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Objectives

The objectives of the module are related to the amount of time available to deliver the material, that is, ten hours in eight sessions. Please maintain that perspective. What you should be able to achieve at the end of these sessions, in the test, is to transcribe a passage with a fair degree of accuracy and to answer one or two supplementary questions about the background to the document, usually related to the administrative aspects of its production. The hand will be a fairly legible and well-formed Secretary Hand. The length of the passage for transcription will vary according to the length of the lines in the document, the vocabulary, and the degree of difficulty of the hand, but should be commensurate with a working time of 45 minutes. [You have an additional 15 minutes to answer the supplementary questions]. The assessment is related to the degree of difficulty of the document, so that a document which appears more difficult may well be assessed more lightly than one which seems easy. The mode of assessment for each document is prepared before the test, on the following criteria:

a percentage mark to be deducted for serious and casual errors based on the degree of difficulty of the document;
what allowance should be made for obscure or more difficult words in the text;
what allowance should be made for proper nouns, such as personal and place-names.

Remember that our definition of palaeography for the purposes of this course is the practical ability to transcribe a passage of text. This course does not relate to palaeography as a discrete and conceptual discipline.

The test

The test consists of two questions from which you will select one. Answer only one question. We recommend that you spend 45 minutes on the transcription and 15 minutes on the supplementary question(s). Do not normalise the spelling of words; do retain upper case; do retain roman numerals; expand contractions and suspensions, where you can, either silently (that is, just expand them) or, if you wish, in square brackets; and so transcribe as you see the text; use footnotes, if you wish, to explain ambiguous or uncertain readings.

How much should you write in response to the supplementary questions? How long is a piece of string?! Aim to write at least half a page in your yellow answer book (that is, half a page of A4). Some answers will require a page of A4. The amount that you can write will depend on the nature of the document. Keep your answers concise and to the point. If you are pressed for time, you may write your answers in note form. Information about the background to the documents is provided on a separate page. Do not regard this information as a 'model answer'; it is more comprehensive than a 'model answer' might require. Do aim, however, to introduce the salient points about specific pieces of legislation or administrative structures or jurisdictions.

Learning strategies

Adopt any learning strategies with which you feel most comfortable. Here are some strategies which people have found useful.

Don't leave the palaeography until the last minute, but work it in around the other coursework;
keep it going; do 15 minutes each day; learning palaeography is largely a matter of practice, experience and familiarisation;
engage in peer group support wherever possible; it is hard for those part-timers living at a distance, but peer group support can be invaluable; you can learn an awful lot from each other, especially since the formal contact time is restricted;
don't regard it as a competitive exercise; it is not; assessment is criterion-referenced, not norm-referenced, that is you will be assessed purely on your own performance in relation to a neutral target, not against your peers;
ask for help if you feel you need it; by the end of the fourth session, you should have some idea of your progress; if you are anxious, let me know and we can consider some other strategies;
be tolerant and patient with each other; sometimes we see things which others can't and then they see things which we can't; above all, we may be starting with an unlevel playing field; some people may have some experience of palaeography already, others just starting out; some may have an aptitude for this practical skill, whereas others are better at the conceptual coursework; be tolerant to yourself and to others; above all, be patient in the seminar when others are reading from the text; please do not interrupt people reading from the text or be impatient with them;
please recognise that we may have different (cognitive) learning styles; some will learn better by doing, by reading; others by listening and following; in the seminars we will respect those learning styles; you may listen and follow without pressure.

Strategies in the test

You will have to find the strategy with which you are most comfortable, but here are some ideas:

take 5-10 minutes just reading through the document for transcription, to 'get your eye in'; don't be precipitate; take time to familiarise yourself with the hand and document;
go through the document on a first pass, leaving blanks or pencil marks where you cannot achieve words or characters;
go back over the document a second time to fill in the blanks; but this time, you may have learned from the hand or the context of the document which will allow you to fill in the blanks; compare the forms of characters throughout the document to help to fill in blanks;
don't panic; if the document seems difficult, it may well be because it is so, but it will be assessed accordingly; remember that allowances will be made and that it is impossible to select a document which will not have some difficult parts.