In this blog I am going to talk about first year philosophy at Lancaster. Your first year will serve as an introduction to philosophy. You will study a variety of different modules over the course of the year, allowing you to get to grips with the many different concepts and view points. This is also a time for you to find out what you are most interested in. Philosophy is a broad topic and chances are you will be lured towards particular areas of interest. This is important, as you have the option to choose your own modules in your second and third years, so it pays to know what interests you the most.

The teaching part of the course is divided into lectures and seminars. Lectures constitute the majority of the actual “teaching”. First year lectures usually last for one hour and it is here that your professor will explain the week’s topic. Seminars, on the other hand, are participatory. Normally, your seminar tutor will lead a class discussion. This provides an opportunity to debate with your fellow students and for you to present your own ideas.

Of course, philosophy is not a subject that can just be “taught”. It requires engagement with different ideas and thinking through arguments. This is why much of your studying will involve reading the work of philosophers. Each week, you will be given a seminar reading on that week’s topic, which will be discussed as a class in the following seminar.

Your assessed work will be split between essays and exams. You will write an essay on each of the topics you study throughout the year. There are a few things you need to know. You will have to submit both a hard and digital copy of your essays before the deadline. Essays have set word limits, so make sure you structure and condense your argument to keep it to the correct length. Another important thing is referencing. References are important because they are used to acknowledge the work of others. It can be hard to get used to referencing properly. In philosophy, the most common referencing styles are Harvard and Chicago. The university has guides on each of these styles, and there are plenty of useful guides online. Just make sure you take time out to get your head around referencing as this will benefit you a great deal when it comes to writing essays.

First year philosophy exams take place in your final term. As you will already know, exams can be difficult and stressful. The first thing to remember is that philosophy is about rational inquiry, critical thinking, and sound reasoning; it is not about memorising a list of facts. You do, of course, need a good understanding of the different view points and concepts. But what is most important, is that you are able to engage with the arguments and reason your way to a conclusion. One of the best ways to help with this is to write practice essays, this way, writing in the exam will come more naturally.

All of this will be explained to you when you arrive, so don’t worry if you forget. If you are like me, you will find first year philosophy really interesting, and it will give you a good idea of what you want from your degree.

 

This week I thought I would write about presentations. If you are someone like me, who has a borderline pathological fear of public speaking, the prospect of delivering a presentation can be daunting. Presentations are definitely my Achilles heel. Essay writing comes much more naturally to me, and although this comes with its own difficulties, such as writing intelligently and coherently, these difficulties are more profound when in front of an audience. Before I start sounding too alarmist, I should also say that yesterday I had my first presentation of the year and contrary to my own expectations, it actually went rather well. In this blog post, I will share with you some of the changes I made and offer some advice on how to master the presentation.

1) Know your Topic

This one may seem self evident, but it is easy to fall into the trap of over preparation and end up with a mountain of notes without any of it registering in your head. Notes are important, but they are just props. The most important information should be stored in your brain when you walk into the presentation room. This will give your audience the impression that you really know your stuff. There are a number of things you can do to help with this. In philosophy you will be examining arguments. It is therefore imperative when reading a text that you can follow where the argument is going and locate the main moves. If you have understood the main arguments for and against an issue, then you should be able to debate it. I would advise you to do just that. The likelihood is that you’ll have a flatmate or coursemate who will be interested in this stuff too. If you can speak clearly about these issues in an informal way with friends, then it is only a small step to being able to do it in a formal setting.

2) Abstraction

Being prospective philosophy students some of you may have heard this term used before. When philosophers talk about abstraction, they are referring to the method by which concepts and ideas are stripped of irrelevant information, leaving only the aspects that function as a necessary part of the argument. This is important as you don’t want to be bogged down by irrelevant details and so you should focus only on what matters as part of the bigger picture. Philosophers like to use fantastical and sometimes outright bizarre thought experiments to test our intuitions on certain concepts. It is important not to get distracted by this. Some philosophers present arguments with so many twists and turns that it is often difficult to remember where you began. The thing to do is to take each part of the argument at a time, frequently taking a step back to identify the underlying theme, and then write it down. If you do this, by the end of your preparation you should have all the relevant information at hand, with which you can start to construct your presentation in a clear and concise way.

3) Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

This one is especially important for people like me who find public speaking difficult. It is important for two reasons. First, it allows you to perfect you delivery and tone. I was advised by my lecturer to record myself and play it back, as this will give some indication of what your audience will hear. Listening to your own voice is a painful and cringe worthy experience, but it is also a useful educational tool, which will allow you to correct and alter the way you deliver your presentation. Second, rehearsing also helps with timekeeping, which is why you should time yourself. Presentations usually have set time limits, and you don’t want to be left with the additional worry of not keeping to time. If you have practiced your presentation and you know you are keeping to time, you will be more confident when it comes to the real thing.

Hopefully these suggestions will help. But, of course, different people have different ways of learning, and if you have your own way of doing things that works for you, then maybe you should stick to it. Next week I will be writing about Lancaster’s nightlife.

 

 

 

 

Hello again,

This week seems to be the week of big decisions. Not only must I start to give serious attention to my application to do a masters degree but I am also currently on a train to find a place to live after my time here ends. This has made me reflect on how quickly my time at university has passed.

It’s not uncommon for people to tell you that university is your first taste of independence or real adult life, and whilst this is partly true, it is also a bubble. You live in a strange world where stress builds in 10 week blocks, in which weekends no longer seem to exist as you’re expected to go out in the middle of the week and then catch up with work on a Saturday and your versions of old and young refer to being first year or third year, instead of children or the elderly (which you barely see on campus and sometimes forget exist).

First year is spent being bewildered and trying to fit in, in my case badly, under the belief that if you don’t live the university life portrayed to you in American Pie then you’re boring. I quickly gave up when I realised that I liked my solitude and a night in gaming with just a few close friends was not only preferable but much cheaper than spending every night jiggling awkwardly in a club.

Second year is more about time management than anything else. Once you have settled with a constructed family of friends your main concerns are finding ways to spend any time with them, a luxury which rapidly diminishes after first year, and orchestrating a full day on campus without a cosy room to retreat to between lectures. Second year is also where you begin to think about what you want to do, but only very loosely, as it’s likely to have changed or developed since you picked your degree. As opposed to thinking of job titles or companies you ask yourself much broader questions. What are you interested in? Do you want to work in that area? What type of lifestyle do you want after university?

Third year comes along and dangles a huge needle over the bubble and all you can do is attempt to work out what bit of real life you will cling to when it bursts. Then the specific questions get asked and you are expected to have an answer. What job in what company are you applying for? Where and how are you funding your masters degree? Have you found a place to live or even already put a deposit on it?

At this point I am grateful for the occasional meetings with my academic tutor who has really helped me to focus on what I want to do and how to do it, a task that otherwise felt daunting and would have been put off until much too late, hence why I find myself applying for a Masters Degree in Philosophy and Economics and on a train to look at housing. My advice is to really make use of the resources and opportunities you are given at university, there is always some lecture or workshop going on that will help you with these big decisions so that when the time comes you have a strong direction.