The selection of materials you will study, and the ways in which your teachers will encourage you to study them, are aimed at helping you to develop your own independent thinking about the subject you are studying. It is your responsibility to meet the formal requirements of your modules so that you can take full intellectual advantage of what they offer you. However much you may gain from the modules and your teachers, it is your responsibility to develop your thinking and to express it coherently in seminar discussion and seminar presentations and in the written work you submit for examination.
MA degree courses are subject to the University's Higher Degree Regulations, which can be found at http://www.essex.ac.uk/academic/docs/regs/highercont.shtm
Module Directors and module teachers will give you more specific guidance and instructions about requirements. The following are points relevant to all schemes:
MODULE SEMINARS
You are required to attend all module seminars as laid down in module descriptions and as indicated by module teachers. If, for a reason outside your control, you cannot attend a seminar, please inform your module teacher or the Graduate Administrator before the seminar takes place.
COURSEWORK
The four or five coursework essays of between 4,500 and 5,000 words, and the various submissions required for LT901 as appropriate, should reflect the range of work done in the course of the MA. You are encouraged to discuss your essays as fully as possible with your teachers, and you should have your essay topics approved before you start on the writing.
You must keep to the word limit (footnotes and the bibliography are not included in the word limit). If your essay is going to be outside the word limit, consult your module tutor, since marks may be taken off for over or under length coursework.
CREATIVE WRITING COURSEWORK
In lieu of the standard essay format, creative writing students will normally be expected to submit creative work of their own, accompanied by a critical commentary. The relative lengths of these two components will be negotiated with your tutor. Deadlines and other regulations are as for coursework essays.
DISSERTATIONS:
Word limit - 12,000 words (not including abstract, notes, bibliographic materials and footnotes).
CREATIVE WRITING DISSERTATIONS:
6,000 (creative component) plus 6,000 (critical component).
- Module Supervisor: James Canton