COURSE STRUCTURE
Studying English literature, language and creative writing can be both inspiring and rewarding, offering new insight into the ways in which stories, poems, novels, plays and their authors creatively interpret the world in which we live.
This course is taught through a combination of five core modules and one optional module from a choice which reflects the variety in cross-period and thematic spread of English as a subject.
To graduate with a Master’s qualification, you must complete 180 credits, including the production of a 15,000-word dissertation (60 credits) on a topic of your choice, negotiated with and supervised by one of our experienced researchers. You will begin your dissertation early in the course and continue working on it throughout the duration of your studies.
In preparation, you will undertake a full research training programme, which includes sessions on academic writing, ethics, archives and databases, writing a research proposal, and an introduction to a range of methodological approaches from across the Humanities. These sessions are also designed to develop the necessary skills for doctoral research. You’ll be given advice on how to construct, develop and write an extended dissertation, based on independent research.
The MA English Literatures can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course, with a September start date. It is also possible to study more flexibly part-time on a modular basis, accumulating degree credits by taking individual modules over a maximum period of five years.
Core Taught Modules
HIS-40017 Research Skills in the Humanities (15 credits), Semester 1
You will receive training in the practical and technical skills necessary for postgraduate research in the humanities, so you will be able to plan, then find and use the necessary resources for your research and writing. This includes: relevant University regulations; procedures for managing a research degree; the differences between popular press dissemination of research and academic forms; how to identify issues of research ethic affecting your work; and how to use real-world and digital archives and be creative in looking for primary research sources, such as film archives, digitised magazines and pamphlets, first editions of out of print literature. You will also develop essential personal and professional skills in time, stress and project management.
HIS-40016 Reflective Practice in the Humanities (15 credits), Semester 2
Reflective practice describes a systematic approach to reflection that involves creating a habit, structure and routine around reflecting on our experiences and engaging in continuous learning. Whether you choose to learn from experience as an individual or with others, there are many benefits to be gained from sharing ideas, experiences and considering how you can change or improve your creative practice. Throughout this module, you will be asked to explore the intellectual connections between your research area and wider fields of study. We look at ‘big ideas’ relevant to contemporary society, such as the concept of ‘post truth’, ‘big data’ and the pulling down of statues, and we work to understand them from the perspective of our disciplines.
ENG-40007 Criticism, Analysis, Theory in Literary Studies (30 credits), Semester 1
You will develop your analytical abilities through the study of a selection of key theoretical and critical issues and approaches in contemporary literary and cultural analysis. You’ll be introduced to the variety of interpretive methods currently used within the discipline of English. Collective weekly discussions about selected text examples build your confidence in selecting and applying such theory to a range of literary texts. In your assessments, you can choose to develop a project focusing on literary and filmic texts studied on the course or of your own choice.
ENG-40032 Canon, Anti-Canon, Context (30 credits) Semesters 1-2
You will explore key questions of literary value and function, developing high-level skills in cross-period, comparative reading and the evaluation of literature across a variety of literary periods, national and international contexts, genres and movements. The module asks questions such as: what is a ‘literary’ text, and in what ways is it different from non-literary texts, or from filmic ones? How does a text become ‘canonical’? What prevents other texts from being classified as ‘canonical’? How do canonical and non-canonical texts construct and communicate different constructions of identity? How do these texts and identities come to be recovered, and perhaps evaluated differently in different social and intellectual contexts?
ENG-40034 Dissertation – English (60 credits), Semesters 1, 2 & 3
Guided by extensive one-to-one supervision from an internationally-renowned expert in the field of English Studies, you will research, plan and write a substantial piece of original work, locating your specific topic within the context of relevant debates within the discipline of English literature and the humanities more generally. The final dissertation is 15,000 words, excluding footnotes, bibliography and annexes. Capitalising on expertise across the School of Humanities, you have considerable flexibility when choosing your specialist subject, not just in literature, but also other media, including film studies and television. In the past, student dissertations have ranged from a review of identity and disability in coming-of-age literature, to a focus on modern Japanese literature, to the study of selfhood in post-modernist literature and film.
