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In order to improve the effectiveness of our tutorials, it may be helpful to spell out the arrangements I have adopted. Please let me know if anything is unclear or to request a change in this procedure.
A useful guide to reading, note-taking and essay writing is Thomas Dixon’s How to Get a First (Routledge 2004), which has a useful linked website here.
 
Tutorials are held in pairs or singly, usually in consecutive weeks for full papers and alternating weeks for papers spread over two terms. Please contact me by email as soon as possible to make arrangements. Should you wish to change partners, it is important to indicate this as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of Week 2. Tutorials are held at Keble College, Room WL2 (directions here). N.B. I am not available for undergraduate tutorials outside Weeks 0-8; any left-over essays will need to be rescheduled for the following term.
 
Once times have been mutually agreed, they can be rescheduled only in exceptional circumstances. If you are prevented by illness or another pressing reason from attending, you should notify me as soon as possible. Failure to advise me of a missed appointment before 9 a.m. on the day of the tutorial will normally result in a charge to your college. Tutorials, like lectures, will aim to finish at 5 minutes before the hour to allow time to get to your next appointment.

 

In paired or small group tutorials, one student will give an oral presentation on a given subject, while the other(s) will submit a written essay at least 36 hours before. (Please note that written work submitted after this deadline will rarely be read and marked.) The presenter need not submit a full written essay; but if so it must also be submitted 36 hours in advance. Some students  prefer to read out the whole essay, but a well-structured 15-minute summary will be sufficient to introduce our discussion. I then invite the tutorial partner(s) to offer a critique and response, before launching into further comment and discussion. It is vital that you prepare well and participate actively in discussion: only in this way can the tutorial system do its job.
 
In all cases, it can help make our time together more valuable if at the end of your essay or presentation you highlight a few key questions or points you would like to see discussed.
 
I usually provide a few written comments on each essay, and oral ones on each presentation. I do notnormally give individual marks for each essay as this can be needlessly misleading or demoralizing or both, given that students often  encounter a steep learning curve in a new paper.  A classed assessment of the term’s work will usually (though not always) be noted on the online end-of-term report filed on OxCort; and the following term’s in-house Collections will also give a good indication of how you are getting on.
 
In preparing an essay, remember that even if a given topic were to surface in the exam, you are not likely to encounter it in exactly the same form. You are therefore advised to explore widely around and beyond the reading lists provided, in order to get an idea of the subject area and accumulate a useful set of revision notes. If there are books in high demand that ought to be in the Keble College Library, please let me know so that we can have them ordered as soon as possible.

 

At the same time, every essay should be constructed around a clear argument, engaging above all with the primary texts and with the merits of different scholarly interpretations, critical and textual evidence for and against, and leading up to a conclusion in which you state your own reasoned opinion. Although most essay topics are deliberately framed somewhat more broadly than exam questions, I do attempt to formulate them so as to invite you to identify a key critical debate behind the question, and to adjudicate between different interpretations in light of the evidence. Feel free to use structured headings if it helps you to streamline the argument. There is no prescribed length, but you should normally aim to write between 2,000 and 2,500 words for each essay.

 

Please get in touch if you have further questions either about these notes or about particular assignments.
 

Allowing for appropriate adjustments, the following hints may prove useful for tutorials, assessed essays and exams.

  • Read the Rubric. Usually this is unchanged from last year, but it’s good to be alert. Small changes can make a BIG difference.
  • First think, then write.Map the terrain and explain it, then narrow down the question to something manageable (and unambiguous). Decide what position you want to argue for and how to get there (agree/disagree with a quote, modify any options, etc.).
  • Answer the question.
  • Recognize and present the debate, give both sides and marshal evidence to argue your case.  Adjudicate between different interpretative options in light of the facts.
  • Be sure to cite a diversity of viewpoints, not just those you agree with.
  • Develop your argument through a clear structure and a thesis. Signpost your prose.
  • Presentation. Charm the reader. Writing in attractive English prose is half the battle.  Spacing (break up the appearance of the page), headings, etc. can help.
  • Bibliography and referencing. List only works cited, and provide full source information according to a standard format (e.g. the SBL Handbook of Style).
  • Avoid significant overlap. Use cross-references or other links between essay answers, where necessary.
  • Timing.  Divide your allotted time between the number of questions, assuming them to be weighted roughly equally. Since there are limited marks per question available, an overly long answer rarely compensates for an inadequately short one!
  • Finish and submit on time.
  • Less relevant for exams:

The Basic Idea

Passages for ‘Gobbets’ are chosen because they include something of special interest or significance; it is worth asking yourself why an examiner might have thought the passage particularly important. If nothing of special interest springs to mind on a particular gobbet, move on to a different one.
 
Gobbets are an opportunity for you to give an interpretation from any number of critical angles. Certain basic rules should be followed, but you have a considerable degree of freedom about what you do or do not include. The answer should probably be structured either as given below, or else by following the text phrase by phrase. But there is no one ‘right’ answer or approach.
 

An Approach

Context
Briefly indicate the literary context, i.e. the place of a passage within the author’s argument (sometimes it’s worth noting to the sequence of gobbets!). Explain unspecified pronouns (‘he’, ‘they’, ‘this’) if necessary. [In the Gospels: mention synoptic parallels (or lack thereof) if relevant; comment on source critical matters may be (but need not be) pertinent.]
Content
This is the main section of your gobbet. Expound the passage, with particular emphasis on any problematic or particularly significant terms or phrases. This can be done either in note form or in continuous prose. Include observations of a historical, critical, or theological nature arising from the text, relating them where necessary to the author’s views elsewhere, to other NT passages, or to OT/general background. A good practical tip is to underline or circle all the critically or theologically salient terms in the passage, and to make sure you cover at least these.
Contribution
This is the ‘so what?’ section. In writing an essay, you are given a question and have to think of the evidence that is relevant to it; in a gobbet, however, you start with ‘raw data’ and have to relate it to the question(s) or issue(s) to which it is relevant. Why was this passage singled out? I.e., what bearing does it have on our knowledge of the book or author? To which larger historical, critical or theological problems does it contribute? (Or, if you feel very adventurous: what might the examiner’s choice presuppose, and in how far is this justified and/or adequate?) For purposes of a gobbet, the ‘contribution’ aspect can be brief, stating in a concluding sentence or two how the text contributes to the relevant discussion. You need not sort out the whole issue!

 

You may not want to adopt these mechanically as actual headings, since some texts could leave your answer looking rather thinner under one heading than under another. On the other hand, you should certainly attempt to say something pertinent in each category.
 

More Tips

  • Be concise and watch the clock! If you spend too much time on one gobbet, another may suffer. Each gobbet can only carry the same (limited) number of marks.
  • In general it is best not to attempt a gobbet on the same subject that will be covered in an essay. If you can’t escape overlap, do avoid repetition; use cross-referencing instead.
  • Allow a couple of minutes for checking at the end.

Simon's Six Snappy Steps to Success in Schools 

 
  1. Use the Christmas vacation to get on top of any papers which may contain primary texts by reading and preparing primary texts, especially sections from which gobbets will be taken.
  2. Finals revision is a long-term game. At an early stage, work out for each of your papers which topics you definitely want to answer on, topics you definitely don’t want to answer, and topics you are willing to have in reserve.
    • As a rule of thumb, for papers which require e.g. 3 essay questions have 4 topics you know backwards, and two which you’d be able to answer well on.
    • Selecting these topics requires planning – try to ensure they are topics which are likely to come up by checking past papers on OXAM (www.oxam.ox.ac.uk). Avoid topics that come up very rarely; check for general patterns as to what is likely to come up (some papers e.g. GCS tend to ask almost the same questions every year, some vary considerably).
    • After that it is partly a matter of personal taste (its easier to revise stuff you’re genuinely interested in, and easier to write on the topic for an hour when it comes to the exam).
    • Once you’ve chosen your topics, don’t waste your time revising other topics in surface detail, you want to strike the right balance between breadth (the number of topics you’d be able to answer) and depth (your ability to utilise material in answering).
  3. Finals revision is a long-term game! Try to make a plan to make good use of your time from the end of Hilary until the exams, giving equal time to each paper (as Finals are assessed by an average mark). It’s important to revise mechanically – you’ll have good days and bad days, but they’ll average out. Factor in a day off a week, and the odd evening.
    • Divide the time period from the end of Hilary up to Finals into two halves – the first gathering new material for a topic, reading around topics and improving notes, reading new stuff (!!) and the second collating this material, although you should try to keep reading stuff that you find appropriate as and when you discover it. When it comes to the order of papers and topics to revise, it’s sensible to alternate between papers you dislike and papers you enjoy, to avoid getting stuck in a rut.
    • It’s important to stress that Finals revisions is a cumulative process. When you’re sitting in the hall the stuff that comes to you isn’t necessarily what you crammed the night before.
  4. Make use of Examiners’ reports (on Faculty websites). Show that you’ve read them and aren’t going to fall into the mistakes made by past finalists. These will also help you decide on a successful approach to the topics you’re taking.
  5. Plan using past questions. Send your plans off to tutors (plans are a much better use of time than practising essays). Make sure (and this is the best advice) that you answer the question. One tutor told me to: ‘Pick up the question and shake it’.
  6. The best advice is be bold! Being risky means be able to put forward an interesting and well-thought case that will make the examiners sit up and take notice.
© Simon Cuff 2009

 

TEXTS & TOOLS

Critical Editions of the Old and New Testament:

Christian Sources

Jewish Sources

Greek and Roman Sources

Dictionaries/Lexicons 

GENERAL