Supervision can be a great help when it comes to cementing a work process that results in a good final product - particularly in connection with bigger projects such a Bachelor's project or Master's thesis.
There are things you can do to help ensure a constructive supervision process. You can make sure you’re well-prepared, that you’re communicating clearly, and that the supervision meetings take their offset in your work. If you have any specific requests with regard to supervision make sure that you clearly communicate those requests to your supervisor so you can work together to ensure that you receive the supervision you need.
Articulate any doubts and insecurities you may have to your supervisor. Remember that the purpose of supervision is to help you in areas where you are uncertain and need help. Although it might feel a bit embarrassing, people get the most out of supervision when they show their supervisor their unfinished ideas and products.
Delusion | WHAT CAN YOU DO? |
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You are in solidarity with the supervisor You don't want to upset your supervisor and take too much into account that he/she is busy. | Claim your guidance Many tutors are busy, but you have the right to guidance and you should therefore claim it. If you would like to accommodate your busy supervisor, you can suggest that you plan your meetings well in advance. |
You perform for your supervisor You do not dare to show your doubts and insecurities, as a result of which you get to perform for your supervisor. For example, you are afraid to show drafts and unfinished texts. The guidance can come to feel like an exam situation, where you feel that you have to show what you can and know. | Show your insecurity If you perform for your supervisor, you do not give him the opportunity to take your problems as a starting point and thus give you the best possible guidance. Keep in mind that if you had to know everything in advance, the offer of guidance would be meaningless. Therefore, be sure to show your insecurity, and also feel free to ask for feedback on drafts and unfinished texts. |
You postpone your guidance Many students postpone their tutoring and save it for late in the assignment process. Often the idea is that you can always read a text more, have thought a little more or have prepared a little better. | Get started early with guidance It is often at the beginning of the task process that you most need guidance, and it can therefore be useful to get started early. For example, you can already get guidance on your initial ideas, so that you can choose the best one in cooperation with the supervisor. It is important that you get off to a good start, for example by formulating your problem formulation early and by organizing the structure of the task. Although you may feel that you do not have enough material and that your problem formulation is lagging, it is important that you let your supervisor see what you have so that the supervisor can help you get started. |
You do not take responsibility and do not get to solve problems There is something in your manual that is not working for you. It may be that you and your supervisor misunderstand each other, and you do not feel that you are getting useful advice and feedback in the guidance. | Recognize problems and try to solve them Address the issues to your supervisor. The guidance is a collaboration, and it is therefore also important that you work together to solve the problems if they arise. In rare cases, it may be necessary to change the supervisor. Talk to your student advisor about it. |
You keep your challenges to yourself You don't want to expose yourself and imagine that the problems will be solved along the way. Time goes by and the deadline is getting closer and closer. | Ask for help Ask for help when it's hard, when you're stuck, when there's something you don't understand, or when you can't get on with your task. Guidance is there so that you can get the help that you need. |
There are many different types of supervision, but common to them all is that they are a professional conversation about academic content that is offered with a view to helping you plan and complete a project or an assignment. Read about the three basic types of supervision below:
During individual supervision, you will have individual meetings with a supervisor who was assigned to you or who you chose specifically. It will often be your responsibility to contact the supervisor, schedule meetings and clearly communicate what you want to get out of the meetings. This means that the responsibility of organising supervision rests mostly with you.
During your first meeting with your supervisor, it can be a good idea to talk about the framework and expectations of the process so you both have the same starting point.
For example, you can discuss the following:
How many meetings will you have?
Do you need to meet during certain phases of the writing process?
How will you communicate between meetings, e.g. by email?
How much of your text will your supervisor read?
Will there be periods during the process when you or your supervisor will not be available?
Below you will find advice on what to do before, during and after supervision.
BEFORE SUPERVISION | |
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Get started early | A number of students postpone supervision – there’s always one more text to read or more things to consider. However, this strategy is unsustainable as the start of a project is often when you need supervision the most. Make sure you begin supervision early on, so that you and your supervisor can plan the process and organise the structure of the assignment. |
Be prepared | Being well prepared will help you get the most out of supervision. It can be a good idea to consider what challenges you are facing at this point of the process and what you need in order to move forward. It’s important that you have a clear idea of what you want to discuss during the meeting, and what you want to get out of it. |
Communicate with your supervisor | Be clear when communicating with your supervisor. Let them know what you want to discuss during the meeting and what you need help with. Agreeing on the content and purpose of the meeting will help improve the supervision you receive. It is a good idea to:
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Know the requirements for the assignment | Make sure you know the requirements of the assignment you are writing. Read the academic regulations and ask your teacher or supervisor if you are unsure about how to interpret them. There are also a number of texts and books on the writing process that you can refer to if you’re unsure about certain parts of the assignment or process. |
DURING SUPERVISION | |
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Take ownership of the supervision meeting | You can create a good supervision meeting by dividing it into three phases: |
Introduction | Set the framework for the meeting. Clearly state where you are in the process and what you want to get out of the meeting. |
Middle | This is when you discuss the issues you want supervision on. This can relate to academic content, the writing process, the structure of the assignment, the problem statement, methods, literature, empirical data, etc. Take notes along the way, or ask your supervisor whether you can record the supervision. |
Conclusion | Sum up and make a plan. It’s important that you know what you’re going to continue working on after the supervision meeting, so it can be a good idea to sum-up with you supervisor. Then schedule the next meeting and agree on what you need to have ready by then. |
AFTER SUPERVISION | |
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Reflect on the outcome and think ahead | After the meeting, it’s a good idea to write some notes, write down what you’ve agreed on or write a short summary so you can remember what your supervisor said and what you agreed that you should continue working on. You can reflect on what you got out of the meeting by considering the following:
Make a to-do list of feedback and suggestions from your supervisor. |
Find and use relevant resources | Supplement your supervision as needed with some of the many available options:
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Group supervision is often similar to individual supervision in how it’s organised. Please read about individual supervision above.
The difference between individual supervision and group supervision is that there are several of you involved in producing the paper and participating in the supervision. It’s therefore important that you work together to get the most out of supervision.
Below you will find advice on what to do before, during and after supervision.
BEFORE SUPERVISION | |
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Get started early | A number of students postpone supervision – there’s always one more text to read or more things to consider. However, this strategy is unsustainable, as the start of a project is often when you need supervision the most. Make sure you begin supervision early on, so that the group and supervisor can plan the process and organise the structure of the assignment. |
Prepare as a group | The best starting point for a good supervision meeting is being well-prepared. Prepare an agenda for the meeting together so everyone in the group has agreed on the content and objective of the supervision meeting. Think about what the purpose of the meeting is and what challenges you are currently facing. |
Communicate with your supervisor | Be clear when communicating with your supervisor. Let them know what you want to discuss during the meeting and what you need help with. Agreeing on the content and purpose of the meeting will help improve the supervision you receive. For example, you can:
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Know the requirements for the assignment | Make sure you know the requirements for the assignment you are writing. Read the academic regulations and ask your teacher or supervisor if you are unsure about how to interpret them. There are also a number of texts and books on the writing process that you can refer to if you’re unsure about certain parts of the assignment or process. |
DURING SUPERVISION | |
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Everyone participates actively | Make sure that everyone has a chance to talk during the supervision meeting. In some groups, it might be necessary to agree in advance on who presents specific issues to the supervisor. Click here to read more about collaboration and writing exam assignments in a group. |
Allocate roles | Take advantage of the fact that there are several of you participating in the supervision meeting. You can e.g. give everyone a specific role during the meeting. One group member can be the primary notetaker while someone else keeps an eye on the time and makes sure that you cover everything you need to. However, it’s also important that all members of the group participate actively in the discussion with the supervisor. |
Everyone receives feedback | You will each receive an individual grade even if you submit as a group. Check your academic regulations to see if you need to indicate who the author is of the different sections. Make sure that your supervisor has the chance to read pieces of text written by the various group members over the course of the supervision. It’s important that you all also receive feedback on your individual work during the supervision process. |
AFTER SUPERVISION | |
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Reflect on the outcome and think ahead | After the meeting, it’s a good idea to write some notes, write down what you’ve agreed on or write a short summary so you can remember what your supervisor said and what you agreed that you should continue working on. You can reflect on what you got out of the meeting by considering the following:
Make a to-do list of the feedback and suggestions from your supervisor. |
Find and use relevant resources | Supplement your supervision as needed with some of these many available options:
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Collective supervision gives you experience with presenting and discussing academic issues in groups. You will learn about the topics, approaches and methods that other students use, and it’s a good opportunity to learn from each other's experiences and processes.
Collective supervision typically takes place over the course of a semester where you meet several times with your supervision group. The supervisor often coordinates the meetings and sets a specific focus for the individual supervision meeting.
The supervisor can request that you prepare some material ahead of the meeting, e.g. a draft of a certain section of your assignment. As feedback between students is an important part of collective supervision, you will also be expected to read the work of the other students and give them feedback on it. Click here to read more about giving and receiving feedback.
The focus of collective supervision is the learning achieved by providing feedback on other people’s texts and by receiving feedback on your own text. Even though some students find that there is less focus on their individual project during collective supervision, they also find that gaining insight into other people's work and sparring with the other students is a way of qualifying their own processes and tasks.
Some advantages of collective supervision are:
Receiving feedback from several different people
Practicing scientific argumentation and professional dialogue
Feeling less alone with your project because you have other students to spar with and support you
Getting better at recognising and applying the subject's criteria when reading and providing feedback on other people's texts.
Getting started writing sooner because you will often need to produce text to have as the basis for supervision
More time spent with a supervisor
Below you will find advice on what to do before, during and after supervision.
BEFORE SUPERVISION | |
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Be prepared | Preparation typically consists of writing a draft text about your assignment or a specific section of your assignment for the other students to give you feedback on and giving feedback on your fellow student’s drafts. Introduce your text to the others e.g. tell them whether it’s a very rough draft or if it’s nearly finished, and let them know if there’s something specific you would like them to focus on. This will ensure that you receive more specific, useful feedback. The work you and your fellow students have prepared beforehand will often be the basis for the supervision meeting. So it’s important to prepare ahead of time in order to get something out of the meeting. Reading the work of your follow students and giving them feedback on it is a great learning exercise, as it’ll help familiarise you with the requirements of an assignment, which you can then transfer to your own process. |
Know the requirements for the assignment | Make sure you know the requirements of the assignment you are writing. Read the academic regulations and ask your teacher or supervisor if you are unsure about how to interpret them. There are also a number of texts and books on the writing process that you can refer to if you’re unsure about certain parts of the assignment or process. |
DURING SUPERVISION | |
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Active participation | Collective supervision involves discussions and feedback within the group, and it’s therefore important that you participate actively and contribute. If you and your fellow students take responsibility for supervision, you can, together with the supervisor, create the type of supervision that you as a group need. If you have not had time to prepare or if you’ve gotten stuck and fallen behind the other members of the supervision group, attending the supervision meeting and participating in the discussion can still be beneficial for both you and your fellow students. Advice or feedback from others might help you move forward. |
Focus on academic sparring | Look at the supervision room as a place where you and your fellow students can spar, discuss ideas and receive academic input. One of the advantages of collective supervision is that you can learn about each other’s different approaches and see that there is no definitive way of doing things. So don’t be shy about showing your drafts or voicing unfinished ideas, and don't be afraid to show any uncertainty you may feel. If you are unsure about something, please say so. There will often be others who share your doubts and uncertainties, and you can use the supervision meetings to help each other resolve them. |
AFTER SUPERVISION | |
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Reflect on the outcome and think ahead | You can reflect on what you got out of the meeting by considering the following:
Consider the feedback and suggestions you received from the others. You can make a to-do list of what you want to incorporate, so it's easier to get started. |
Find and use relevant resources | You can supplement your supervision with some of the following options:
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Orientate yourself in your curriculum on requirements for each individual subject in your programme.
It is important to follow rules and guidelines about exam cheating and plagiarism. AU Library guides you on how, so you can easily avoid it.
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