ORAL EXAM GUIDELINES

1st PART Students must prepare five articles - each of at least 500 words - taken from at least three different British or US newspapers or magazines - eg: Newsweek; The Daily Telegraph; The Sunday Telegraph; The Economist; The Guardian; The Independent; The Independent on Sunday; The International Herald Tribune; The National Geographic; The New York Times; The Observer; The Sunday Times; The Times; The Washington Post; Time.

You can either bring: a) the original article itself; or b) a photocopy of the article; or c) a printout of the article from the newspaper or magazine's website.

The date and source must be clearly indicated. If you download an article from the internet, do not print it in Word or any other word-processing program: simply print it off the website so that the title and date of publication are visible. Articles must date from no earlier than six months prior to the exam; any dealing with political issues must be very recent. Articles that have been used as teaching material in any of the courses held at the University cannot be used. Before the exam, you must draw up a list (either handwritten or typed, but legible) of your articles indicating: the title of the article, the publication and the date of publication. eg 1) "How to pass your exam", The Guardian, 18/5/2003; 2) ______; 3) ______; 4) ______; 5) ______.

STUDENTS FAILING TO MEET ANY OF THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL NOT BE EXAMINED AND WILL BE ASKED TO RETAKE THE EXAM AT A SUBSEQUENT APPELLO.

2nd PART As regards the course on politeness, students may prepare 4 or 5 texts of their choice, taken from any printed material (so long as they are in English and do not belong to the same text type or genre), in order to illustrate specific topics discussed in the course. Please avoid using only literary texts or dialogues taken from textbooks for foreign learners, and remember NOT to write on the texts. This does not exclude knowledge of the theoretical contents of Cutting’s book or of the course notes.