Special Project (Text, Context, Intertext)

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• distil, summarise and assess extant approaches to rhetoric within the subject of English literary studies
• creatively and persuasively present your own approach to text or group of texts within the subject of English literary studies.
• find resources of relevance to any given topic related to the specific aspect of rhetoric in English literary studies

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• knowledge of dominant, important, and emerging critical and theoretical approaches to rhetoric within a literary period or field of enquiry;
• understanding of the significance of these texts within the larger context of English literary studies, and other relevant and broader contexts of cultural production.
• knowledge of a specific aspect of a text or group of texts in a particular literary period or field of enquiry;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• formulate and communicate an argument;
• summarise and assess textual arguments;
• research and plan independently;
• write a sustained piece of work.

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• evaluate a wide range of material and engage critically with that material;
• develop a distinctive and significant approach to both primary material, and to dominant and emerging critical trends.

This module allows you to undertake independent research, with guidance from the Special Project convenor/s.

You will normally have three one-to-one supervisions of up to two hours over the course of the module.

If more than one student is involved in any single Special Project, there may be four small seminars over the course of the module. The Special Project group will only exceed two students in exceptional circumstances.

The meetings will be focused on readings selected in consultation with the Special Project convenor/s. In addition, it is very likely that you will be directed to attend undergraduate lectures of relevance to the Special Project. Students may attend selected lectures offered on one or more modules from the first, second and third year syllabus; or they may attend all the lectures offered on one module.

Teaching methods include:

• three one-to-one meetings or four group meetings.

Learning activities include

• individual study and research time;
• accessing research materials (possibly including archival material) and on-line resources;
• preparation of a written assignment, or equivalent, and assignment plan in consultation with the Special Project convenor/s.

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 very small group) teaching from members of staff with particularly deep knowledge in a field.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Draft essay

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: Students will receive feedback on drafts throughout the module and in one-to-one tutorials.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

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.