Duration
15h Th, 30h Pr, 5d FT Tr. Pr.
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
All year long
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The 2026-2027 seminar will focus on the late Roman Republic, the era of the imperatores (133-30 BC).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
This seminar constitutes the final stage of a history student's training prior to writing their final-year dissertation (TFE).
It therefore aims to consolidate the skills acquired during the bachelor's degree: independence, the ability to provide a critical overview of the current state of research, to identify a research question, to compile and justify a body of sources enabling the research question to be answered, to apply basic philological skills, to critically examine traces of the past whilst taking all types of sources into account, and to communicate the results of their research clearly and in impeccable French.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
To take this course, students must have a sound knowledge of Latin and, if they are specialising in Ancient History, must study Ancient Greek.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course will alternate between:
1. ex cathedra lectures.
2. Workshops on historical commentaries on ancient (translated) sources.
3. Latin epigraphy exercises (deciphering, transcription, reconstruction, translation)
Independent study, at home and in the library, will involve:
- familiarising oneself with the material in the recommended handbook (see below).
- working regularly on preparing one's personal research project.
- preparing historical commentaries on ancient (translated) sources.
- completing Latin epigraphy exercises (deciphering, transcription, reconstruction, translation).
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
All year seminar: Thursday, 8.30 am-10.00 am - A4 Salle du conseil histoire (2/2) [Liège city centre - 20-Août].
Some sessions will be cancelled, with independent study to be carried out in the library.
An educational trip may be organised in Q2.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
Further information:
Recommended handbook: Chr. Badel, La République romaine, Paris, PUF, 2017 (part 3).
Course materials handed out in class or uploaded to Ecampus.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
Written work / report
Continuous assessment
Other : Oral defence of the research project
Further information:
The assessment in May/June (and that in August/September in the event of a fail in May/June) will be based on:
- a written, individual research project related to the seminar's theme, which must be submitted on the first day of the term and then defended orally: 40% of the overall mark.
- a historical commentary on a translated source not covered in class and related to the seminar's theme (written examination): 40% of the overall mark.
- a Latin epigraphy exercise: deciphering, transcribing, interpreting and translating an inscription not covered in class (written examination): 20% of the overall mark.
- an introduction with :
- a review of the literature
- a presentation of the research question
- a critical presentation of the corpus of sources studied
- a conclusion
- a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography.
In terms of format, the written, individual research paper for the Seminar in Criticism must meet the following requirements:
- 30 pages (excluding the bibliography)
- 12-point font
- 1.5 line spacing
- 2.5 cm margins
- The critical apparatus must be particularly well-prepared and bibliographical references standardised (see guidelines here: http://web.philo.ulg.ac.be/bibliohist/references-bibliographiques/).
- The text must be written in impeccable French (spelling, conjugation, syntax, punctuation, etc.).
The regularity and diligence with which the student participates in the seminar and completes the exercises set throughout the year will be taken into account in the assessment, as will their level of proficiency in the French language (syntax, punctuation, verb conjugation, grammar, spelling, etc.).
WARNING REGARDING GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (GenAI)
In order to ensure the acquisition of the historical skills specified in the learning objectives and in accordance with the institutional charter - which allows each degree programme to establish a more restrictive framework than the default framework it defines - the only permitted uses of a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tool, subject to the explicit consent of the course lecturer and/or supervisor, are:
- the use of GenAI for the purposes of formal language refinement, i.e. exclusively for spelling and grammatical correction, excluding any formulation or re-formulation;
- the use of GenAI for the translation of modern languages;
- the use of GenAI for the translation of ancient languages - solely in cases where no academic translation exists, and excluding exercises (in class or at home) and examination papers consisting specifically of translating a text from Latin or Ancient Greek, for which any use of GenAI is strictly prohibited;
- the use of GenAI tools for palaeographic transcription and the transcription of interviews related to research work, including the final year project (TFE).
As the use of an GenAI always entails the responsibility of the person using it, students must take full responsibility for any translation or correction they rely on and must duly disclose any such use of GenAI.
Furthermore, such use must always be approved in advance by the course lecturer and/or TFE supervisor and must be accompanied by a critical methodological note on the relevance and procedures for this technical use of an GenAI tool.
In any written work, the student must therefore declare on their honour, in an introductory note:
- either that they have made no use of GenAI;
- or that they have used it, strictly within the limits specified above.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Tenured teacher: Yann Berthelet - yann.berthelet@uliege.be