Unit information: Dissertation with Fieldwork or Community Placement in 2019/20

Unit name	Dissertation with Fieldwork or Community Placement
Unit code	THRSM0121
Credit points	40
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Langer
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Successful completion of level 3, Year Abroad
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Religion and Theology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This variant of the dissertation gives students the opportunity to combine their academic learning with practical experience of field-work or community-based placement. Students are supported to make contact and establish relationships with their chosen area of field-work / placement and to formulate research questions enabling them to engage with the field-work / placement in a scholarly context. Students will experience first-hand the interaction of religion, society and academia in their chosen community or placement and are encouraged to reflect on this in both their portfolio and the dissertation. This unit aims to help students plan ahead for a career after graduation and to enhance their employability by providing opportunities to network and to develop a range of practical and transferable skills, such as effective communication, presentation, negotiation and teamwork.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will be able to demonstrate:

1. advanced research skills through the production of an extended piece of independent research in accordance with high scholarly standards
2. advanced proficiency in forming their own research questions
3. advanced skills of argumentation and communication appropriate to level M
4. the ability to work with both secondary and primary resources and to draw reasoned and considered conclusions from them.

All the above are assessed by the 7000-word project. In addition, as a result of working in a community successful students will be able to demonstrate in the 3,000 word portfolio:

1. analytical understanding of place, community and holistic, creative thinking in relation to contemporary conditions of uncertainty and complexity - assessed by portfolio, part (a)
2. an ability to critically evaluate their own and others’ values, attitudes and behaviours in relation to religious issues and to determine what constitutes ethical responsibility in relation to such issues - assessed by portfolio part (b)
3. an ability to reflect sensitively and professionally on learning in the field and the ability to explain and justify own action or behaviour, in relation to other (perhaps opposing) viewpoints principles or beliefs with respect to religious and cultural issues - assessed by portfolio part (c)

Teaching Information

Introductory 1 hr seminar on field work ethics and research methods, 2 hrs one-to-one supervisory sessions with Dissertation tutor at key stages; access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in office hours. Opportunity for presentation of research materials in yearly department postgraduate conference. Attendance at fortnightly research seminar with PGT and PGR students. Library skills training and dissertation research training sessions.

Assessment Information

1 x 7,000-word dissertation project (70%) [ILOs 1-7]

1 x 3,000-word portfolio consisting of: (a) analysis of place, situation or event; (b) structured interview and (c) reflective account. (30%) [ILOs 5, 6, 7]

Formative: student to present material from their dissertation in a group seminar, with feedback from other students (co-operative work), followed by feedback from academic supervisor. This seminar group for all dissertation students takes place soon after teaching block two has commenced.

Reading and References

• Jan Blommaert, (2010) Ethnographic fieldwork: a beginner's guide, 2010.
• Clifford Geertz, (1973) "Thick Description" from Interpretations of Culture.
• James Spradley, (1979) The Ethnographic Interview.
• Roger Sanjek, ed. (1990) Fieldnotes: the Makings of Anthropology. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press.
• Teater, Barbra. (2012) Social work in the community: making a difference, Bristol: Policy Press.
• Grimshaw, Anna (2001) The ethnographers eye: ways of seeing in modern anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press