Special Project

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• research and plan independently;
• write a sustained piece of work.
• formulate and communicate an argument;
• evaluate a wide range of material and engage critically with that material;
• summarise and assess textual arguments;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• specific theoretical or cultural questions that emerge from a particular literary period or field of enquiry;
• the dominant, important, and emerging critical and theoretical approaches to a text or set of texts within a literary period or field of enquiry;
• a specific theoretical or cultural approach within the larger context of English literary studies, and other relevant and broader contexts of cultural production.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• find resources of relevance to any given topic related to the specific genre of English literary studies;
• creatively and persuasively present your own approach to any given genre within the subject of English literary studies.
• develop a distinctive and significant approach to both primary material, and to dominant and emerging critical trends.
• distil, summarise and assess extant approaches to a given genre within the subject of English literary studies;

The Special Project module will allow you to produce a written assignment or equivalent on a topic of your choice, undertaking independent research with individual guidance from the convenor. Meetings will be focussed on readings selected in consultation with the convenor. In consultation with your supervisor, you will be encouraged to identify resources from the undergraduate curriculum which will help you to build your knowledge and understanding. This may be an entire module, individual lectures (recorded or live), or guidance provided on Blackboard from a single module or from a range of modules.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• 3 group meetings
• 1 individual supervision session

Learning activities include

• individual study and research time;
• accessing research materials (possibly including archival material) and on-line resources;
• preparation of written assignments, or equivalent, in consultation with the Special Project convenor/s.
• the opportunity to undertake in-depth independent research into a topic of your own choosing

Innovative or special features of this module:

• the opportunity it offers you to undertake in-depth independent research into a topic of your own choosing;
• access to sustained, individual or small group teaching from members of staff with particularly deep knowledge in a field.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Relevant resources will vary according to your Special Subject.. You will be encouraged to seek information beyond that which is easily available in the University Library, and will be given advice on accessing specialists’ archives in your field.

Assessment strategy

Assessment is made up of two elements.

The 1000-word first assignment is worth 20% and is intended to provide you with the means of successfully developing your independent project. Depending on the nature of the Special Project it will be appropriate for this to be a blog, literature review, annotated bibliography, recorded presentation, academic poster, research proposal, or other similar assignment agreed with your supervisor.

The 3000-word second assignment is worth 80% and will represent the culmination of your independent research. There is no set question which applies to all projects: instead, special projects invite you to begin by exploring a particular area of study, and then, in conjunction with your supervisor, to shape both the question to be addressed, and the form in which to address it. Depending on the topic, supervisors may recommend a single long-form assignment (where designing the scope of the final assignment — its focus, range, and organisation — is part of the exercise that you are being asked to undertake); they may divide the project into subsections which enable you to explore a range of related topics; or they may, for example, invite you to consider an assignment in the form of a recorded presentation.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External