WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en-US 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:08.991 The end of the semester is approaching, and you know what that means... Exam time! 00:00:08.991 --> 00:00:13.720 Maybe this is a semester where you have been on top of all of your reading, or maybe this 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:18.960 is a semester where you are just opening your books the month before exams. At the Writing 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.170 Centre, and as fellow students, we’re not here to judge study habits, but instead to 00:00:24.170 --> 00:00:29.080 help navigate the writing process. That’s why we made this video, because whether you 00:00:29.080 --> 00:00:32.460 studied a lot, or not at all, that moment when you 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:38.230 get your home exam question or semester paper assignment you most likely will feel overwhelmed. 00:00:38.230 --> 00:00:46.750 I know especially in my own personal experience as an international master student here at the University of Oslo, I was 00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:52.440 overwhelmed during my first exam period. I hope that this video can be a helpful resource 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:57.840 for all students, but especially international students where this might be a new type of 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.420 exam format for them to navigate. 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:09.810 Often a question can seem overwhelming at first because there are so many parts to it. 00:01:09.810 --> 00:01:15.541 Where do you start? How can you organize your text? Which readings should you use? 00:01:15.541 --> 00:01:22.520 These are all important questions to ask. Often a good home exam or semester paper shows not 00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:27.899 only that the student has understood and learned from the course, but also that you can present 00:01:27.899 --> 00:01:33.369 this information in an organized and logical manner. Here at the Writing Centre we have 00:01:33.369 --> 00:01:38.700 a few tips to help you navigate this process, and for how to get started. 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:44.509 First let’s take a look at a sample exam question: 00:01:44.509 --> 00:01:51.009 “The Nordic countries tend to be portrayed as women-friendly welfare states. Describe 00:01:51.009 --> 00:01:55.719 what Hernes meant by women-friendly welfare states and discuss some of the criticism 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:01.929 of the Nordic gender equality model.” An important first step is to break down the 00:02:01.929 --> 00:02:07.359 question into smaller parts, and to also look for key words which help us understand what 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:12.830 you are expected to do when answering the question. Specifically, you should be looking 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:18.740 for the verbs in the exams question that tell you what to do. In this text we can see those 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:24.570 are "describe" and "discuss". In the first part of the question we see that it asks us 00:02:24.570 --> 00:02:31.500 to describe what Hernes meant by a women-friendly state. When we see the word “describe” 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:36.160 this often means that you are expected to show you have read and understood the readings 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:42.920 about women-friendly states enough to be able to explain them. While it is important to 00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:48.680 remember that this sub-question fits into the larger overall question, it can be good 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:55.140 to pause and think just about how you would describe Hernes’s women-friendly state. 00:02:55.140 --> 00:02:59.780 The second part of the question asks you to discuss criticisms of the Nordic gender equality 00:02:59.780 --> 00:03:06.000 model. Again, it is important to look for a verb and what action you are asked to take. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Here it is discuss. This part of the question is telling you to bring together different 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.220 ideas and arguments from your course readings, and have them engage with each other. Hey! 00:03:17.220 --> 00:03:31.930 Hey, are you sill listening to me? The next suggestion is both obvious and something 00:03:31.930 --> 00:03:38.020 many people forget to do, which is to check out your course webpage! Often this can provide 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:43.510 helpful information and help remind you of what are some of the overall goals and themes 00:03:43.510 --> 00:03:49.970 from the course which will be important to bring into focus in the exam or semester paper. 00:03:49.970 --> 00:03:58.140 Looking at course content and learning outcomes can provide many helpful insights. For example, 00:03:58.140 --> 00:04:04.530 we can see course content is about gender equality in the Nordic states with some specific 00:04:04.530 --> 00:04:13.180 focuses including work-life balance, access to the public sphere, and others as well. 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:19.509 How might these ideas be important and relevant to answering the exam question? Additionally, in 00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:24.219 learning outcomes you will find other important themes and ideas to possibly include in your 00:04:24.219 --> 00:04:30.360 response. After you have had some time to look at the 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:34.940 question and the course page, it might be a bit clearer what some of the main themes 00:04:34.940 --> 00:04:41.159 and ideas are you want to include in your response. Now, some students might find that 00:04:41.159 --> 00:04:44.831 they want to consult Google for help in answering this question. But this 00:04:44.831 --> 00:04:51.009 will only make your job harder! First, because all the material you need to answer the question 00:04:51.009 --> 00:04:57.729 is there in your syllabus, and it is this material that your exam is looking for. 00:04:57.729 --> 00:05:04.309 Also, Google will most likely only further overwhelm with you many different resources. So avoid 00:05:04.309 --> 00:05:08.960 Google and instead start going through the readings and texts for the course and start 00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:15.319 to organize and identify which materials you want to use when answering the question. Then 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:21.699 it’s the fun part: Writing! 00:05:21.699 --> 00:05:27.270 While this example has been about gender equality in the Nordic states, the strategies outlined 00:05:27.270 --> 00:05:32.580 here about breaking down questions, and looking at the course page, are relevant and helpful 00:05:32.580 --> 00:05:41.939 for most students in a variety of different fields. 00:05:41.939 --> 00:05:47.800 They can be used to help you create a semester paper question by looking at the course page to see what themes and concepts 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:53.349 are relevant and important to focus on and also as a way to help you study for exams 00:05:53.349 --> 00:06:00.719 in general. Whether that is a 4 hour written exam, or a several day take home one. 00:06:00.719 --> 00:06:06.490 Remember, that you are welcome to book a consultation with one of the writing mentors at the Writing 00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:12.520 Centre to discuss your assignment. It is important to highlight that we do not provide feedback 00:06:12.520 --> 00:06:18.409 on if your answer is right or not, or proofread your text. Rather we are here to talk about 00:06:18.409 --> 00:06:23.659 things that relate to the writing process, whether that is during the initial organizing 00:06:23.659 --> 00:06:29.600 and brainstorming, or when you have a nearly completed draft to talk about the structure. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:37.409 More information about booking a consultation with one of our writing mentors can be found at our webpage.