What Is a Seminar?

A seminar is a small class built around discussion rather than lecture. A group of students, often 8 to 20, meets with an instructor to explore a topic through shared readings, questions and debate. Seminars are common in the humanities and social sciences, in upper-level courses and graduate study, and in first-year programs designed to build speaking and thinking skills.

How seminars work

Before each meeting you are expected to complete the reading or other preparation and to arrive with questions or ideas. In class the instructor may open with a prompt, and students respond to one another, with the instructor steering and challenging. Students may lead sessions or give short presentations on a text.

Seminars may also be research-based, in which each student works on a project and reports progress to the group, and professional seminars in which guest speakers or students present current work.

How you are assessed

Common elements include participation, discussion leadership, response papers, a research paper or project and sometimes an exam. Participation is graded on quality, not just frequency: do you listen, build on others' points and use the text as evidence?

Succeeding in a seminar

• Do the reading carefully, and take notes with page references.
• Prepare two or three questions or observations before each session.
• Speak early in the discussion, since it gets easier.
• Listen and respond to classmates by name and idea.
• Back up claims with evidence from the text.
• Disagree respectfully.
• Follow up in office hours if you need more.

Seminar around the world

In the US, "seminar" often means a small class. In the UK and Europe, seminars are small-group sessions that accompany lectures, led by a lecturer or graduate teaching assistant, and are similar to what the US calls discussion sections.

Related terms

See lecture, tutorial, recitation section and independent study.