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Publishing Work Placement

Module description

This practice-based module enables you to arrange a work placement with an external organisation in the publishing sector or literary industries more broadly. You will be responsible for initiating contact and setting up your project, with support from the module conveners and employability team in the College of Humanities. This opportunity to learn about publishing through the workplace itself enables you to apply skills learned through the MA programme and build professional experience. Assessed through a placement portfolio and critical essay , this module allows you to gain significant work-based knowledge and skills in a reflective way.  

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to guide you through the process of obtaining and getting the most from a work-based publishing placement. It will provide a focused, structured atmosphere to link theory and practice through a process of experiential learning. Designed to be shaped around your particular interests and professional background, this module will complement and extend your current and future professional skills and opportunities. By working with an external partner organisation, you will develop professional and digital capability skills in project management, time management, communications, team-working and/or content-creation.

In Term 1 we will run a series of workshop sessions to help you with the skills required to find, select and flourish in your work placement, including CV writing, interview training and making speculative applications. In Term 2 we will then run workshop sessions that enable you to reflect on and raise day-to-day issues within your placements, and to give you the opportunity to share and discuss your experiences with your peers and tutor.

For this module you will complete a minimum of 50 hours of work experience with an employer of your choice which can be undertaken any time in the academic year between the beginning of November and the end of May. The work placement can take place in person or remotely, or through a combination of both.  Although you will be responsible for independently setting up the work placement, you will have support from an academic adviser and will be able to draw on the College’s existing network of publishing industry partners. The specific programme of work in each placement will be negotiated in advance between the University and the partner organisation in question. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Critically evaluate and revise your own professional publishing practice in the light of feedback from an external partner, academic adviser and peers.
• 2. Exhibit an understanding of the relationship between professional publishing practice and existing scholarly literature in the field of publishing studies.
• 3. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of practices and approaches associated with the contemporary publishing industry.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Demonstrate a sophisticated ability to analyse the strategy of organisations working in the publishing sector.
• 5. Present a body of work that demonstrates experience of and a contribution to the development of a publishing initiative.
• 6. Demonstrate an informed understanding of key social, legal, economic and/or political issues that inform contemporary publishing practice

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Engage in a process of experiential learning that builds professional and digital capability skills needed to work and flourish in the publishing industry including project management, time management, flexibility, communication, team-working and/or content-creation.
• 8. Demonstrate initiative in capitalising on networking and other opportunities through building confidence in approaching and sustaining relationships with prospective employers and collaborators.
• 9. Develop reflective practice to explore, analyse, evaluate and synthesise critical and strategic approaches and practical learning.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

A 50 hour (minimum) work placement.

Workshops:

• Introductory Sessions with Potential Work Placement Hosts
• Placement Brief Workshop
• Building Your CV
• Speculative Applications
• Interview Skills
• Team-Working
• Placement Development
• Building a Placement Portfolio
• Developing Reflective Practice

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 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Alexander, C and Arday, J. (2014). Aiming Higher: Race, Inequality and Diversity in the Academy. Runnymede Trust
• Boud, D. & Garrick, J. Eds (1999) Understanding Learning at Work. Routledge. 
• Brindle, M. and DeVereaux, C. (2011). The Arts Management Handbook. M.E. Sharpe.
• Chaudhuri, T., & Cabau, B. (Eds.). (2017). E-portfolios in higher education: A multidisciplinary approach. Springer.
• Davies, Gill and Richard Balkwill. (2011) The Professional’s Guide to Publishing: A Comprehensive Introduction to Working in the Publishing Industry. Kogan Page.
• Martin, L. and Wilson, N. (2018). The Palgrave Handbook of Creativity at Work. Palgrave.
• Moon, J. (2004). A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning: Theory and Practice. Routledge
• Falmer. Neugebauer, J., & Evans-Brain, J. (2009). Making the most of your placement. Sage Publications.
• Fanthorne, C. (2004), Work Placements – A Survival Guide for Students. Palgrave.
• Nelson, R. (2013). Practice as Research in the Arts. London: Palgrave.
• Rainbird, H, Fuller, A. & and Munro, A. (2004). Work Place Learning in Context, Routledge.

Key words search

MA Publishing; Publishing, Work Placement