Welcome to the English Department and the Master’s in Pan-Romanticisms Programme!
We hope this handbook will give you useful information about our optional modules and procedures. While we regard our course plans as final, we may have to make modifications in cases of illness or other unforeseen circumstances. Please consult relevant officers (listed below) and/or your Personal Tutor if you have questions about any matters related to your course.
MA Contacts
MA Convenor/ Personal Tutor / Prof Jackie Labbe / Room 523 / 024 76 573092 /MA website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/postgrad/current/masters/panromanticisms
IMPORTANT DATES 2011-2012
AUTUMN TERM
Monday 3 October 2011 Beginning of Autumn Term.
Monday 3 October Introductory Meeting of all M.A. students in Room TBA at 6.00 pm. Wine to follow in H502.
Wednesday 5 October All module choices to be finalised. Hand in to Reception completed option-choice forms
Monday 7 November All Bibliography Exercises to be submitted
(week 6) to the English Office (H506) by 12.00 noon.
Saturday 10 December End of Autumn Term.
(week 10)
SPRING TERM
Monday 9 January 2012 Beginning of Spring Term.
Monday 13 February Introduction to Pan Romanticisms essay
to be submitted by 12.00 noon (week 6)
Monday 20 February Dissertation plan due in.
(week 7)
Saturday 17 March
SUMMER TERM
Monday 23 April Beginning of Summer Term.
Saturday 30 June End of Summer Term.
*****
Monday 3 September Submit all remaining option essays and the Dissertation by 12.00 noon
Wednesday 17 October 2012 Taught M.A. Examination Board
NOTE: All deadlines are final. No late work will be accepted without the written permission of the MA Convenor, which shall not normally be given without documented medical evidence or equivalently serious cause. It is expected that students in difficulty will request an extension which can only be granted by the MA Convenor, who can be contacted directly. A medical note will be required in case of illness. Work which is late without permission will be penalised by 3 marks a day.
All assessed work must conform to the stated maximum word lengths. The maximum word lengths are inclusive of quotations and footnotes but not of bibliography. You will be asked to provide a word count of your essays on the cover sheet which you complete when the work is submitted. We allow a stated margin of up to 10% over or under-length for flexibility. Essays that are 10-25% over/under-length will incur a penalty of 3 marks. Essays that are more than 25% over/under-length will be refused.
ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
Bibliography Exercise - 2 short exercises are due in Term 1, Monday 7 November (week 6).
Essay Titles - The topics and titles of essays should be agreed with the relevant module tutor as she/he directs. Once this has been agreed with your tutor, you must submit the Agreed Essay Title form to the Graduate Secretary within one week of finalizing your title.
Draft Essays – Provided draft essays are submitted to English Department tutors well before the deadline (normally 6 weeks in advance; check with your tutor to determine her/his requirements), feedback but not projected marks will be available. Only one draft essay per module will be read. Please check with tutors from other departments before preparing a draft.
Tutor availability - Tutors will not generally be available during vacations; however, they may agree to consultations by arrangement. If you need to consult your tutors outside of term time, you may email them to arrange an appointment. However, please be aware that many tutors are not easily contactable during vacation times.
Marks for essays – Marks are provisional until confirmed by the External Examiner and the Board of Examiners.
Module Deadlines - Essay deadlines are those set by the tutor of each individual module. Essay length is always 5000 words; if module information specifies something different you must discuss your requirements as a student on the MA in Pan-Romanticisms with the tutor. If any tutor remains unclear about your MA requirements, please ask him/her to contact Professor Jackie Labbe (English), the MA Convenor.
Returning Essays
Essays will be returned by tutors during their normal office hours or by other arrangements made by the tutor. If you would like your essay returned by post please include an SAE (with sufficient postage) when you submit your essays.
Monitoring Student Progression
All PGT students will be subject to the monitoring structure detailed below.
Department of English and Comparative English Literature / Monitoring student progress: PGT Full-TimeLead Academic: Director of Graduate Studies
Point 1 / Point 2 / Point 3 / Point 4 / Point 5
Term 1 / Attendance at departmental induction event (week 1) / Compulsory attendance at Research Methods seminars / Compulsory attendance at seminars, including Reading Week / Compulsory submission of Bibliography Exercise / End of term meeting with seminar tutor to discuss essay title (by end Week 10)
Monitored by
1. Recorded receipt of Bibliography Exercise in Departmental Office
2. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences
3. Submission of essay titles sheet to Departmental Office
Point 1 / Point 2 / Point 3 / Point 4 / Point 5
Term 2 / Compulsory attendance at seminars, including Reading Week / Compulsory submission first Term 1 option essay (Week 6) / Submission of title sheet for second Term 1 option / Contact (in person or email) with tutors to discuss essays / Meeting with Personal Tutor to discuss progress
Monitored by
1. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences
2. Submission of essay titles sheet to Departmental Office
3. Recorded receipt of essay in Departmental Office
Point 1 / Point 2 / Point 3
Term 3 / Submission of title sheets for Term 2 options / Compulsory submission second Term 1 option essay (Week 5) / Compulsory submission first Term 2 option essay (Week 10)
Monitored by
1. Seminar tutors’ reports describing student participation and noting any absences
2. Submission of essay titles sheets to Departmental Office
3. Recorded receipt of essays in Departmental Office
Point 1 / Point 2
Summer / Contact (in person or email) with tutors to discuss essays and/or dissertation / Compulsory submission of remaining essay(s) and/or dissertation
Monitored by
1. Recorded receipt of essay(s)/dissertation in Office
Important:
· PGT students must attend a minimum of 60% of any one module or they will not be permitted to submit the essay for the module and hence will not earn credit for it. They must either take an additional module in the following term or switch to PT registration and take an additional module in the following year.
COURSE STRUCTURE
This course is aimed at students with an interest in the period 1770-1830 who wish to explore in more detail than is possible at undergraduate level the literary migration of ideas and texts at that time, especially across western Europe. This MA is unique in that it offers a wide range of modern language modules, and is currently the only UK-based MA to emphasize European Romantic writing both in translation and the original language. For this reason, a reading knowledge of one of French, German or Italian is desirable, although not necessary for successful completion of the course. Students will be based in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies but will be required to take at least one of their modules from another department. This is a taught MA with a significant research component in the form of a compulsory dissertation, and so may be especially suited to students who are interested in pursuing PhD work in the field of comparative literatures. All tutors on the MA would welcome interested and suitably qualified students to follow their MA with PhD study at the University of Warwick.
The MA in Pan-Romanticisms may be taken either full-time or part-time. The part-time option is offered over two years; students taking the MA part-time are required to take the Core Module and Research Methods in their first year. At least one option must be taken outside the English Department. The MA may be studied in the following ways:
Term 1: Either
Core Module (Introduction to Pan Romanticisms – see page 8)
Research Methods (see page 7)
Or
Core Module (Introduction to Pan Romanticisms – see page 8)
Research Methods (see page 7)
Option
Term 2: Either
Option
Option
Or
Option
Term 3 and summer:
Dissertation
For each option students will write an essay of 5000 words (Research methods is assessed by an extended bibliographical exercise). The Dissertation is planned over Terms 1 and 2 and written in Term 3 and the summer vacation. Supervisors will be assigned by the end of Term 1 and supervision continues through the end of Term 3. Students use the summer for final revisions and writing up. It is important to note that regular and formal supervision of the dissertation ceases at the end of Week 11 of Term 3. It is not expected that students will require regular and formal supervision during the summer vacation. However, your supervisor will be available to read and comment on your full final draft in advance of the submission date. Please ensure you make the necessary arrangements for this well ahead of time.
The Dissertation
The MA Dissertation allows students to undertake and complete a sustained research project (approximately 20,000 words) on a topic of special interest.
The topic of the dissertation does not have to be directly related to any of the taught modules. However, topics must fall within the competence and interests of one member of the teaching staff and must be feasible in terms of resources to be accepted. During the Autumn Term students will be expected to meet at least once with their potential supervisor. Full proposals will be submitted by Week 6 of Term 1. The Dissertation Plan must be given to your supervisor by the end of Week 7 of the Spring Term (AT THE LATEST).
Thereafter, you should see your supervisor on a basis arranged between the two of you. Your supervisor may require you to submit written work regularly and will recommend reading as well as assisting you in structuring your project. Direct dissertation supervision finishes in Week 11 of the Summer Term, by which time you should have completed your research, finalized your structure and written drafts of the majority of chapters. The writing up period is undertaken during the Summer Vacation with final submission in early September.
MA Modules
The MA modules listed in the following pages will be offered whenever possible. However, in any one year, due to staffing and other considerations, certain modules may not run. When considering modules, students are advised to check the websites of the relevant departments for the most up-to-date information.
Attendance at all classes is obligatory. If students are unable to attend a particular seminar they should contact the tutor in advance to explain their absence.
Part-time students following the MA course are normally expected to take the Core Module and Research Methods in Term 1 and a module in Term 2 in their first year. In their second year they normally take 1 option in term 1 and concentrate on their dissertation subsequently. They should attend the dissertation workshop in their second year.
Students are reminded that MA work is demanding, and that normally they should not attempt more than two option modules in any one term, full-time, or one module, part-time. You will be asked to indicate an alternative module for each term, as it may not be possible to accommodate every first choice.
Introduction to Research Methods (Convened by Dr Rochelle Sibley)
This module introduces students to the basic issues and procedures of literary research, including electronic resources. The Academic Writing Programme offers guidance for MA students on structuring their research, engaging critically with secondary material and planning their dissertation or Long Project. The first seminar (term 1, week 2) will discuss the structure of the dissertation or Long Project, including how to construct a bibliography, and how to establish good writing practice. The second session (term 1, week 5) will focus on research methods and how to demonstrate critical engagement. Sessions are conducted by English Department staff members and by the subject librarian, Mr Peter Larkin.
The seminars will take place in weeks 2-5 of the autumn term. All sessions are on Wednesday afternoons from 1.00-3.00. Full details and venues will available on-line at the beginning of the year. Note that the week 2 and 3 meetings will take place in the Library Training Room (Floor 2). You are asked to complete online training tutorials before each library session using the link below which will be updated over the summer -
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/tealea/arts/engcomplitstudies/training/
Week 2: Bibliography, Style and the Book – Dr Rochelle Sibley
Week 3: Resources in Research (i) – Mr. Peter Larkin
Week 4: Resources in Research (ii) – Mr. Peter Larkin
Week 5: How to demonstrate Critical Engagement – Dr Rochelle Sibley
Assessment
Students will be required to complete a short two-part exercise. Part I will consist of a bibliographical exercise, and Part II of a number of advanced electronic search exercises. Both must be submitted to the English Graduate Secretary by 12 noon on Monday, Week 6. The exercise is marked as Pass/Fail. If you receive a Fail, you will receive appropriate feedback and will be required to resubmit. The award of an MA is contingent upon successful completion of the assessment for this module.
MODULE DESCRIPTIONS
(note: if no time/day is listed, please check the MA website in late summer for information for 2011-12)
INTRODUCTION TO PAN-ROMANTICISMS
Introduction to Pan-Romanticisms
Prof. Jackie Labbe (English), Dr. Sotirios Paraschas (French), Dr. Fabio Camilletti (Italian)
Time/Day: tbc
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this module you should be able to
· Discuss elements of British and European Romanticism knowledgeably
· Identify key aspects of national literary identities
· Display a broad understanding of the place of Romantic writing in a European context
Module Description: