Location:

Exmouth, United Kingdom

Program Type:

Full Degree

Degree Level:

Master

Specialty:

English

Program Overview

Program Description:

This Masters level programme in English provides an exciting opportunity for students to pursue an individual research project of their choice with guidance and individual supervision from staff in the English department. The staff has a wide range of interests spanning literatures from the seventeenth century to the present. Students may wish to draw upon particular staff expertise in areas such as, for example, the history of the book and reading, political satire, national and cultural identity in the British Isles, Arthurian literature, gender and Romanticism, late-Victorian aesthetics, war writing, American literature, culture and politics, modernism and modernity, English and American contemporary poetry, film and drama. There is also scope for interdisciplinary work across traditional subject boundaries involving cultural history and theory, such as for example, research in visual technologies, psychology and psychoanalysis or gender studies. Students will receive training in research skills as an integral component of the degree and will join a thriving research community which aims to foster the sharing of knowledge and academic enquiry through staff/student research seminars, academic conferences, and visiting writers and critics. Although it is always desirable for full-time students to engage solely on their programme of study, the contact hours for this programme make it possible for people to work part time. It is also possible to follow the part-time route without living in or close to Plymouth. Although both routes require day time attendance, a schedule is available prior to the beginning of the programme to allow students to make necessary arrangements. The programme comprises three modules. The first, English research methods and current debates (30 credits), delivered in term one, aims to provide students with both discipline-specific skills and an understanding of current debates in English. It is assessed by a small-scale research project written up in the form of a journal article. The second inter-disciplinary module, research in the arts and humanities (30 credits), delivered across terms one and two, is assessed by a project proposal, learning journal/log and a research presentation. The third module, the masters thesis (120 credits), is taught by intensive one-to-one supervision, resulting in the production of a 25,000-30,000-word dissertation. Assessment also includes a viva. Students may devise a topic of their choice but are encouraged to choose an area of staff expertise to obtain maximum support and guidance. Current staff research interests include the history of the book, political satire, national and cultural identity in the British Isles, late-Victorian aesthetics, gender and science, war writing, modernism and modernity, English and American contemporary poetry, film and drama. There is scope for inter-disciplinary work across traditional boundaries, for example in visual culture, psychology and psychoanalysis, representations of childhood and gender studies. Full-time students study over one year as described, part-time students follow the same programme over two years, taking the two research modules in the first year and the dissertation project module in the second year. Students will not only be able to draw upon staff expertise through individual tutorials but will join a vibrant and growing research community including research seminars, conferences and the Peninsula Arts series of exhibitions/talks from visiting writers.

Additional Program Information

Accreditation:

Not applicable

Financial Aid:

No

Requirements:

Applicants should normally hold a good upper-second class honours degree in English or a related field or a degree of comparable standard from another country.

International Requirements:

IELTS score of 7 or equivalent required for overseas students.