Module: ENG7000-30 Research: methods, resources and dissemination

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Nicky Lloyd

Module Tutor Contact Details: n.lloyd@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This module will induct you within the culture of postgraduate study and provides a foundation for postgraduate research and writing. It will assist you to refresh and further develop your research and writing skills, and introduce a number of significant theoretical and methodological fields which might shape your future research. The module contains a number of practical elements which will support you with advanced-level academic work – these include dedicated sessions which will assist you in preparing an application for both a research degree as well as for your MA dissertation or project. Though this module will train you in good practice, it is also intended to develop, amongst those who teach and study within it, a supportive scholarly community.

2.Outline syllabus

• Introduction to Library and research resources.
• Applied research workshop
• The Rhetoric of the Essay
• Approaches: Archival research
• Approaches: Digital Humanities
• Approaches: Environmental Humanities
• Approaches: Global Humanities
• Field Trip
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Creating an Annotated Bibliography

3.Teaching and learning activities

Teaching and learning methods will include: tutor and student-led seminars; individual and group tutorials; field trips and study visits in the Bath/Bristol area and further afield; independent study; Minerva and other web resources.

The module’s activities might include: tutor-led seminars on methodological and theoretical issues at the leading edge of literary studies; sessions on practical research skills and resources: bibliography and literature searching at BSU and other libraries; guidance in compiling academic bibliographies; working with archives (virtual and real).

Students will also receive tutorial support on writing and redrafting skills in the course of writing an essay and will be given the opportunity further to examine the nature of academic writing at postgraduate level.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 1,500 word annotated bibliography
• % Weighting: 20%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 2,000 word conference presentation
• % Weighting: 30%

Assessment Item 3:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 3,500 word essay
• % Weighting: 50%