English Literature MA

The dissertation is an independently conceived research project. You utilise the skills you have gained over the course to write a research proposal, which you develop into a 15,000-word dissertation. You gain a specialist knowledge and understanding of your chosen subject. You are supported by a supervisor who will provide written and oral feedback on your work in progress.

Academic conferences play a vital role in humanities research and in the wider academic community by providing scholars with a platform to present their research and to receive feedback that can prove invaluable in the development of longer-term projects. Conferences also provide important opportunities for networking, while conference organisers foster crucial skills in organisation and time-management, collaboration, and communication. You participate in, promote, plan, organise, and contribute to an online graduate conference where you present a 20-minute paper.

You study new key critical/theoretical texts alongside literary texts from the 19th century to the present, developing an understanding of contemporary criticism and theory and its application in relation to modern and contemporary literature and culture. You develop a critical and evaluative stance on contemporary theory and apply the insights gained to the analysis of literary texts. Critical topics covered may include economic humanities, post-secular studies, literary multi-lingualism studies, animal studies, the environmental humanities, disability studies, the medical humanities and the digital humanities.

You gain insights into distinctive working methods and research practices through a series of interactive workshops, to gain experience in investigating, applying and evaluating skills in three principal fields: reflective practice for professional development; critical, theoretical and historical approaches to textual analysis; independent research planning and project management. You work as a cohort on an intensive research case study, progressing to developing your own research project.

You gain skills in working closely with selected literary texts which probe pressing formal, philosophical, socio-political questions shaped by contemporary research in the discipline of English studies. You explore these and related concerns in research-informed seminars, where you develop your own areas of specialist interest and enquiry. This will lead to the formulation – with the support of module tutors – of a negotiated assessment project of your own choosing.