The seminar is held over several days. The faculty will ensure that the majority of the activity and learning processes can be carried out in the initial phases of the PhD period.
Implementation
Each PhD candidate takes part in the following:
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Bibliographic methods (incl. EndNote)
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Writing course with presentation
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Research ethics with presentation
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Philosophy of science
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Theory of knowledge essay
The seminar is a compulsory part of the PhD programme at the Faculty of Theology.
Bibliographic course
The course is an introduction to bibliographic standards, bibliographic databases and other tools, and the bibliographic program EndNote (which is offered to all doctoral research fellows at the University of Oslo). The aim is to provide basic skills in bibliographic work at PhD level, to establish good bibliographic routines and awareness at an early stage in the PhD work, and to inspire candidates to apply high standards in the bibliographic aspects of their thesis work.
Preparations: as a background to the seminar, PhD candidates should familiarize themselves with different bibliographic standards and tools.
Literature, software and tools are announced in connection with the course itself.
Writing course with presentation
The course gives an introduction to writing techniques, typical processes and common challenges. The objective is to raise awareness of the writing process, to learn various writing techniques, and to exercise care in the candidate’s own writing processes and that of others.
Preparations: as a background to the seminar, PhD candidates should familiarize themselves with various accounts of writing techniques, read about 200 pages of thesis text, and write a presentation that gives a taste of their own presentation form and style.
Literature and tools will be announced during the course.
Research ethics with presentation
The research ethics course gives an introduction to various research ethics problems in current research: citation practice, interview practice, rules for storing research results, the assessment of the researcher as an actor, and the assessment of interests and political strategies in research activity, etc.
Preparations: as a background to the seminar, PhD candidates should write a short presentation of their project, illuminating relevant research ethics problems. This should be based on research ethics guidelines for the social sciences, humanities, law and theology.
Laws, regulations, literature and resources are announced during the course.
Philosophy of science with philosophy of science essay
The course gives an introduction to central philosophy of science for theology and the humanities. Together with lectures, there is a substantial reading list. Reading in and comprehension of the reading list will be assessed by the PhD candidate writing a philosophy of science essay. The theme of the essay must be approved by the supervisor, who will also approve the final essay.
Requirements for philosophy of science essays.
Literature is announced during the course.