English MA

Course modules

Core modules

• English Research Training
• Putting Methods into Practice
• Conference Organisation and Presentation
• Developing Your Project
• Dissertation

Teaching and assessments

Overview

At the beginning of the year, you will be asked to complete learning contracts in collaboration with your personal tutor which will identify the main areas you wish to pursue across the programme, such as Romanticism, adaptations, periodical writing or early modern printing, which will form the basis for all your assessments. For example, a student wishing to pursue the English MA in the area of Shakespeare and film, may wish to conduct a literature search on work on Shakespeare adaptations, write a book review on Russell Jackson’s Shakespeare and the English-speaking Cinema (2014), design a poster outlining the various film adaptations of The Taming of the Shrew, present a conference paper on Laurence Olivier’s 1948 film of Hamlet and write a dissertation on the Shakespeare films of Laurence Olivier.

The motivation for the masters programme is to develop your skills from module to module, ensuring that each module develops skills that will contribute to the following module. The course consists of 180 credits with four 30-credit modules followed by a 60-credit dissertation, moving from taught to research-based study. The programme introduces you to a range of approaches and subject areas within the Humanities, to be translated into your choice of assessment topic. You will commence the course with two taught programmes in English research methodologies and in Humanities research skills training. In the second term, you are trained in conference planning and presentation in which you will participate in the organisation and delivery of a Humanities conference in which you will have the opportunity to present your work. Following from these opportunities to present and receive feedback, you will focus on independent work in which you will lay the groundwork for your dissertation of 15,000 words.

The programme is designed to provide for intense immersive learning for those who wish to complete in a year, as well as to suit those who need to fit their study around busy and demanding professional and personal lives.

Contact hours

In your first two terms you will normally attend around 3 hours of timetabled taught sessions including lectures, tutorials and workshop and studio sessions each week, and be expected to undertake at least 32 hours of independent study each week. Your third term will be pre-dominantly self-directed (including meetings with your supervisor), during which you can expect to undertake 35 hours of independent study each week.

Programme structure

Full-time students:

Semester 1 has been designed to introduce students to methodologies in English and to provide both practical and theoretical training in developing research to Masters Level. You will be taught in lunchtime sessions two modules, English Research Training and Putting Methods into Practice. You will meet your personal tutor in the first week of term and design a learning contract, outlining the areas you wish to cover over the three semesters.

Semester 2 develops from the first semester and offers you a taught module on Conference Organisation and Presentation and a self-directed study in which you prepare the groundwork for your final dissertation, in a critical survey and/or case study.

Semester 3 is devoted to the final 15,000-word dissertation that should build on the work completed over the previous semesters.

Part-time students:

Year 1 Semester 1 offers support alongside full-time students in English Research Training and Putting Methods into Practice. These modules will be taught back-to-back during lunchtimes each week during term and you will submit work for English Research Training in Year one, first semester and for Putting Methods into Practice in Year one, third semester.

Year 1 Semester 2 focuses on the development and consolidation of practice from semester one in Conference Organisation and Presentation.

Year 1 Semester 3 provides you with an opportunity for independent learning and reflection based on the workshops in Putting Methods into Practice. You are offered this time to prepare your assessments.

Year 2 Semester 1: During this semester you will complete the Project Research Training module, a self-directed study in which you prepare the groundwork for your final dissertation, in a critical survey and/or case study.

Year 2 Semester 2 and 3 are devoted to the final 15,000-word dissertation that should build on the work completed over the previous semesters.