From Campus to Cafés: Writing the Middle East for Your Daily Read
registration
Registration in Campus Management (or if applicable via your dedicated Office for Academic Affairs) is required in order to attend the course.
regular participation
Active and regular participation in the discussions and contributions to the respective assignments are expected. Being “active” means paying attention and participating within your own capabilities, not being “talkative.”
You also don’t have to apologize for an absence from a meeting in advance or after.
active participation
- There will be 7 tasks and writing/review exercises assigned throughout the semester, as outlined in the syllabus. These should be submitted by the stated deadlines.
- Paper topics for task #1 must align with the “Call for Papers” prompts provided and be approved by the instructor.
- Students can choose to work individually or in teams of 2–3 co-authors for the assignments.
- There will be periodic peer review sessions where students will exchange drafts and provide constructive feedback.
- Successful completion of these tasks is a prerequisite for the final paper submission.
- Participate in on-campus input sessions and discussions following writing and review times.
- How to deal with deadlines: The specified deadlines are important, as your submitted work forms the basis for the subsequent sessions. If you submit your work late (or in another format), we will unfortunately not be able to discuss it together in the session – you will miss the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from your fellow students.
If you can foresee that you will not meet a deadline, please think about it early on: - How can you still achieve the learning objectives of the module?
- What alternative ways are there to deal with the topic?
- How can you still contribute constructively to the subsequent discussion?
Late submission is generally possible and can be done the first time without compensation, with the “disadvantage” that we will not be able to include the respective late submission in the session after the deadline; if you are also unable to meet a second deadline, write to the instructors a short e-mail with your own ideas on how you (a) organize yourself in the future so that you meet deadlines and (b) what you can imagine as compensation. The responsibility for your own learning lies with you. Remember: The requirements for active participation are not used to check your performance, but above all for yourselves to monitor your learning progress and prepare you for your further studies.
the blog
This blog serves as a platform for sharing thoughts and opinions on the topics discussed. You are welcome to share your insights, reflections and views on the content discussed in the blog.
The comment feature allows you to share your ideas, respond to other posts, and add depth to discussions. Reading and questioning the thoughts and viewpoints of fellow students and engaging in respectful dialogue is encouraged. Blog discussions help to gather diverse perspectives and insights, and to broaden shared understanding of the issues being addressed.
Posts may be made anonymously or by name and should be concise, with a recommended length of approximately 200–500 words to promote focused discussion. Please keep in mind that posts should be critical and questioning to allow for a diverse discussion of the topics.
Thank you for your active participation and I look forward to following your posts and discussions here.
module examination
Written assignement of 5000 words. This assignment must draw on the topics discussed in the “Interdisciplinary Explorations of the Middle East in Berlin” course!
The use of AI writing tools is permitted in this course and for the examination, but think about the environmental and social costs 😉
First deadline for the final paper: 11.2.2025 6 PM. Second deadline: 25.2.2025 6 PM. No extensions beyond the deadline unless for reasons of indisposition, see the framework study and examination regulations of Freie Universität Berlin.
Format: PDF to my @fu-berlin.de mail address from your @fu-berlin.de (or @zedat) mail address, use the subject “porcupine”. No special requirements for citations, footnotes, font, list of sources etc. – use a CONSISTENT style throughout your paper. Include a cover page with all the relevant details!
Students can choose to work individually or in teams of 2–3 co-authors for the the final paper.
The module examination is evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Upon request, I will share dedicated feedback (using my assessment sheet) also informing about the differentiated grade to give students an idea of how their paper would have been graded.
Evaluations will be documented directly in the campus management by April 2025. The benefits of submitting for the early deadline? I will document my evaluation already by the end of February 2025 😉
Late submissions need to be scheduled until the end of February 2025 (the actual submission date may be later). After that, I will only again accept term papers as examination of this module in the winter semester 2025/2026.