Early modern dissertations usually required the participation of contributors fulfilling two different functions, the <hi xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" rend="italic">praeses</hi> and one or more <hi xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" rend="italic">respondentes</hi>. While the <hi xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" rend="italic">praeses</hi> was in most cases a university teacher, e. g. a professor, the <hi xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" rend="italic">respondens</hi> was in the majority of cases a student. The crux of identifying the authors of early modern dissertations has been succinctly summarised by Joseph S. Freedman: