1Oh good morning. You must be James.
2I'm Beth Cartwright - please call me Beth.
3Thank you.
4Now as this is your first tutorial since you started on the Scandinavian Studies course,
5I'd like to find out something about you.
6Why did you decide to take this course?
7Well, my mother is Danish, and although we always lived in England, she used to talk about her home a lot,
8and that made me want to visit Denmark.
9We hardly ever did, though - my mother usually went on her own.
10But whenever her relations or friends were in England they always came to see us.
11I see.
12So I assume you already speak Danish, one of the languages you'll be studying.
13I can get by when I talk to people, though I'm not terribly accurate.
14Now you probably know that you'll spend the third year of the course abroad.
15Have you had any thoughts about that?
16I'm really looking forward to it.
17And although Denmark seems the obvious place to go, because of my family connections,
18I'd love to spend the time in Iceland.
19Oh, I'm sure it can be arranged.
20Do you have any plans for when you graduate?
21A lot of students go on to take a master's degree.
22I think the four years of the undergraduate course will be enough for me.
23I'm interested in journalism,
24and I quite like the idea of moving to Scandinavia and writing for magazines.
25I'd find that more creative than translating, which I suppose most graduates do.
26OK.
27Now how are you finding the courses you're taking this term, James?
28Well, I'm really enjoying the one on Swedish cinema.
29That'll continue next term,
30but the one on Scandinavian literature that's running at the moment will be replaced by more specialised courses.
31Oh, and by the way, if you're interested in watching Danish television programmes -
32there's going to be a course on that the term after next.
33That sounds good.
34Have you started thinking about the literature paper that you have to write in the next few weeks?
35Yes, my first choice would be to do something on the Icelandic sagas.
36The trouble with that is that a lot of people choose that topic,
37and it can be difficult to get hold of the books you'll need.
38Why not leave that for another time?
39Right.
40You might find modern novels or 19th century playwrights interesting.
41I've read or seen several plays in translation, so that would be a good idea.
42Fine.
43I'll put you down for that topic.
44Right. So what would you advise me to aim at in the paper?
45First I suggest you avoid taking one writer and going into a great deal of detail.
46That approach certainly has its place,
47but I think you first need to get an understanding of the literature in the context of the society in which it was produced -
48who it was written for, how it was published, and so on.
49I also think that's more fruitful than placing it within the history of the genre.
50OK, that sounds reasonable.
51Could I ask for some advice about writing the paper I'm working on about the Vikings?
52I have to do that this week, and I'm a bit stuck.
53Of course.
54Have you decided yet what to write about?
55No, I haven't.
56There's so much that seems interesting -
57Viking settlement in other countries, trade, mythology...
58Well, what I suggest is that you read an assignment a student wrote last year, which is kept in the library.
59It's short and well focused, and I'm sure you'll find it helpful.
60I'll give you the details in a moment.
61Textbooks usually cover so many topics, it can be very difficult to choose just one.
62OK.
63I've got a DVD of the film about the Vikings that came out earlier this year.
64Should I watch that again?
65If it's the one I am thinking of, hmm, I'd ignore it -
66it's more fantasy than reality.
67But I've got a recording of a documentary that you should watch.
68It makes some interesting and provocative points, which I think will help you to focus your topic.
69Right.
70So then should I work out an outline?
71Yes. Just headings for different sections, at this stage.
72And then you should start looking for suitable articles and books to draw on,
73and take notes which you organise according to those headings.
74I see.
75Then put short phrases and sentences as bullet points under each heading.
76Make sure that this skeleton makes sense and flows properly, before writing up the paper in full.
77OK.
78Thanks, that's very helpful.