MA English Literature

• Programme overview

• In your first semester you take our compulsory research methods module which hones your skills in postgraduate research. You also take a further module drawn from our exciting range of thematic modules which are closely linked with staff expertise. In your second semester, you take two elective modules. Over the summer period you research and write your dissertation on a subject of your choice, with one-to-one supervision and support. This is a chance to work independently on a sustained project that interests and excites you. 

  The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry.

  Core modules

  • Research Methods and Debates in Literary and Cultural Studies (MAEL700)

    This module will provide research skills including library and IT skills, the use of databases, archival research and the structuring, managing, and presentation of a project. It will explore current areas of debate within literary studies in English, including the nature of cross-disciplinary research, and may include breakaway session's specific to the exit awards.

  • MA English Literature Dissertation (MAEL701)

    The dissertation module provides the opportunity for students to undertake a supervised, self-directed, research project (15-20,000 words in length), on any topic of their choice, independent of the modules they have studied. It will make use of the IT, library, and other research and scholarly skills learnt the core Research Methods module and developed through subsequent modules.

  Optional modules

  • Independent Research/Professional Experience Project (MAEL712)

    This module enables students to conceive, plan and carry out an independent research project, with guidance from a supervisor on a topic not currently covered by the Programme's other modules. Students may engage with a topic, period or genre relevant to the study of English Literature or use their research to construct a project in the context of a professional work experience.

  • Filth and the Victorians (MAHI726)

    In this module students study the Victorian era from the perspective of environment, public hygiene, cultural values of cleanliness and fear of physical, moral and other forms of contamination. Drawing on urban histories, histories of medicine and science, the module also uses a range of literary and artistic sources.

  • Natural Knowledge and Narrative Knowing: Literatures of nature in North America (MAEL713)

    With a chronology from the colonial period to the twentieth century, this module examines the environmental literatures of North America, acknowledging the contexts and legacies of settler colonialism. By engaging with a diverse ranges of prose texts – eg. natural histories, the periodical press, novels, travel narratives – this module will analyse competing systems of knowledge production, western and indigenous, through a variety of literary forms.

  • Maritime Explorations and Encounters (MAHI728)

    This module challenges students to rethink their ideas about the use of navies in exploration, leading explorers such as Sir Francis Drake, Captain James Cook and Charles Darwin, the place of Plymouth in maritime exploration and the nature of encounters with native peoples.

  • Inter-War Britain 1919-40 (MAHI733)

    The module examines Britain in the period 1919-40 with an emphasis on Government and politics. The social, economic and foreign challenges facing Britain are examined for their ability to impact on policy and politics.

Every postgraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the programme aims, the programme structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest programme structure and may be subject to change:

MA English Literature programme specification_6046