Research pre-seminar: Antiquity [LCLAB213]

Learning outcomes

- To acquire the techniques of analysis and interpretation of historical sources, as well as a reflective and critical awareness in the practice of the historical approach; - Develop critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills; - To learn how to implement a research question in history and to master the tools and working methods specific to the discipline; - Develop complementary knowledge to history ; - Acquire a strong capacity to analyse information, to synthesise and to write; - Mastering scientific communication by respecting the rules of reference and publication.

Objectives

- To introduce students to the treatment of a historical question in all its stages, from the definition of a problem to the oral and written presentation; - To deepen their knowledge of the sources, as well as of the working tools that allow them to exploit them; - To make students aware, as far as possible, of the particular difficulties encountered by the historian of Antiquity, due to the shortcomings of the sources, their fragmentary state, and the uncertainties of their transmission; - Familiarise them with modern scientific literature as a guide to reading the sources.

Content

The seminar is organised around a topic which is an ongoing research of the teacher. Whatever the topic, it always highlights the specificities of Ancient History (work on documents written in ancient languages, reflections based on incomplete sources, frequent recourse to so-called "auxiliary sciences"). On the other hand, it must offer, as far as possible, a broad vision of ancient civilisation and lead to the analysis of a variety of documents, in the knowledge that any historian of Antiquity is condemned to multiply his or her sources of information to the maximum.