English - MA/PgD/PgC
Course Overview
MA English is a rewarding taught degree offering an exhilarating analysis of English using texts from the ‘long nineteenth century’ to the present day.
The degree focuses on historic and contemporary textual representations of place, theorising cultural representations and practices of location, space, history and textuality, and the effect of these on constructions of identity. Where possible, the modules encourage you to explore interdisciplinary boundaries and texts.
Course Content
Typical Modules:
Literature and Landscapes
Writing The City
Representing ‘the Past’
New and Experimental Writing
Critical Practice
Researching Humanities
View Course Structure document
In the module Literature and Landscapes, you’ll examine artistic and literary representations of landscape, and engage with the complex social, cultural and aesthetic factors that contribute to the formation of identity.
The module provides a comparative foundation from which you’ll consider representations of the urban encountered in Writing the City. In this module you’ll explore representations of urban space in literary fiction, including writers such as Paul Auster, Peter Ackroyd and Jeanette Winterson.
In Representing ‘the Past’, you will consider how we interpret 'the past' within a cultural context. Looking at both textual and extra-textual appropriations, and by showing how meanings of 'the past' are contested at any one time, you will consider how certain interpretations are naturalised and legitimated within culture.
New and Experimental Writing encourages you to theorise and explore new and experimental approaches to writing. You’ll be supported in your study by the modules Researching Humanities and Critical Practice which introduce and prepare you for studying the discipline of English at Master’s level. In particular, Critical Practice encourages you to think about your place within academia, and how your work fits into on-going theoretical debates in your discipline, identifying and considering areas of conflict. Both modules provide preparation for the dissertation which enables you to negotiate an area of extended study falling within the remit of the degree.
One of the great strengths of the programme is its flexibility. MA English can be studied either full or part time. Modules can be taken individually, allowing you to control the pace and depth of your postgraduate study. Programme delivery is enhanced by the university’s commitment to e-learning.
Career Potential
MA English encourages you to develop the valuable skills of autonomy, effective collaboration, self-direction, organisation, initiative and adaptability that are highly regarded in the workplace. These transferable skills are crucial to career development and enhancement, and form the basis for further study.
A Master’s degree in English may lead to a variety of careers which include the particularly relevant areas of teaching, research, journalism, public relations, the Civil Service, publishing, the media, and employment in the public or voluntary sectors
Entry Requirements
Applicants should usually have a first or upper second-class honours degree, in a relevant subject. Students that meet the criteria may be invited for interview.
Key Facts
Campus: Cyncoed
School: Cardiff School of Education
Course Length: 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time
There are a number of ways you can undertake postgraduate study with us.
- If you wish, you can simply take individual modules (perhaps just one, or more, depending on your interest)
- If you wish to go further, you might choose to complete a Postgraduate Certificate (three modules chosen from a postgraduate programme)
- Further still, you might wish to undertake a Postgraduate Diploma (six modules from one of our programmes)
- Or you might wish to go for a Master's Degree, submitting a dissertation after completing the six taught modules
It's completely up to you.
All options are taught either full or part time. All teaching is done in the evening, full time on Mondays and Wednesdays, part time just one evening a week
Assessment:
Assessment occurs through a variety of approaches, including written assignments, annotated bibliographies, poster presentations, conference abstracts, seminar presentations and dissertation.
How to Apply:
Applications for this course should be made direct to the university. For further information please visit our How to Apply pages at www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/howtoapply
Selection Procedure:
Application form, CV and interview