Programme Specification for the 2024/5 academic year
MA English Literary Studies
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | MA English Literary Studies | Programme code | PTA1EGLEGL11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Full Time Part Time |
Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 7 (Masters) |
2. Description of the Programme
This Masters programme is devoted to the study of literature and culture and embraces the particular strengths of the Department of English and Creative Writing at Exeter across all periods and literary genres. Students on the general programme (MA English Literary Studies) are free to choose from all modules on offer in each year. The programme suits students interested in the areas of literature, culture and Creative Writing. It is specifically designed for those seeking high level training prior to embarking on doctoral research, recent graduates wishing to extend and enhance their studies by a year before taking up a career, individuals already in employment who are interested in career development, and those who simply wish to broaden their intellectual horizons.
English at Exeter
Our Masters degrees offer excellent opportunities to broaden and deepen your work in English Literary Studies and to learn the skills needed for further postgraduate research. The English Literary Studies MA offers an unusually large choice of modules, with expert tuition in all areas of English Literary Studies including Medieval Studies, Early Modern and Renaissance Studies, Romanticism, Victorian literature, American and Atlantic Studies, Modern, Contemporary and World Literature and Critical Theory. Many of our MA students go on to undertake PhD research here, where they are joined by research students from universities from across the world. The Queen’s Building, where the Department of English and Creative Writing is based, offers a dedicated postgraduate common room with computer facilities and a number of study carrels available for research students.
Masters students benefit from the University of Exeter’s outstanding special collections relating to English Literary Studies. Our Archives and Manuscripts include the richest collection of twentieth-century literary papers by writers associated with the south west of England in any university library. Such writers include Agatha Christie, Daphne Du Maurier, John Betjeman and William Golding. Special collections cover all subject areas with additional highlights in Literature and Visual Culture, Victorian Culture and Imperial Endeavour, Arab and Islamic Studies, and Religious and Parish book collections. For more information, view our Archives and Manuscripts page.
You will join a vibrant postgraduate and research community. The Department hosts a series of events, conferences and symposia every year and is home to several research groups and centres, including the Centre for Victorian Studies and the Centre for Literature and Archives. The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences also houses the Digital Humanities Lab, a state of the art facility offering unique spaces, equipment and training for staff and students. A specialist team conducts and supports innovative Digital Humanities research, offers training and teaching, and undertakes the digital preservation and display of historic material and artefacts using advanced technologies. For more information view our Digital Humanities Lab page.
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
1. To offer an in-depth, focused and critical degree which is based on the latest research in major areas of English Literary Studies and which combines a wide-ranging choice of modules.
2. To develop academic and individual skills that equip you for further study, employment, or further professional development, and to foster intellectual agility and adaptability, so as to enable you to deploy these skills to implement systematic and balanced judgements in a variety of circumstances.
3. To provide methodological skills and specialist knowledge, for advanced study or research in various fields, for professional development, or for employment.
4. To provide a stimulating and supportive environment for you that is informed by research.
4. Programme Structure
5. Programme Modules
The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme.
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/studyinformation/modules/?prog=english
You may take one optional module of up to 30 credits outside of the English Literary Studies MA from the MA Creative Writing as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module. This replaces a 30 credit optional module from the English Literary Studies MA.
Providing you have not taken 30 optional credits from the MA Creative Writing, you may take elective modules up to 30 credits from another MA programme offered at the University (subject to availability, timetabling and where appropriate, the required prerequisites). This replaces a 30 credit optional module from the English Literary Studies MA.
The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree programme based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new emergent areas of study, timetabling and student demand.
Stage 1
60 credit compulsory dissertation module and 120 credits of optional modules (you may take up 30 credits from the MA Creative Writing)
Compulsory Modules
All students must take EASM023 Dissertation
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| EASM023 | Dissertation | 60 | Yes |
Optional Modules
All students must choose 120 credits of option modules (30 credits can come from the Creative Writing options).
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| MA English Literary Studies - option modules 2024-5 | |||
| EASM150 | Empire, Decadence and Modernity: Literature 1870-1910 | 30 | No |
| EASM151 | Modernism and Material Culture | 30 | No |
| EASM157 | The Literature of Cold War America | 30 | No |
| EASM169 | Publishing and Power: Black and Asian Literary Networks in the UK | 30 | No |
| EASM180 | Crossing Medieval Boundaries | 30 | No |
| EASM184 | World Literature and Postcolonial Studies | 30 | No |
| EASM192 | Global Voices: Shakespeare and the Early Modern World | 30 | No |
| EASM109 | Bodies Politic: Cultural and Sexual Politics in England, 1603-1679 | 30 | No |
| EASM152 | Criticism and Theory: Critical and Literary Theory in a Global Context | 30 | No |
| EASM167 | World Cinema / World Literature | 30 | No |
| EASM171 | Expanding Queerness: Critical Debates in Theory, Literature, Film and Television | 30 | No |
| EASM174 | Writing Women in the English Middle Ages | 30 | No |
| EASM191 | Environments of Early Modern Drama | 30 | No |
| EASM197 | Global Romanticisms | 30 | No |
| MA English Literary Studies - Creative Writing options 2024-5 | |||
| EASM121 | The Poetry of Events - Building a Plot | 30 | No |
| EASM133 | The Structures of Realism | 30 | No |
| EASM156 | Writing Nature: Ecology, Place, Memoir (Creative Writing) | 30 | No |
| EASM166 | Prose Writing Workshop | 30 | No |
| EASM169 | Publishing and Power: Black and Asian Literary Networks in the UK | 30 | No |
| EASM122 | Writing for the Screen | 30 | No |
| EASM144 | Image, Shape and Music | 30 | No |
| EASM196 | Writing for the Planet: Creative Writing as Climate and Ecological Activism | 30 | No |
| EASM198 | Text and Image: Creative Writing | 30 | No |
6. Programme Outcomes Linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods
Intended Learning Outcomes
A: Specialised Subject Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
1. Demonstrate a sophisticated and intellectually mature ability to analyse literature and/or film and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical and other contexts | The taught components of the MA English Literary Studies are delivered in the first two terms, leaving the third for your dissertation. Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. We believe in collaborative, small group learning and teaching for your modules will be delivered through seminar groups. You will be encouraged to discuss your ideas and interact with your fellow students and academic staff. You will be expected to play an active role in debating and presenting your work. Throughout your programme you will develop and enhance your communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills. On your modules you will be assisted by the coursework you produce such as critical essays. The final assessment piece will be your dissertation, the culmination of your programme of study. You will conceive, plan, research and write an independently researched 15 000 word dissertation that will display your subject knowledge and methodological skills. The dissertation is your opportunity to explore a topic that interests you in greater detail, something which may form the basis of further research or other portfolio.
| Modes of assessment are combined in a varied way across each module in line with the module’s intended learning outcomes. Students should consult module descriptors for a detailed breakdown of assessment modes within each module.The range of assessment modes employed across the programme include the following
|
Intended Learning Outcomes
B: Academic Discipline Core Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
6. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the area under investigation, employing relevant conceptual frameworks and creative processes to the topic of investigation | Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips. | 6. This will be assessed through the coursework that students complete on the modules they take. Coursework may include some or all of the following: individual and group presentations, research reports, critical essays, creative portfolios and annotated bibliographies. |
Intended Learning Outcomes
C: Personal/Transferable/Employment Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
9. Demonstrate initiative and originality in problem solving, act autonomously at a professional level, and make decisions in complex and unpredictable situations | Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips. | 9. This will be assessed primarily through the Dissertation. 10. This will be assessed through group presentations and written group assignments 11. This will be assessed through the coursework that students complete on the modules they take. Coursework may include some or all of the following: individual and group presentations, research reports, critical essays, creative portfolios and annotated bibliographies. |
7. Programme Regulations
Classification
Full details of assessment regulations for all taught programmes can be found in the TQA Manual, specifically in the Credit and Qualifications Framework, and the Assessment, Progression and Awarding: Taught Programmes Handbook. Additional information, including Generic Marking Criteria, can be found in the Learning and Teaching Support Handbook.
8. College Support for Students and Students' Learning
We have a number of specialist research resources and projects available to postgraduates: the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is the largest film-related archive in the UK outside the British Film Institute; the Chris Brooks Collection is a major resource for scholars of Romanticism and 19th-century fiction and culture; and the Global Circulation Project on cultures in contact is based in Exeter. Our unique collections of writings and correspondence by authors connected with the South West such as Daphne du Maurier, RD Blackmore, Agatha Christie, William Golding and Ted Hughes supplement research resources held in the University library. The University library holds a number of resources important for our research, including the Hypatia Collection of women’s literature and history as well as online resources.
Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director, both of whom have weekly office hours during which they are available for consultation.
Students at both campuses have access to a wealth of online information including: over 400 online journal titles; Early English Books Online (which contains facsimile texts of virtually all books printed in England, 1475-1700); the extensive Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) research archive; search tools such as FirstSearch; the digital journal repository JSTOR; and other similar databases providing access to full text articles. For further information about research in our English Department, please see the English Research webpages.
9. University Support for Students and Students' Learning
Please refer to the University Academic Policy and Standards guidelines regarding support for students and students' learning.
10. Admissions Criteria
Undergraduate applicants must satisfy the Undergraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Postgraduate applicants must satisfy the Postgraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Specific requirements required to enrol on this programme are available at the respective Undergraduate or Postgraduate Study Site webpages.
11. Regulation of Assessment and Academic Standards
Each academic programme in the University is subject to an agreed College assessment and marking strategy, underpinned by institution-wide assessment procedures.
The security of assessment and academic standards is further supported through the appointment of External Examiners for each programme. External Examiners have access to draft papers, course work and examination scripts. They are required to attend the Board of Examiners and to provide an annual report. Annual External Examiner reports are monitored at both College and University level. Their responsibilities are described in the University's code of practice. See the University's TQA Manual for details.
14. Awarding Institution
University of Exeter
15. Lead College / Teaching Institution
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)
16. Partner College / Institution
Partner College(s)
Not applicable to this programme
Partner Institution
Not applicable to this programme.
17. Programme Accredited / Validated by
0
18. Final Award
MA English Literary Studies
19. UCAS Code
C01F
20. NQF Level of Final Award
7 (Masters)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | 180 |
ECTS credits | 90 |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 01/01/2012 |
Date of last revision | 21/02/2024 |
|---|
