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LT901-7-FY : Dissertation Preparation: Postgraduate Research and Writing Skills

This is a ten-week compulsory module over the autumn and spring terms for MA Literature, MA Avant-Gardes, MA Film and Literature and MA American Literatures and for those MA Film Studies and MA Wild Writing students who wish to write a critical (theoretical) rather than creative dissertation. The dissertation is a crucial component of all these MA schemes and offers students the chance to pursue topics that passionately interest them. This module prepares students for the dissertation, guiding them through the basic research skills and methods they need to acquire in order to complete that research project successfully at the standards required at postgraduate level. Its underlying rationale is to show students that research methods form an intrinsic part of intellectual and creative endeavour. It therefore adopts a pluralistic approach, allowing students to encounter a variety of research methods and methodologies that, it is hoped, they will find useful and inspiring for their current or future work. The course is also recommended to first-year LiFTS PhD & MA by Dissertation students who have not already attended a Research Methods course.

Category: Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

LT905-7-FY : Research for Creative Practice

This is a ten-week module running throughout the autumn and spring terms that prepares MA Creative Writing, Wild Writing, Playwriting, Theatre Practice and Film Studies students for conducting effective project research and equips them for their creative dissertation. The dissertation is a crucial component of all these MA schemes and this module offers students the chance to develop their creative practice in terms of the different modes of research that inform a creative dissertation.

The module is a companion to LT901 Research Methods, which guides postgraduate students through primary and secondary research methods required by critical and analytical humanities disciplines. Taught components of LT905 Research for Creative Practice will sometimes coincide with taught components of LT901 Research Methods, where relevant bringing the taught cohort together in interdisciplinary exchange, and also offer specific instruction to students working on their creative dissertation.

The purpose of this module is to show students that creative work across disciplines can arise from creative research practice, and that creative work can be a response to research material. The module will also expand the students’ understanding of research from other primary and secondary textual and digital sources to include archives and experiential research. This module will show students how research can shape and guide multiple outputs and will demonstrate potential pathways from the genesis to delivery and dissemination of creative projects.

The course is also recommended to first-year LiFTS PhD & MA by Dissertation students undertaking a creative project as the main component of their doctorate.

Aims

• To introduce students to the various research methods involved in creative practice.
• To help students through the conception and execution of their dissertation.
• To understand and apply research skills utilised by creative practitioners.
• To provide students with structured inspiration and preparation that will orientate their expectations and working practices for future creative projects.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the research methods involved in creative practice
2. Critically evaluate the pertinence of particular research methods in relation to their own creative practice
3. Deploy research methods appropriately for their creative practice
4. Develop their creative practice in line with expectations and standards of commercial and/or academic bodies
Category: Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

LT981-7-FY : Dissertation

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).

Category: Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies