Weekly Writing Practicum

Course Type: Seminar
Study Focus: KBRSEGVMC
Term: Fall

Teacher: Kjell ERICSON

Course Code: JK43001

This course will introduce graduate students to different approaches to the craft of historical writing in English.


Topics to be covered include grant/fellowship proposal writing, journal article submissions, and academic presentations. The central concern is to hone the historian’s most important skill for international communication: the writing of clear, persuasive, and gripping English-language prose. As noted below, there are multiple reasons for taking this kind of course.

(Students from different research backgrounds are likely to participate. Thus, depending on student preferences, in-class discussion can be in English, Japanese, or a combination thereof.)


Course Information

Module: Research and Advanced Studies
CATS Requirements: MA 1st. year or above

Day/Period: Tue 3
Location: Sem. 1
Credits: 2


Course Goals

Objectives for the course include:
Preparing and delivering a spoken conference-style presentation.
Writing a short research proposal for an overseas fellowships.
Identifying concrete steps for submitting your research to English-language journals (as well as, of course, working to improve your writing in general).

Course Schedule and Evaluation

For a detailed course schedule, please visit KULASIS.

Evaluation will consist of the following components:

Attendance, assignments, peer-review assessments, and discussion 40%
Shorter in-class presentations and final presentation 20%
Final paper 40%

This course is intended for graduate students with interests in historical research. Registration is capped at 8 students in order to ensure plenty of time for individualized discussion and feedback.