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Dissertation by Collaborative Project

Module description

This module gives you the opportunity to share your university English learning with a non-academic audience by creating a project in collaboration with an external partner. Sample external partners include but are not limited to: the creative industries (e.g. a publisher); heritage organisations (e.g. a museum); a school; a library; an archive; a charity. The format of the project output is flexible: for example, it could be a website, series of blog posts, set of podcasts or video essays, set of lesson plans, online exhibition, edition, translation with introduction, edited collection of poetry, interactive guided walk. It will be based on scholarly research and it will communicate a topic that falls generally into the remit of English and Creative Writing. If you want to hone your employability skills and create a piece of work that will be read and used by a specific non-academic audience, this module is for you.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to provide you with a structured opportunity to devise your own project aimed at engaging a non-academic audience, whilst working with a representative from a relevant external partner organisation. You will be supervised by a member of the Department of English and Creative Writing, and supported with lectures and workshops to help you to develop your skills in project-management and stakeholder engagement. You will investigate your topic in depth using primary sources and secondary literature to provide project content and a critical framework for your ideas, and you will learn how to communicate scholarly ideas to a broader audience.

The module specifically aims to enable students with existing connections to charities, heritage organisations, schools or industry to do further work with those organisations; or to introduce students to new external partners with the intention of developing employability skills. More importantly, it aims to bring your own enthusiasm for literature to a wider audience, showing how English matters.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the chosen project topic, building appropriately on learning undertaken in previous years of your programme;
• 2. Demonstrate a capacity to adapt scholarly research for a non-academic audience;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate advanced reading and research skills;
• 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to your own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Demonstrate an advanced capacity to communicate clearly and effectively through prose and/or other formats with academic and non-academic audiences
• 6. Demonstrate understanding of how to plan, and effectively manage time to execute a collaborative project

Syllabus plan

This is a TERM 2 module, but some preparation takes place in term 1.

Term 1 – Preparing for the Collaborative Project dissertation

With support from academic staff, you will form an initial plan for the collaborative project. You will also seek a suitable external partner organisation. If your partner agrees to be involved, you will write a proposal for your collaborative project, to be submitted by the relevant deadline in term 1. You will be assigned an academic supervisor by the end of term 1.

Please note that if your initial ideas are unsuitable for the collaborative project dissertation, or if you are unable to find a suitable external partner, you will need to switch to EAS3003 Dissertation or EAS3122 Creative Writing Dissertation for term 2.

Term 2 – Working on the project

You will meet your academic supervisor for two hours in total during term 2, and you will also meet with your collaborative partner for two hours (eg. 2 x 1 hour meetings or similar). Each project will be different, but you will be supported with a series of lectures and/or workshops on relevant topics such as project management, writing for specific audiences, working collaboratively, time management and planning, and dealing with change and failure.

During this term you will submit a formative assessment (presentation or written) outlining your plans for the project and progress so far.

Term 3 – Submission

Your project should be completed by the first week of term 3, and you will submit your reflective commentary and portfolio for assessment.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Each project will be different, and you will develop your own bibliography of primary and secondary texts, with advice from an academic supervisor. Since the module comprises mostly independent study, it is up to you to seek out secondary or archival material in the course of your research. Supervisors will guide, and strongly encourage the research process, which may include online journals, audio-visual material, artefacts from Special Collections etc. You will also be encouraged to consult your project partner about resources they may know of that will be useful for your project.

Key words search

Dissertation; project; collaboration; English