English Literature BA (Hons) module descriptions
First year | Second year | Third year
First year
Block 1: Approaches to Reading and Writing
This module will equip you with core study skills in critical reading, reading for craft, and creative, reflective, and critical writing at university level. You will develop your understanding of standard English grammar and sentence construction and knowledge of how terminology can be applied to the description of diverse forms of language and writing techniques. The module will be taught using a variety of literary and non-literary texts and modes, for example, poetry, dramatic monologues, myth and fairy tales, political speech and film. You will put this knowledge into practice in your own writing alongside learning how to organise and reference writing appropriately.
Assessment:
Essay, 40%: You will produce a 1000-word essay, which might take the form of either a critical or creative response to one of the texts studied in the module.
Online writing project, 60%: You will produce an online text, such as a wiki, on a topic chosen by you. You will also submit a learning diary reflecting on your experience of learning about digital texts.
Block 2: Introduction to the Novel
This module is designed to provide you with skills in reading, writing and analysing fiction that you can build on throughout your degree. You will learn to engage with critical texts and different theoretical approaches to literature. The module will get you thinking about how novels work and how, as readers, we can understand the content from different points and perspectives. You will learn to recognise subtle changes in narrative position, how to know when and when not to trust the narrative voice, how to recognise and read of different subgenres, for example Neo-Victorianism, Realism, Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism, and how to use literary criticism to help reveal the novel in ways you had not expected or imagined.
Assessment:
Class Test, 40%: You will analyse an extract from a single text in response to a specific theme or issue.
Research Essay, 60%: You will write a 2000 word essay developing a critical approach to a single text or multiple texts, supported by literary, critical and theoretical research.
Block 3: Introduction to Drama: Shakespeare
The module will introduce you to the playwright, William Shakespeare. It will explore textual production and the performance of plays in the early modern period. It will also examine Shakespeare’s meaning in contemporary culture by considering the continued adaptation of his work in other media forms such as novels or films. You will use examples of Shakespeare in adaptation to discuss key topics such as gender, social justice and (post)colonialism. In doing so, you will explore Shakespeare’s significance to British culture, as well as his global legacy.
Assessment:
Coursework, 40%: You will use digital editions of Shakespeare's plays to produce a 1,500-word reflection on a 5-minute class presentation.
Blog article, 60%: You will write a 2500 word blog article on the adaptation of one of the plays studied on the module.
OR you can select to study one route from the list below:
Creative Writing route - Writers Salon
Writers always learn from reading. Drawing on the tradition of the literary salon and writers’ salons in the 21st century, this module provides a framework for you to extend your writing skills through an exchange of ideas and collaborative learning. You will reflect on how your reading can inform and improve your own practice as a writer. Areas for consideration may include voice, form and structure, pace and development, genre, language, and the relationship of writer to reader. Reading for craft will be introduced through core readings in poetry and prose and will draw on materials from a range of countries and cultures, including published work from writers of colour and writing in translation. As well as producing new creative work, you will be expected to work individually or collaboratively to host the salon, selecting material, leading discussions, and devising exploratory writing activities
Assessment:
Salon Host Micro-Teach, 30%: You will produce a 500 word plan for hosting you salon and submit a short individual reflection on their micro-teach.
Portfolio: Creative Responses to Reading, 70%: You will submit a minimum of two new pieces of creative writing in response to core readings of your choice.
Drama Route - Shifting Stages
On this module you will develop and demonstrate performance skills relevant to chosen theatrical texts. Analysing the structures, both linguistic and narrative, of play texts and performances, you will explore a range of critical and technical perspectives. Through workshops, you will engage in a practical exploration of the module topic through a range of tutor led exercises, consolidating your knowledge through creative practice and working collaboratively with others.
Assessment:
Solo Performance or Presentation, 60%: You will produce a 6 minute performance or presentation to demonstrate performance skills in relation to one of the two play texts studied with a detailed textual analysis.
Essay, 40%: You will write a 2000 word essay to demonstrate analysing selected written work and performance theory from established authors and practitioners.
Education route - Childhood, Social Justice and Education
This module is an introduction to some of the important contemporary debates in Childhood Studies and society. The module will explore and evaluate the construction of childhood, the inequalities which surround childhood, and what it means to be a child in the UK in the 21st century. Drawing on a range of sociological and political conceptualizations of childhood and the many factors that shape our understanding of it, you will critically evaluate key issues impacting on childhood and how these issues are reflected in, or sustained by, or challenged by society. You will be encouraged to contest and interrogate your own thinking and assumptions about children, childhood and society.
Assessment:
Academic poster, 40%: You will produce 1 poster or a series of posters exploring a theme from the module chosen by yourself in 1500 words.
Report, 60%: You will write an academic report exploring a theme from the module chosen by yourself in 2500 words.
English Language route - Evolving Language
This module is focussed on the history and development of English from its beginnings to the present day and beyond. The module will examine theories about the origins of language, and use English as a case study to show how languages change over time. You will examine the history of English through the close study of texts chosen from the full range of the language's history; including early Celtic languages and Anglo-Saxon. The vexed question of language 'decay' will also be addressed and you will consider the various ways English is evolving in a globalised, IT-saturated world. You will examine differences between varieties of English spoken within the UK and globally and reflect on how such differences impact on communicative interaction.
Assessment:
Linguistic Report, 40%: You will write a report of up to 750 words describing some linguistic data and its relevance to the history of the English language.
Group Presentation, 60%: You will deliver a fifteen-minute group presentation reporting on the findings of a small-scale research project on different varieties of the English language.
Film Studies route - Disney, Warner Bros and the Business of the Film Studio
You will develop your understanding of the historic and current operation of major film studios, by reviewing their releases, changing structures over time, and their practices today. You will explore the history of movie studios and the evolving business practices of studios, focusing on the activities of two studios, the Walt Disney Company and Warner-Discovery. You will discover the key activities carried out by studios, including production, distribution, license sales and marketing.
Assessment:
Preparatory exercise, 20%: You will produce a 5 minute presentation or 100 word written piece outlining one aspect of industry practice.
Essay project, 80%: You will write a 4000 word essay exploring key themes of the module
History route – Global Cities
This module examines the role of cities in global history, particularly the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You will gain an understanding of the significance of urbanisation in modern history, and the development of cities as key sites of global trade and exchange of ideas. Topics covered may include sanitation processes and hygiene movements, city planning, migration, the slave trade, colonialism, sport and leisure, religion and the arts. You will be introduced to cultural and social history concepts and engage with different types of history, such as urban history, medical history, environmental history, visual and material history and migration history.
Assessment:
Presentation, 40%: You will work on one of the themes of the module, comparing how it developed in two different cities.
Portfolio, 60%: You will compile a variety of short pieces totalling 200 words on cities explored during the module.
Journalism route - Understanding Journalism
This module introduces you to classic and new theories and practice of journalism, and the role the news media have in explaining and shaping society. You will reflect on the evolutions and the current state of the sector, and develop your understanding of global news debate and the role of journalism in shaping communities. Theories introduced include journalism and its role in society, theories of news production, content, and audience theories, and digital news theories. You will also dissect current events in order to understand how journalists have covered and responded to activism and social justice issues in the UK and worldwide both in mainstream media and social media.
Assessment:
Essay, 60%: You will select one question to answer from a selection.
Presentation, 40%: You will apply journalism theories to critically evaluating a news event.
Media route - Media, Culture and Society
This module considers a range of approaches to the study of media, culture, and society, particularly focusing on the socio-cultural contexts in which contemporary media operate on a domestic and global scale. You will examine the notion of 'culture' as a range of mediatised practices and explore the everyday significance of contemporary cultural and media forms.
Assessment:
Creative project, 40%: You will create a small creative project around one of the theoretical concepts covered in the module and present it to the class.
Essay, 60%: You will write a 2500 word essay related to the themes of the module.
Block 4: Poetry and Society
Through this module you will develop your understanding of poetic form and genre and consolidate your close-reading skills by scrutinising a range of poems and poets from different historical periods. You will explore the historical origins and development of specific poetic genres such as epic and pastoral and learn the conceptual tools and technical vocabulary needed for critical analysis of poetry.
Assessment:
Essay 1, 40%: You will write a 1500 word essay containing as series of close-reading exercises.
Essay 2, 60%: You will write a 2000 word essay, building on your first assignment, combining detailed close analysis of specific poems with consideration of wider social and cultural themes.
Second year
Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature
This module looks at the birth of English literature, offering an introduction to literature written between the medieval era and the mid-eighteenth century in England and Europe. Text will be considered in their national, cultural, and historical contexts. You will explore examples of poetry, drama and prose organised around key themes such as power, faith, love and sexuality.
Assessment:
Commentary, 30%: You will write a 1000 word analysis of an extract from a text.
Comparative essay, 70%: You will write a 2500 word research essay comparing two or three texts studied on the module in relation to a research topic.
Block 2: Romantic and Victorian Literature
This module introduces you to the exciting and significant range of literature from the Romantic and Victorian periods between 1780 and 1901. You will explore texts by writers such as Mary Wollstonecraft, William Wordsworth, Jane Austen and Byron in relation to the huge social upheavals of the time (including the impact of the French Revolution) and the new and radical ideas about childhood, the rights of man, and of woman, the natural world and the imagination emerging at the time. We then examine how Romantic ideas mutate in the literature of the Victorian period (1837-1901). The primary focus in this part of the course is on the novel, the dominant literary genre of the period, and students study writers like Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Thomas Hardy, and examine the ways in which they represent issues such as class-conflict, urban poverty, faith, national identity and changing gender-roles. Students also look at the changing forms of Victorian poetry and the emergence of a distinctively female poetic tradition during the period.
Block 3: Text Technologies
Literary and historical texts have always come down to us in material forms - from stone and wax tablets inscribed with a chisel or stylus to being held as electron charges within capacitors on computer microchips. This module is concerned with how these material forms function and how they have shaped the writings we read. You will explore three topics: '‘Manuscript, writing up to the year 1500’, ‘Printing, 1440-2000’, and ‘Digital texts, the 20th century and beyond'. You will discover the revolutionary aspects of each of these developments in text technologies and how they transformed writing, its dissemination and consumption. We will consider such questions as how print disrupted and displaced manuscript culture, how the changing economics of textual dissemination affect what gets written and disseminated, and how reading is shaped by the medium in which the writing is embodied.
Assessment:
Knowledge-Based Tests, 10%: You will complete a series of short tests.
Case Study, 30%: You will write a 1200 word case study reflecting on theoretical knowledge and practical experiences of creating a manuscript or a printed document.
Digital Project, 60%: You will use your practical experience of the creation of a digital resource to discuss history of text technologies in 3500 words.
OR continue with the route selected in the first year:
Creative Writing route - Story Craft
Narrative remains a tremendously powerful tool in all aspects of media, in marketing, advertising, gaming, as well as all aspects of fiction. This module will remind you why, and how, this is so. Main themes may include narrative arcs and structures, characterisation, pace, event, story-world, dialogue, clue-laying, revelation, and concealment, and means of involving the reader. The module will focus on storytelling and prose, looking at story structure, narrative structure, and drive, and how writers compel us to turn the pages. It will consider how the art of storytelling has adapted to its contemporary setting and the relationship between form and content. You will develop your understanding of the importance of showing rather than telling and of the capacity strong image has to carry emotional content.
Assessment:
Story Craft Proposal, 40%: You will submit a 1500 word proposalillustrating your intended approachto story craft in your portfolio. Your proposal can be presented in a format of your own choosing, for example, PowerPoint, poster, Pecha Kucha, Padlet or webpage.
Story Craft Portfolio, 60%: You will produce a new creative work in 300 words that applies the concepts of story craft studied in the module.
Drama Route - Theatre Revolutions
You will engage with key moments of transition in theatre practice and develop your understanding of those changes from a range of cultural and historical perspectives. Theatre is an ever-changing form and this module provides you with the opportunity to explore exciting moments of change throughout history such as the shift from melodrama to naturalism or the shift from naturalism to post-dramatic performance. Themes you will explore could include Justice, War and Love.
Assessment:
Essay, 50%: You will write a 2500 word essay interpreting theatre and performance texts using primary and secondary courses to construct a coherent argument in response to one of number of essay questions.
Group performance, 50%: You will create a 30 minute group performance of one or more scenes from one of the plays studied.
Education route - Cultural and Technological Transformations in Education
This module explores how technology has impacted education and learning. We will consider key cultural changes, for example, that we now live in the ‘digital age and how technological change has impacted on notions of children’s and young people’s media literacy, e-learning, e-safety and social networking. Many students do not have access to technology and you will consider the inequalities this perpetuates, as well as how technologies can create a more inclusive form of education for neurodiverse students and students with disabilities. You will also consider how technology can create empowering learning opportunities, through gaming, podcasting, wikis and virtual world platforms for all students.
Assessment:
Portfolio, 100%: You will work in pairs or small groups to create a 1500 word portfolio exploring a topic from the module presented either as a wiki, website, or interactive Sway.
English Language route - Sociolinguistics
This module develops your awareness of the link between language and society and the issues that may arise from this link. You will explore topics such as the relationship between language and society, how English varies between regions and countries, the debate on Standard English, multilingualism and language choice, attitudes to language use in society, language and gender, language and class/age, language planning and maintenance, linguistic imperialism or a global language, language and societal problems and researching sociolinguistics.
Assessment:
Test, 20%: a one hour online test
Coursework 1, 20%: In 1000 words you will write a critical review of a text exploring the course content.
Coursework 2, 30%: In 1000 words you will write an analytical study of a theme, topic, or data set exploring the course content.
Project, 30%: You will work as a group on a research project exploring a sociolinguistic topic of your choosing and deliver a 15 minute presentation on your findings.
Education route - Preparing for Professional Practice
The educational landscape of the UK is changing rapidly and the range of graduate professional roles on offer is broader than ever before. This module is intended to support students who wish to go into both teaching and non-teaching-based careers. It will equip you to make informed, critical and confident assessments of the opportunities, debates and challenges that are available to you. You will identify your personal strengths, areas for personal and professional development, and opportunities by which this development might be achieved. You will also gain the practical skills and reflect on the development of your professional identity and application of academic knowledge in practical environments. You will attend career guidance sessions throughout the academic year and have the opportunity to undertake a placement.
Assessment:
100%: You will write a 1500 word reflective report drawing on your own career interests, aspirations and background experience. This could include employment sector analysis documents, a high-quality CV, self-evaluation documents and evidence of completed, relevant professional development.
Film Studies route - Screen Archives - Preservation, Conservation and Usage
In this module you will learn about the management and usage of screen archives. You will discover how to identify, approach and mitigate the threats that time and space pose to the preservation of film and media heritage for future generations, while also identifying and exploring the various purposes for which this archival material is utilised by a range of external stakeholders. The module’s hands-on practical evaluation of historical material will encourage you to consider: what can we find and study in film archives? How do we present these items to the public? Who is an archivist and who a collector? And what, ultimately, are the purposes and uses of an archive’s holdings and how can they best be served? You will benefit form learning in the DMU film archives, where you will observe, evaluate film ephemera and their broad historical and socio-cultural contexts.
Assessment:
Professional portfolio, 50%: You will write a 2500 portfolio reflecting on curatorial practices concerning archives and collections.
Exhibition materials and curatorial presentation, 50%: You will submit exhibition materials totalling 1000 words and a 10 minute curatorial presentation around an artefact from a screen archive.
History route – Humans and the Natural World
This module will examine how humans have used, adapted, represented, changed and explored the natural world through the sciences and medicine, sport and leisure, industry, religion and visual culture, among others. You will be introduced to a diversity of historical approaches, including the history of science, medicine and technology, environmental history, sport history and visual history.
Assessment:
Thematic essay, 40%: You will answer an essay question related to the themes of the module in 1500 words.
Podcast or video, 50%: You will choose to produce either a podcast or video of 5-10 minutes. You will work in pairs to examine one of the module themes and bring in primary source analysis.
Content notes, 10%: You will write 500 words to introduce your podcast or video.
Journalism route - Beyond News: Peace journalism and Opinion writing
You will explore innovative and constructive approaches to journalism, such as peace journalism, constructive journalism, and solution journalism, which aim to create opportunities for change through journalism. You will gain an understanding of practical elements of writing an entertaining, interesting and compelling first person opinion column, why these columns are more popular today in magazines and newspapers and write your own columns on your own blog. We will also look at review writing and the journalistic similarities here with opinion writing. You will be encouraged to find an area of popular culture they are interested in and review your experience of it, honing your work, practising techniques and styles, until your writing is up to industry standard.
Assessment:
Constructive journalism report, 50%: You will write a 2500 word including and explanation of chosen constructive approach, with analysis and proposal of constructive output.
Review and column writing, 50%: You will write a 2500 word review or column.
Media route - Public Relations and Strategic Communications
This module introduces you the concepts and debates that underpin both the practice and the academic discipline of public relations. You will learn about the different strands of public relations, the industry structures and the tools used by practitioners to engage with their audiences. You will develop an understanding of mediated communications and the relationship between practitioners and journalists. The ability to practically utilise new media and technology as part of strategic communications will also form a key strand of the modules learning and teaching strategy.
Assessment:
Individual PR campaign plan, 60%: You will produce a 2000 word online PR campaign plan from scratch targeting the UK audience. Your plan will be driven by global research and you will produce practical materials for the campaign which could be logo designs, posters, leaflets, press releases, blogs, websites, digital content, and any innovations with a rationale.
Group presentation and reflective report, 40%: You will deliver a 10 minute presentation as a group and write a 500 word reflective report.
Block 4: Screen and Literary adaptations of the Classics
What happens when an iconic literary text is adapted from one genre to another, one medium to another, and one cultural platform to another? What are the processes at work in these transformations? This module explores the practice of the textual transformation of both historic and contemporary literary classics. You will examine the term 'adaptation' in its widest cultural context by engaging with a range of adaptive responses to these texts, tracing their transition from authorised works of 'high art' to products that thrive within popular culture. You will also focus on the ideological, political, and cultural contexts of adaptations via debates focusing on their social, cultural, historical, and industrial production contexts. Issues related to gender, sexuality, race, and class are central to this module.
Assessment:
Assignment, 40%: You will write a weekly 600 word learning diary for the first three weeks of the module, applying that week's teaching through either a piece of close reading or a detailed creative piece.
Essay, 60%: You will write a 300 word essay on a set task exploring the module content.
Third year
Year long: Dissertation
You will propose, refine, develop, research and write a dissertation on a topic supervised by a member of the English team. We will support you throughout the year with skills-oriented workshops on devising and planning a project, engaging with scholarship, writing, editing and referencing. This will be complemented by workshops on key theoretical approaches such as structuralism and poststructuralism, Marxism, feminism, ecocriticism, queer theory or critical race theory as well as anti-theory or ‘against theory’ movements.
Assessment
Dissertation, 80%: You will write a 8-10,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choosing as approved by your supervisor.
Research portfolio, 20%: You will produce a 3000 word portfolio including four reports on the application of different theories/interpretive frameworks to one of the set texts on the module and your dissertation, as well as a 1000 word introductory essay based on your dissertation conference presentation.
Block 2: Remediating Texts
More texts are now stored electronically in the world’s computers than on paper in its libraries. But as well as preserving these texts, the same machines allow us to adapt, recreate, circulate and ask new and sophisticated questions about literature. This module seeks to explore the varied ways in which technology allows us to remediate literary texts and you will have the opportunity to choose your own focus for your learning. You will consider the interventions we can make, creatively and critically, when using technology, as well as the centrality of technology to literary culture. Topics explored may include Adapting Literature Online: Bookishness, Memes and Fans, Textual Studies Using Computers or Writing Adaptations: Screenplays in Theory and Practice.
Assessment:
Test, 20%: You will take a series of quizzes across the first six weeks of the module.
Report 1, 35%: You will complete a 1500 word report critically analysing a creative or practical project relevant to the themes of the module.
Report 2, 45%: You will complete a 2500 word report critically analysing a creative or practical project relevant to the themes of the module.
Block 3: World Englishes: On the Page and Beyond
This module explores a diverse range of ‘World Englishes’ or English-language literature from across the globe. You will develop your knowledge on the production of English literature in a variety of national, ideological, historical, or social contexts and examine examples both on and off the written page. The module focuses on the legacy of colonisation in anglophone and/or postcolonial nations, and the literature thereof. There is an emphasis on the interactions between text and context, and you will be encouraged to explore a range of concepts such as memory, nationality, class, ethnicity, and gender.
Assessment:
Blog entry, 40%: You will submit 4 weekly blog posts responding to one of the set texts discussed, comprising of either 2000 words of 4 minutes of video content.
Research essay, 60%: You will write a 3000 word essay examining several texts through a specific argument.
OR continue with the route selected in the first year:
Creative Writing route - Uncreative Writing, Creative Misbehaviour
This module encourages you to rethink the very premise of ‘Creative Writing’ as self-expression. Creative Writing is founded upon notions of ‘original’ composition, and the quest to find a ‘unique’ voice. The ability to generate new writing that expresses creative thought and reflects upon experiences is one of the enduring definitions of what it means to be human. But there is an alternative history of ‘Uncreative Writing’ that challenges these ideas and welcomes kinds of writing practice open to chance procedures, ‘conceptual writing’, ‘found’ and ‘appropriated’ texts, and experiments with artificial constraints. You will learn about the innovations of Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Oulipo, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E and Conceptual Writing. You will also explore a range of ideas, attitudes and practices that have been central to visual art, musical composition, mathematics, and Zen. Central to the module is a celebration of the importance of play and experimentation and you will rethink notions of originality, authenticity, authorship, inspiration, and self-expression.
Case study, 40%: You will create 4-5 separate experiments arising from techniques and methods explored in the module.
Uncreative Project, 60%: You will produce creative work of 5000 words that draws on the approaches, techniques, and procedures of the module.
Drama Route - Performance, Identity, and Activism
This module explores the ways in which theatre and performance has been, and can be, used as a vehicle to discuss politics, to emancipate individuals and communities, as a tool for intervention and liberation, or as a means of engagement and communication within society. Exploring politics of personal identity and social relations, the module enables you to make connections between performance and political activism, using intersectional perspectives – race, gender, sexuality, class, and (dis)ability – to create work that pushes beyond pure entertainment. It also considers ways in which drama, theatre and performance functions as a means of engagement and communication within society.
Assessment:
Critical Essay or Presentation, 40%: You will write a 2000 word essay or deliver a 9 minute presentationdemonstrating your knowledge and critical understanding of theory and practice examined explored in the module.
Solo/Group Creative Project, 60%: You will create either a 15 minute solo piece or 30 minute group piece of original work informed by specific cultural, social or political issues.
Education route – Adult Learners and Lifelong Learning
This module explores the differences between adult education and adults in education, including Further and Higher Education and HE in Further Education. It will examine the theoretical and practical distinctions between adults and school-based learners and will provide you with an opportunity to explore possible routes for your degree beyond the primary sector. The growth and expansion of adult education will be discussed within the contemporary political context and the changed and changing FE and HE landscapes and the concept of Lifelong Learning and Employability will be explored in depth.
Assessment:
Essay, 30%: You will write a 1500 word essay evaluating the relationship between political perspectives on the form and focus of adult education and the conceptual character of the adult learner.
Report, 70%: You will write a 3500 word report exploring a single area of adult learning in particular detail.
OR
Education route - Reflection on Practice: Teaching and Learning
You will undertake a placement in a learning environment which could be within schools, arts and community projects, gallery education, post-compulsory education, prisons, early years settings, Scout groups, extra-curricular clubs, hospital schools, as well as alternative educational settings. You will adopt the approach of a reflective practitioner and get involved in the 'process' of critical reflection. In so doing, you will use this as a tool for developing and consolidating your knowledge and understanding of the teaching and learning process.
Assessment:
Presentation, 30%: You will choose a 10 minute microteach or a presentation of an artefact to critically reflect upon a strategy or resource that supports effective teaching and learning drawn from your placement experience.
E-portfolio, 70%: You will write a 3500 word e-portfolio, critically reflecting on your time in the placement setting.
OR
Education route – Gender and Education
The module examines current debates concerning gender and education. It begins with the historically disadvantaged position of girls and women in education and examines the literature on this subject as it has developed over the past 20 years. The notion of equal opportunities is interrogated and the social construction of gender is problematised and examined. You will also consider recent debates on gender and achievement and the 'problem of boys'.
Assessment:
Presentation, 40%: You will deliver a 10 minute presentation exploring the themes of the module.
Project, 60%: You will write a 3500 word extended research paper.
English Language route - Language and Identity
This module examines the complex role that language plays in the construction of identities in contemporary society. You will learn about a range of theoretical approaches to the study of language and identity, including performativity and intersectionality. These approaches will be examined in relation to various spoken and written data from domains such as the media, the workplace and online spaces. You will critically evaluate the role that language plays in the construction of identities and in real-world issues such as sexism and racism.
Assessment:
Report plan, 20%:You will writea plan of a report for feedback from your tutor.
Report, 30%: You will write a 1000 word report on a specific approach to the study of language and identity.
Podcast, 50%:You will produce a 10 minutepodcast on a topic related to gender and sexuality designed by the student, including analysis of original linguistic data.
Film Studies route - British Cinema - Creativity, Independents and Interdependence
This module explores British cinema, its cultural specificity and its remarkable creative and cultural diversity within an industry-grounded framework, with a particular focus on the post-studio period since the late 1960s and developments between the 1980s and the present. You will gain an understanding of some of the creative figures, individual producers and production companies, films, cycles, genres and trends which have shaped post-1960s and contemporary British film. You will also discover the structural and cultural challenges faced by the UK film industry and the strategies UK filmmakers and institutions have deployed to bring ‘culturally British’ films to audiences at home and worldwide.
History route – The World on Display
This module explores the complex histories of collecting and displaying. You will examine the relationship between museums and history by looking at the origins of museum objects and the histories that shaped collecting practices. You will examine these which may include public history and heritage sites, the impact of colonialism and decolonisation processes in the formation of museums, as well as the effects of the emergence of academic disciplines such as archaeology and anthropology in the shaping of collecting and displaying practices.
Assessment:
Literature review, 40%: You will review and analyse secondary sources related to one of the module themes in 1500 words.
Online Exhibition, 45%. In pairs, you will work on an online exhibition related to one of the themes of the module. You will include primary sources and a final bibliography in 2000 words.
Critical reflection, 15%: You will write 500 words reflecting on the work you have done for this module focusing on the knowledge and skills you have learned.
Journalism route - Music, Film & Entertainment Journalism
This module will develop your understanding of music, film and entertainment journalism, its history and its cultural importance. It is a practical module designed to prepare you for a career as a journalists, PR or promoter. You will produce a varied multi-media journalism portfolio showcasing your ability to preview events and write reviews of gigs/albums/films/theatre/TV/comedy and other arts forms to industry standard on various media platforms, including digital, print and social media. The curriculum will include guest speakers, including musicians, directors, and working music, film, and arts journalists, to enhance the learning experience. Supported where possible with trips to relevant music venues, theatres, to speak to staff about media management and how their venues are reported by the media.
Assessment:
Journalism portfolio, 100%.
Media route – Gender and TV Fictions
What have women/those who identify as women contributed to the production of television drama and sitcom? How have women been represented within these genres in terms of their gender, class, sexuality, race and age? These are key questions which this module addresses by exploring British feminine-gendered fiction from the 1960s to the contemporary period. Taking an historical approach, this module contextualises key shifts to women’s positioning on both sides of the television screen in relation to broader cultural, economic, social and industrial change. You will feminine forms of British television fictions’ negotiations and responses to feminism, postfeminism, neoliberalism, postcolonialism and broadcasting policy.
Assessment:
Research portfolio, 50%: You will write a 2500 word portfolio of research materials including a viewing diary, research notes and summaries of key critical sources regarding the writing and representation of screen femininities.
Group presentation, 50%: You will pitch an idea for a television drama or sitcom about femininities and gender politics.
Block 4: Modernism and Magazines
You will examine the origins of Anglo-American modernism by considering a selection of key authors, critically analysing how they responded to modernity. You will also consider where modernism was first published, that is, in the pages of the modernist 'little magazine'. This module encourages you to interrogate the relationship between modernism and wider culture through study of a range of modernist texts and magazines.
Assessment:
Essay, 40%: You will write a 2000 word essay applying your understanding of modernism to your chosen authors and texts.
Research portfolio, 60%: You will write three 500 word responses to the magazines studied in the module and a 1500 word research report on a magazine of your choice.