Keele UniversityFaculty of HumsSocSci
English
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M.Res. Humanities
(See also the Prospectus Entry)
The MRes programme allows students to develop study programmes tailor-made to their individual interests, while simultaneously affording them the opportunity to engage in academic exchange with, and gain intellectual stimulation from, other postgraduate students working within and outside the discipline of English Literature. The programme is aimed at students who wish to train in one of the many areas of research expertise offered by the department, and is open both to those who wish to gain a terminal Masters’ qualification, and to those intending to build their research topic into a Ph.D thesis in subsequent years.
There are eight main pathways through the English MRes, with many different possibilities within each:
Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Writing
(e.g. Contemporary British Fiction; Realism to Modernism: British Fiction 1880 to 1930; Postcolonial Fiction and Theory; Popular Fiction; etc.)
Literature and Film
(e.g. Postmodernism: Fiction, Film, and Theory; Shakespeare and Film; Novels into Films; British Realism; Television Studies)
Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
(e.g. Writing and Culture in Early Modern Britain; Shakespeare Studies; Early Modern Utopias; Early Modern Prose and Fiction, Bunyan to Defoe)
Literary Theory
(e.g. literature and religion; postmodernism; the Frankfurt School; postcolonialism)
Long Nineteenth-Century and Victorian Literature and Culture (e.g. Romanticism;
biography; autobiography; Tennyson; literature and science)
Material Culture (e.g. History of the Book; Text and Performance)
Candidates for the MRes in English take the following modules.
1. Research Skills and Reflective Practice in the Humanities
These linked research training modules introduce students to the skills needed by researchers in the Humanities. The first module (Semester 1) includes sessions on Project Management, Research Skills and the Writing Process. The second module (Semester 2) introduces students to current theoretical debates in the Humanities. Topics might include: Situating Humanistic Knowledge; Creativity and Authorship; Texts and Reading in History; Postcolonialism; Gender and Sexuality; and Memory and Trauma. This module is taught across the Humanities, with students from a range of different Humanities disciplines. Assessment for the modules consists of an annotated bibliography, a project outline, and a study diary.
2. Criticism, Analysis, Theory
This module focuses on central theoretical and critical issues in contemporary literary and cultural analysis. It aims to enable students to draw distinctions between major paradigms in literary criticism and cultural and critical theory, and to give them confidence in applying such theory to a range of literary texts, including those related to their individual research proposals. Topics might include: The Rise of English; Historicisms; Book History; Literature, Ethics and Bodies; Interdisciplinarity; Visuality and Literature; and Adaptation and Appropriation. Assessment for the module consists of a 4,500-word essay and an oral presentation.
3. Individual Research Orientation
In this module, students work with their prospective supervisors on the field in which their research proposal is situated, combining directed reading with individual research planning. The module is assessed by a 4,500-word essay, and an oral presentation relating to the research topic.
4. The Dissertation
The MRes culminates in the production of a 20,000-25,000-word dissertation. The topic for the dissertation is developed by the student in consultation with a supervisor. English has expertise in all the areas represented in the list of pathways. In addition, we have a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and are happy to arrange dual supervision across academic Programmes, Schools and Faculties where appropriate.
We also offer an MRes in American Literature, and MAs in English Literatures and Creative Writing.
English has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research, working closely with American Studies, Film Studies, History, Media, Communications and Culture, Philosophy, Gerontology and Sociology. Keele University offers a vibrant, lively and forward-moving environment in which to pursue research in the Humanities.
English welcomes applications from students with a good Honours degree in English or a related subject. For funding opportunities please see the Research Institute for Humanities website.
