| Unit name | Extended Essay |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MODL20009 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Hurcombe |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Modern Languages |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit allows students to develop a short research-based project and to write an extended essay on a topic or topics that they have encountered in Year 1 or in Year 2 and which they now wish to develop further. Students may not replicate material from these other units, but the unit will offer them the opportunity to look at, for example, a range of works by an author already briefly studied in a general literature unit or to explore in more detail an aspect of social, political or cultural history examined briefly as part of a first-year survey course. In short, the unit aims to introduce students to key, independent research skills and to offer them the opportunity to write a single extended essay of the sort they will be expected to produce in their year abroad. The exact topic of the essay will be decided in consultation with an appropriate supervisor: 1. to identify a viable area of independent study with a clear rationale and focus; 2. to develop methods and materials by which to broaden the students’ knowledge of the field and deepen understanding of research methods and of relevant disciplines; 3. to facilitate students’ engagement with a body of material, including primary or secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, other sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of linguistic skills; 4. to develop skills of analysis and synthesis beyond the level achieved in Year 1 and in more conventionally taught seminar-based options; 5. to produce a coherent piece of researched scholarship.
Successful students will have: 1. Knowledge about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying; 2. Acquired skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material; 3. Evaluated and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level; 4. Responded to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and intermediate level of complexity; 5. Transferred these skills to study at Part 2.
Initial meeting with supervisor (1 hour) to identify topic; 1 X1 hour seminar fortnightly (providing support in research skills); Up to 4 hours of supervision (typically delivered as approx. 8 sessions of 30 minutes).
Formative Assessment: Abstract and plan plus annotated bibliography (500 words) as basis for initial supervision meetings, testing ILOs 2&3
Summative Assessment: A critical survey of the subject (500 words) testing ILOs 2&3 (15%) A summative essay of 3500 words testing ILOs 1-5 (85%)
None – this will be determined by the choice of subject on advice from the supervisor.
