Masters Degrees (Science Fiction)

Science fiction is a very popular genre across a range of media and a deep understanding of it will provide good employment opportunities for anyone interested in working in the creative industries. This course gives you the opportunity to study science fiction literature, films and comics at postgraduate level.

Why study Science Fiction at Dundee?

This new degree programme is designed to provide you with an understanding of the genre of science fiction and its relationship to different genres, national cultures, and media. Over the course of the year you will extend your strategies for the analysis and interpretation of science fiction texts as well as your familiarity with their historical and stylistic development. You will be encouraged to articulate independent critical responses to science fiction across a range of periods and media.

The programme is inherently interdisciplinary in its approach, and will foster creativity and ingenuity in developing critical approaches to the work.

Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre

The MLitt will also benefit from the close relationship between the University and Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre (DCA), which includes a cinema and runs a programme of screenings, talks and events related to the course.

Who should study this course?

The programme will be of great benefit to anyone interested in a job in the popular media and publishing, popular science journalism, museums of science.

Postgraduate culture

The English department provides a lively postgraduate culture, including a regular postgraduate forum, a postgraduate website, visiting speakers and an annual postgraduate conference held in Dundee.

"The English department at Dundee were incredibly supportive in many ways and I left with terrific memories. From performances with the JOOT Theatre Company, through being encouraged to explore my own research interests, to one of the most nourishing environments in which to attend and participate in conferences, it really was a brilliant place in which to learn and develop whether you intended to continue to study or move on to the job market."
Karen Graham, former postgraduate student in the English department

Teaching & Assessment

This course is taught by the English team, based in the School of Humanities. The course starts in September each year and lasts for 12 months on a full time basis or 24 months on a part time basis.

A variety of teaching methods are used, including: small group teaching, supervised study, seminars, presentations, talks by invited speakers, discussion groups, lectures, workshops, practical classes and demonstrations. You will also find a range of activities - including screenings at the DCA, seminars and workshops by professionals (writers and actors) and scholars, and a series of talks, conferences and relevant activities - to complement the Science Fiction MLitt degree.

Assessment

The assessment methods used in this course include weekly journals, presentations, research essays, and dissertations. Some of the option modules include assessment of creative work accompanied by reflective essays. Dissertations are supervised on a one-to-one basis to ensure continuity, and this will provide you with the opportunity to work on an area of science-fiction study of your own choosing (subject to approval by the tutor).

Programme Content

There are two teaching semesters, from September to December and from January to March. During each of these semesters, you will study these core modules plus an option module.

From April onwards, you will write a dissertation in English Studies.

All students must attempt the dissertation. Students whose dissertation fails to satisfy the examiners will be awarded the PG Diploma, provided that the taught elements of the course have been successfully completed.

Core Modules

Science Fiction - Issues and Approaches
New Wave and Contemporary Science Fiction
Option Modules

Science Fiction Film
Science Fiction Comics
Scientific Romance
Difference in Science Fiction

Careers

Graduates will gain a high degree of knowledge and expertise about an important area of literature, art, media, and popular culture, and will explore the relationship between these fields in a highly critical and interdisciplinary way.

Students taking this programme may pursue academic careers, work in the media, or in the creative industries or publishing. An understanding of science fiction extends across publishing, computer games, the internet, television, and film. Students will meet with industry professionals in this course.

Learn more about careers related to the Humanities on our Careers Service website.

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Combine the literary theory of science fiction and fantasy with the study of their language and rhetoric, their various forms and subgenres and their place in the publishing industry on the first interdisciplinary Masters course of its kind in the UK.

Become an expert in one of the fastest growing areas of popular culture.

Explore a variety of fields including literature, film and television, linguistics and creative writing.

Study without disrupting your work / family life with our blended learning delivery.

The study of science fiction and fantasy is over 75 years old and for much of that time has been the domain of English literature specialists. Over the past twenty years, however, strong work has emerged from specialists in film, television, art, publishing and linguistics.

Our MA Science Fiction and Fantasy will introduce you to contemporary work in these genres across a range of media. You’ll benefit from networking and career-building opportunities with professionals in the industry who will give you insight into how materials in these genres are produced and disseminated to their fans.

You will consider science fiction and fantasy as products shaped by interactions between the entertainment industry, reviewers and critics as well as their own fans. By analysing how the boundaries of these genres have been established, policed, challenged and extended, you will learn to apply your own theories to a range of popular works - and produce your own original writing.

Your studies will be supported by our team of published writers and experts in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, including the Course Leader, World Fantasy Award winning author Dr Helen Marshall (Gifts for the One Who Comes After), Dr Una McCormack (Star Trek – The Missing; Doctor Who: An Eye for Murder), Dr Martin Zeilinger (co-director of the Toronto-based Vector Game Art & New Media Festival), and Honorary Associate Fellow, John Clute (Appleseed; Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction).

All your modules will be delivered through blended learning. Each will begin with a period of guided reading, with your personal studies supported by online forums, discussions, tutorials and other resources on our Learning Management System. You will also attend one week of on-site, intensive teaching for each module. This includes lectures, seminars, workshops, student presentations and student-led discussions. For the rest of your studies, you will receive tutorial support via email or Skype.

At the end of the course, you will undertake a Major Project. This can be a conventional academic project or a creative piece with critical commentary - the choice is yours.

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This is the only degree which offers students the opportunity to specialise as a translation expert in audiovisual translation and in the translation of popular culture.

Who is it for?

This course is for you if you:
-Are interested in popular culture, films, TV, literature, comics or graphic novels
-Love languages, other cultures and their differences
-Are interested in translation and want to learn about systematic decision-making
-Know about translation and want to specialise
-Have an amateur or fan background in translation and want to become a professional
-Have studied foreign languages, linguistics, literature, media, film, theatre, drama or cultural studies.
-Are looking for a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of translation.
-Want to gain an insight into professional practice in audiovisual translation or in literary translation.

The course aims to make students fit for the market as properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Objectives

This course:
-Provides you with training in audiovisual translation techniques.
-Uses industry-standard software for subtitling, dubbing and voice over.
-Specialises in the translation of children’s literature; crime fiction; science fiction and fantasy; comics, graphic novels, manga and video games.
-Introduces you to the different conventions and styles associated with popular culture in its varied forms and genres.
-Focuses on the specifics of genre translation and how these shape translation decisions.
-Provides a theoretical framework for the practical application of translation, working with a wide range of source texts from different popular genres and media.

The course:
-Aims to give you a secure foundation in theoretical strategies underpinning and supporting the practice of translation.
-Develops your awareness of professional standards, norms and translational ethics.
-Works closely with professional translators and the translation industry helping you to develop a professional identity.
-Has optional modules in dubbing, translation project management, screenplay translation and publishing.

Placements

There are no course-based placements on this course. Literary translation does not offer placements, while audiovisual companies offer internships which are competitive.

We support and guide our students through the application process for audiovisual translation internships and have a very good record of achievement. Each year, several of our students win one of these very competitive internships and they tend to be offered full time work on completion.

The course is very industry-oriented and we work closely with the translation industry. Industry professionals teach on the course, supervise students or give guest seminars and lectures.

Academic staff have run Translation Development courses, for example in genre translation for professional translators for the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and they are involved in running Continuing Professional Development courses in specialised translation.

We run a preparatory, distance learning course for the professional Diploma in Translation examined by the Chartered Institute of Linguists. We organise a Literary Translation Summer School each July which is taught by professional, literary translators and with lectures by prestigious translators, academics or writers.

The Translation department runs the John Dryden Translation Competition for the British Comparative Literature Association. The competition is sponsored by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the Institut Français. We offer one internship per year in working on this Translation Competition, interacting with translators, translation judges, managing competition entries and learning about the judging process.

Teaching and learning

The course is taught by academics, industry professionals (for example, audiovisual translation project manager) and translation professionals (for example, award winning literary translators, experienced subtitlers).

Teaching is delivered in a combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and lab-based sessions for audiovisual translation. In workshop sessions students work individually, in pairs, group work or plenary forum in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

In all translation modules, there is also a translation project prepared in independent guided study under the supervision of a translation professional in the student’s language pair and language directionality. You can expect some on-line learning, supported by seminar sessions, and industry visits to audiovisual translation companies.

In the Translation project management module, students work in project groups performing real-life translation roles and tasks in a collaborative environment.

Assessment

Assessment is 100% coursework – there are no examinations.

Coursework assignments are a mixture of essays, translation projects, translation commentaries, subtitling and voice over files or project work. The dissertation is 12,000 to 15,000 words long and can either be a research project on any topic relevant to Audiovisual Translation or Popular Literary Translation / Culture or it can be practice oriented: a translation of an extended text or AV clip with critical introduction to and analysis of the translation.

Coursework assignments: 66.6% (120 credits)

Dissertation: 33.3% (60 credits)

Modules

There are five compulsory taught modules plus three elective taught modules, selected by the student from a pool of module choices, plus a dissertation which can be a research dissertation or a practice-oriented dissertation of an extended translation with critical introduction and analysis.

Each taught module is an estimated 150 hours of study. Teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops plus independent individually supervised work.

The first part of the translation modules is taught in three-hour sessions (lecture + seminar + practical workshop). In the second part of each translation module, students work on a translation project which is individually supervised by a translation professional who gives written feedback on drafts and provides tailored advice and guidance in individual supervision sessions.

Students can expect between ten and 12 hours of classroom-based study per week, plus time spent on preparatory reading, independent study and research, preparation of assignments.

The dissertation is 60 credits and an estimated 600 hours of study. There are four two-hour research method seminars guiding students through the process of writing a dissertation, plus individual supervision sessions.

All taught modules are in term 1 and term 2 (January – April). Term 3 is dedicated to the dissertation (and completion of assignments from term 2 modules).

Core modules
-Principles and practice of translation theory (15 credits)
-Translating children’s literature (15 credits)
-Subtitling (15 credits)
-Translating crime fiction (15 credits)
-Translating science fiction and fantasy (15 credits)

Elective modules - choose three:
-Principles of screenwriting and the translation of screenplays (15 credits)
-Creating and managing intellectual property (15 credits).
-Dubbing and voice over (15 credits)
-Translation project management (15 credits)
-Translating multimodal texts (comics, graphic novels, manga, video games) (15 credits)
-International publishing case studies (20 credits)

Dissertation - 60 credits
-Dissertation option A (discursive/research)
-Dissertation option B (extended translation with critical introduction and analysis)

Career prospects

The degree is designed to produce graduates who are fit for the market, either working in translation agencies / companies or as a freelancer, addressing the need for properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Career options come in a wide range of jobs in the translation industry, ranging from self-employed translator, staff translator or localisation expert to editor, researcher or project manager.

Recent graduate destinations include: video game testing and localisation at Testronic Laboratories; video game translation at Sega; Dubbing, subtitling and voice over at VSI London; translation at the World Health Organisation; project management at Maverick Advertising and Design and at Deluxe Media Europe; freelance translator creative and literary texts.

The degree also lays the foundation to continue to a research degree / doctoral study in any area of translation studies. Currently, graduates from the course are pursuing doctoral study at City, specialising in crime fiction translation.

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Taught at our Parkgate Road Campus in Chester, our MA in Modern and Contemporary Fiction is an innovative and stimulating course that explores a rich variety of 20th- and 21st-century fiction.

The next entry for this course is October 2019.

Why Study Modern and Contemporary Fiction with us?

This distinctive course is taught by a dynamic and experienced team with research strengths in modern and contemporary British, Irish, American, and South African fiction. Department members have published on a wide range of modernist, postmodernist, and postcolonial authors; on genres including science fiction, historical fiction, and crime/detective fiction; and on representations of addiction, terrorism, apartheid, fashion, and the female body. Two of the teaching team edit Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine.

The Parkgate Road Campus library is well stocked with texts on modern and contemporary fiction, and houses the Flash Fiction Special Collection, the world’s largest archive of flash-related books and magazines.

What will I learn?

The course comprises six modules. Shorter Fiction typically covers flash fiction, the short story, and the novella. Novel Histories: Past, Present, Future considers historical fiction, representations of the contemporary, and ‘future histories’ (including utopian/dystopian fiction), while Popular Fictions analyses such ‘genre fictions’ as crime/ detective fiction, science fiction, and the campus novel. Special Author(s)/Topic(s) focuses on an area in which the Department has particular expertise, and Research Methods will equip you to pursue your own interest in the Dissertation.

How will I be taught?

Typically, the first five modules are each taught by nine two-hour seminars. These are distributed over 23 weeks, generally with two two-hour seminars per week. One-to-one tutorials are also available. For the Dissertation, you will work one-to-one with a supervisor.

The total workload (including reading, preparation, seminars, tutorials, research, and writing) is approximately 37.5 hours per week.

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed by coursework. The first five modules each have 4,000 words of assessment, followed by the 16,000-word Dissertation. There are no exams.

Postgraduate Visit Opportunities

If you are interested in this courses we have a number of opportunities to visit us and our campuses. To find out more about these options and to book a visit, please go to: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-visit-opportunities

Request a Prospectus

If you would like to know more about the University please request a prospectus at: http://prospectus.chester.ac.uk/form.php

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Dunedin is a UNESCO City of Literature, supports an International Science Festival, and is the wildlife capital of New Zealand, with colonies of seals, albatross and penguins in the city's boundaries. It is perhaps no accident, therefore, that it has also become a hub for natural history filmmaking. The outstanding natural environment and dynamic cultural environment provide an excellent setting for the University of Otago’s Centre for Science Communication, the home of story-telling and science. Three Science Communication endorsements are available in the MSciComm: Creative Non-Fiction Writing in Science, Science and Natural History Filmmaking, and Science in Society. Students in each endorsement produce a thesis comprising a creative component (e.g. film, book, exhibition etc.) and original research.

Structure of the Programme

-Every programme of study shall be as prescribed for one of the options listed above.
-A candidate may be exempted from some or all of the prescribed papers on the basis of previous study.
-A candidate shall, before commencing the investigation to be described in the thesis, secure the approval of the Director of the Centre for Science Communication for the topic, the supervisor(s), and the proposed course of the investigation.
-A candidate may not present a thesis or other material which has previously been accepted for another degree.
-For the thesis, the research should be of a kind that a diligent and competent student should complete within one year of full-time study.

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The School of Arts offers postgraduate research in a diverse range of areas with specialists available to supervise study in the fields of Film and TV Studies, English, Contemporary Drama and Performance Studies and Music. The School has distinctive expertise in offering practice based MPhil and PhD programmes tailored to your individual interests as well offering the more traditional degree based on the written thesis or a mixture of the two. Research expertise in the School is organised around four groups.

The Body, Space and Technology Research Group make specific and focused interventions in the fields of physical and virtual live performance practices. The group publishes its own online journal and pioneers new developments in both theoretical and practical fields. Performances arising from the research are given regularly in London and internationally. The group’s current project ‘Advanced Interactivity in the Arts’ is investigating digital technology and its impact on performance; motion capture; live video; granular synthesis; web-based applications; body based performer techniques.

The Contemporary Writing Research Group includes researchers and practitioners across the genres and forms of contemporary fiction and poetry. There are four practising creative writers, and a creative writing fellow. Research specialisms in the group include: contemporary poetics, the New York School of Poets, music and writing, popular fictions, postcolonial, multicultural and feminist writing. The group has staged a number of international conferences, including: British Braids (2001), Jewish Women Writers (2002) and Contemporary Writing Environments (2004).

The Contemporary Music Practice Research Centre covers the interfaces between genres of composition and improvisation, technology and human performance, music and society, movement and sound, and between text and music. The group staged a conference, ‘Interfaces – Where Composition and Improvisation Meet’ in December 2000 and hosted the 2001 Annual Conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, which was attended by a large number of international delegates. The theme of the conference was ‘Music and Power’.

The Screen Media Research Centre includes researchers working in many areas of film, television and new media including documentary, British, European and Hong Kong cinema; Hollywood and American independent cinema, political film, cult cinema, animation and representations of gender and sexuality; and generic territories including horror, science fiction and comedy. The group has staged international conferences including ‘The Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond’, in January 2003.

The School has a growing postgraduate community and offers a range of resources to support research. Students also benefit from the recently opened Graduate Centre which provides a dedicated space to meet with fellow postgraduate students. The School also has opportunities for part-time teaching for postgraduates with relevant skills. All postgraduates can apply for financial help to give conference papers and other research related activities.

Awards
The School of Arts may be able to offer a limited number of bursaries or fee waivers. Other financial awards may be available from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and other funding bodies. Some of these funding packages cover tuition fees (at UK/EU rates) and living expenses for the duration of study; others cover the fees, or contribute in other ways towards the cost of study.

MPhil and PhD research supervision is available and includes the following areas:

Drama/Performance Studies
Aesthetic potential of digitised technology for performance (artificial intelligence, motion capture, 3D-modelling and animation)
Somatic practice and performance composition
Interdisciplinary performance
Live capture (sound, film) plus performance
Solo performance and new performance writing

English/Contemporary Writing
Contemporary literature
Creative writing
Twentieth century literature
Victorian literature
The Renaissance
Modern American literature
Popular literature
Postcolonial literature
Contemporary literary theory
Literature and mourning
Innovative, marginal and non-traditional texts
All aspects of literary theory

Film/TV Studies
Five themes provide major strands within which most of the research is organised:
Cult Media and Transgression
Spectacle, Documentary and the Real
The Politics of Representation and Cultural Identity
Dominant and Alternative Cinemas
Videogames and Digital Media

Music
Composition
Improvisation
Electronic music and live electronic transformation
Meeting points between popular, world and ‘classical’ cultures
‘Digital arts’ – the interfaces between different forms of electronic media and live performance
Music in education and community

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Why take this course?

This course encourages a lively environment where as a budding writer you can experiment, be imaginative and ambitious, as well as critically reflect on your practice.

You will have the opportunity to write literary novels, historical fiction, crime, science fiction, children’s stories, as well as screenwriting or short fiction – we encourage and respect all genres.

What will I experience?

On this course you can:

Be taught by lecturers with professional experience, many of whom are established practising writers
Complete a major project in the form of your own novel, screenplay or poem and learn about the market and current debates within differing genres in the process
Tap in to our Library’s vast selection of electronic resources, which can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection

What opportunities might it lead to?

We continuously encourage you to seize as many opportunities as possible to make your writing visible to publishers and the public. Strengthening your creative writing skills on this course can lead to a variety of different creative career paths from roles in publishing to writing children’s books.

Alternatively, many of our graduates find roles within a variety of media industries and a number of them have gone on to study for PhDs or teaching qualifications.

Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:

Teaching
Writing
Journalism
PR

Module Details

The course consists of units focusing on creative practice, academic contexts and critical understanding. For the final stage of the course you will write a creative dissertation which can take the form of a novel (or portion thereof – 30,000 to 40,000 words in length), a collection of prose, poetry or a screenplay.

Here are the units you will study:

Writer's Workshop – Exploration: In this unit, you will be encouraged to experiment in differing genres to build confidence in writing and research.

Writer's Workshop – Resolution: During the course of this unit, you will research your chosen genre or idea and write a proposal and first chapters for the major project (dissertation). Your research and writing practice will be led by reading, discussion, debate and some substantial formative work that will eventually lead to the written proposal and/or opening chapters of a novel or pages of a screenplay or poetry.

Critical Reading for Creative Writers: This is an essay-based unit, in which you will explore critical approaches to the written word with oral presentations and researched essays.

Critical Thinking for Creative Writers: This unit allows you to approach a critical theory by relating it to your own creative writing, with reference to your major creative project. This unit is also essay-based.

The Final Project – The Creative Writing Dissertation: This unit will allow you to complete a major work in any genre (prose, poetry or screenplay) of up to 30,000 words (or equivalent). You will receive guidance and support from tutors throughout this unit of study.

Programme Assessment

Your learning will primarily be via workshop-based sessions where you will explore and develop your own writing as well as constructively contribute to the work of other writers around you. We aim to create a friendly atmosphere in which you will receive feedback to continually help evolve your creative writing style.

Your progress will be assessed by regularly submitted work and a final creative writing project in the form of a literary form or genre of your choice and geared to a specific market.

Student Destinations

You are encouraged to attend and read at ‘open mic’ sessions to develop performance skills. Previous students have found this invaluable not only when reading their own work aloud but also in professional practice. You are also encouraged to build a portfolio of work to show publishers and exhibit your work in other ways through creative blogs, or by submitting your work to online magazines and competitions.

On graduating, many of our students are equipped with the skills and confidence to continue to write and publish after the course has ended. This MA in Creative Writing can lead to a range of employment opportunities in publishing, editing, journalism and education.

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Modules offered on the Modern and Contemporary Literature pathway draw on the expertise of a cluster of academic staff whose research focuses on modernism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and contemporary poetry. Your studies will be shaped and informed by some of the leading researchers in the literature and culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries who will teach you in small group tutorials which aim to develop your own interests in the field. Regular visits by a range of international writers and poets will enhance your study and you will have the opportunity to participate in an annual masterclass taught by a critically acclaimed contemporary writer or thinker.

The University boasts a range of unique resources to support your research, including Europe’s largest collection of Science Fiction material. The city of Liverpool, with its host of world-class institutions and venues, including the Everyman Theatre, the International Slavery Museum, and Tate Liverpool, provide endless opportunities to explore and reflect on modern and contemporary culture.

Why English?

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), we ranked 10th out of 89 in the UK for 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent) research.

Strong postgraduate community

With over 150 taught and research students from all over the world, you will be part of a genuine international community. You will be able to participate in our lively research culture through attending regular seminars and lectures by guest speakers as well as our own staff and students. A legacy from former tutor Miriam Allott has allowed the department to host a creative writing fellow (currently the poet Sean Borodale), and a vibrant series of international poetry readings. Recent conferences include ‘On Liberties’ at St Deiniol’s Library, and ‘Renaissance Old Worlds’ in collaboration with the British Library. As a doctoral student you can participate in the optional English Graduate Teaching Programme, which allows doctoral students to get the best of the teaching opportunities available without making significant demands on their time.

Career prospects

The independence of study, clarity of expression and management of time demanded by all our taught programmes equip the successful graduate with the skills and knowledge base required for further academic study and research in English and other areas.

However, many graduates choose to enter careers such as teaching, publishing and journalism, or to work in the business sector, often in human resources, administration, marketing or sales.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies to PhD level.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies at PhD level.

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Add expertise to your talent and ideas and learn in the company of industry experts on this innovative, inspiring course for aspiring writers.

If you want to make a career in writing, this course is for you. You already have talent and ideas, we’ll add the expertise you need to approach your chosen market with confidence, originality and skill. No ambitions are out of bounds: we love commercial genre fiction and literary experiments equally.

We aim to ensure our graduates are equipped to succeed - and to change the culture they choose to enter.

See the website http://www.napier.ac.uk/en/Courses/MA-Creative-Writing-Postgraduate-FullTime

What you'll learn

We take an innovative approach to the training and support of aspiring writers, driven by intellectual ambition and practical industry experience. There are four strands to the programme:

• developing narrative technique
• practising vocational skills (including abridgement, adaptation and collaborative creation)
• experimental, theoretical and personal development work
• regular one-to-one editorial mentoring

Uniquely, the course offers a dynamic range of cross-disciplinary options. Writing for graphic fiction, screenwriting, interactive media and creative non-fiction are all offered as specialisms, while our pioneering module in genre fiction covers crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction with YA options in each.

We host an exciting programme of lectures and master classes from award-winning authors and high-profile industry experts. In addition, an internationally recognised author joins us for 12 months as Writer in Residence, to develop new work alongside students, share experience and offer one-to-one consultations.

Our approach to full-length narrative development trains you to deploy a range of unique and dynamic pre-writing techniques invented by our programme. This energetic combination of conceptual development and critical self-reflection will transform you into a technically adept, purposeful writer ready to make your mark.

The course is taught by industry professionals Sam Kelly, a former literary agent and David Bishop, a successful working writer and former editor. In addition to campus facilities, our students have access to the Writers’ Room, a private workspace with Wi-Fi, available evenings and weekends. It houses an exclusive library of 2,000 hand-picked books, DVDs and graphic novels and is the venue for reading groups and social events.

The MA is piloting a Teaching Internship Scheme, offering selected graduates the opportunity to develop their teaching practice with the course for a further year.

Modules

• Creating Narrative – Writer’s Toolkit
• Innovation and Authorship
• Creative and Editorial Development
• Writing Practice – First Person Narrative
• Writing Graphic Fiction
• Writing Genre Fiction
• Creative Non-Fiction
• Interactive Media
• Major Project

Study modules mentioned above are indicative only. Some changes may occur between now and the time that you study.

Careers

Among our graduates’ achievements are:

• book deals
• representation by literary agents
• international and national competition wins
• publication in magazines and anthologies
• Edinburgh International Book Festival appearances
• paid editing and writing commissions
• performances and teaching
• working for national literary organisations

How to apply

http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/how-to-apply

SAAS Funding

Nothing should get in the way of furthering your education. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) awards funding for postgraduate courses, and could provide the help you need to continue your studies. Find out more: http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/fees-and-funding/saas-funded-courses

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Our unique MLitt in Comics Studies examines comics from the point of view of critical analysis (in terms of genre, style, formal properties and history) and also provides training in the creative aspects of comics production. The course leads to excellent employment opportunities for anyone interested in working in the field of comics - either creatively or in the production industry.

English at Dundee has a strong record in the annual Guardian league tables for teaching. Its highest ever rating was No. 1 in the UK and the latest (2010) places it in the UK top twenty with 95% student satisfaction rating for teaching.

Why study Comics Studies at Dundee?

The MLitt in Comics Studies is the only programme of its kind in the UK, and Dundee is one of only a handful of institutions in the world offering the opportunity to study comics at postgraduate level. Our programme has grown out of the expertise of the course leader, Dr Chris Murray, who researches comics, organises major comics conferences, and co-edits one of the few peer-reviewed journals in this expanding field.

"I thoroughly enjoyed studying Comics this year, you have given me a real love and understanding of the medium"
Current student, 2011

Close links with industry experts

The city of Dundee is a recognised powerhouse of comics production. It is home to DC Thomson & Co Ltd, who produce iconic titles such as the Beano, Dandy, Commando, Starblazer and Bunty. Drawing on such expertise, we can offer workshops with industry professionals and even the possibility of a placement with DC Thomson.

Aims of the Programme

This course will provide you with an understanding of the comics medium and the comics industry, and their relation to different genres, national cultures, and various media. You will be encouraged to think critically about these ideas, and to appreciate the importance of relating critical close analysis of style and form to theory, context, politics and history.

This course will also be of benefit to anyone who hopes to work in the popular media or publishing.

"We have our own dedicated Comics Studio in the Tower Building where we can work on our projects and coursework throughout the year, with drawing tables, computers, and scanners."
Read Kirsten's blog

Postgraduate culture

The English department provides a lively postgraduate culture, including a regular postgraduate forum, a postgraduate website, visiting speakers and an annual postgraduate conference held in Dundee. There are also several activities related to Comics Studies, with an annual Comics Day as part of the Literary Festival. The Comics Day has attracted world famous industry professionals, including writers such as Warren Ellis and Pat Mills, artists such as Alan Davis, Rian Hughes, Hunt Emerson, and editors like Dez Skinn.

The Dundee Comics Society holds regular talks by comics writers and artists. Dundee is also the home of D-Con, an annual Manga festival. The journal Studies in Comics is edited from within the programme, and the University library has a good selection of comics and graphic novels.

The course starts in September each year and lasts for 12 months on a full time basis or 24 months on a part time basis.

Assessment

The assessment methods used in this course include weekly journals, presentations, research essays, and dissertations. Some of the option modules include assessment of creative work accompanied by reflective essays. Dissertations are supervised on a one-to-one basis to ensure continuity, and this will provide you with the opportunity to work on an area of comics study of your own choosing (subject to approval by the tutor).

Programme Content

There are two teaching semesters, from September to December and from January to March. You will study the core modules below, plus your choice of optional modules

From April onwards, you will write a dissertation in English Studies or Creative Writing.

All students must attempt the dissertation. Students whose dissertation fails to satisfy the examiners will be awarded the PG Diploma, provided that the taught elements of the course have been successfully completed.

Core Modules
Critical Approaches to Comics and Graphic Novels
International Comics Culture
Optional modules from a list such as the one below:

Creating Comics
Digital Comics
Comics and Film
Science Fiction Comics
Autobiographix: Documentary and Autobiographical Comics
Dissertation

English Studies or Creative Writing

Careers

This course offers good employment opportunities for anyone interested in working in the field of comics, either creatively or in the industry from a production point of view. You will also meet many industry professionals during the course, and have the chance to make valuable connections. Students taking this programme may also choose to pursue academic careers, work in the media, or in the creative industries or publishing. An understanding of comics cuts across publishing, computer games, the internet, television, and film.

Additionally, the high levels of analysis, problem-solving abilities and the presentational and communication skills that you will develop on this course are highly valued by employers.

Learn more about careers related to the Humanities on our Careers Service website.

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The MLitt in Creative Writing is a taught postgraduate programme designed to offer you the opportunity to develop your creativity and literary skills in a highly supportive, constructive learning environment. You prepare for the processes and challenges involved in publishing creative written work, whether poetry or prose.

COURSES
First Semester
Creative Writing: Poetry
Creative Writing: Fiction

Optional
Tales of Vengeance and Enchantment: the Heroic Age in Irish and Icelandic Saga Literature
Approaching Literature
Crosscurrents in Irish and Scottish Literature
Critical Approaches to Literature, Science and Medicine
Scottish Medicine and Literary Culture
Special Study in Language and Literature
Illness and Disability in Modern Literature and Thought
The Literature of The Gaels in Translation
Novel ideas: Reading Prose Fiction
Migration to Postcolonial Theory in Context
Introduction to Visual Culture

Second Semester
Creative Writing: Prose Fiction
Creative Writing: Narrative, Medicine, Psychology

Optional
Locations and Dislocations: the Role of the Place in Literature
Diaspora and Migration in Contemporary Visual Culture
Contemporary Irish and Scottish Women's Fiction
Irish and Scottish Science Fiction
Special Study in Language and Literature
The Making of Middle Scots
Scott in Context: Walter Scott and His World
Critical Analysis of Visual Culture

Third Semester
Creative Writing Portfolio (dissertation)

Qualification MLitt

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The MLitt in English Literary Studies is primarily intended to provide a basis for undertaking research in English literature including the literature of Scotland and Ireland. Research 'training' involves the acquisition of practical skills and knowledge, and of specialised knowledge and understanding of literary periods and literary issues which will be directly relevant to each candidate's proposed field of research.

COURSES
First Semester
Approaching Literature
Novel Ideas: Reading Prose Fiction
Crosscurrents in Irish and Scottish Literature
Critical Approaches to Literature, Science and Medicine
Special Study in Language and Literature

Second Semester
Contemporary Irish and Scottish Women's Fiction
Irish and Scottish Science Fiction
Special Study in Language and Literature
Locations and Dislocations: the Role of Place in Literature
Creative Writing: Narrative, Medicine, Psychology
The Making of Middle Scots
Scott in Context: Walter Scott and His World

English Literary Studies: Dissertation

Qualification: MLitt

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This interdisciplinary Master’s programme provides an opportunity for you to deconstruct the American experience at an advanced level.

It interrogates, challenges and moves beyond the Exceptionalist rhetoric and nation-states ideology of traditional American Studies to consider the USA, and its neighbours, in an insightful, challenging and relevant way.

You develop specialist knowledge and research skills in a range of disciplines by navigating complex historical, cultural, geo-political and environmental issues. A sophisticated awareness of the reach (and the limitations) of US hegemony, as well as issues of cultural collision, media penetration, region and identity, give our graduates an intellectual grounding well-suited to many careers, in addition to a solid foundation for graduate work at MPhil or PhD level.

About the Centre for American Studies

American Studies at Kent dates back to 1973 and, over the last few decades, has developed a strong research culture; this matches the commitment of the University to interdisciplinary study as well as the mandate of American Studies to explore the American experience in ground-breaking ways.

Our team of scholars maintains close links with a number of North and South American research institutions and archives, and the University’s Templeman Library houses impressive collections on slavery, Native American culture, and photography/visual materials.

We treat the American experience in a critical and reflective manner, and offer an extremely good base for postgraduate study. While able to supervise a wide range of American topics, the Centre currently operates three specialist research clusters of particular interest to candidates:

- The American West
- The Study of US Environmental Issues
- The Study of Race, Ethnicity and Borders.

Course structure

You take a compulsory 30 credit module ‘Transnational American Studies: Research and Approaches’. This is a year-long module designed to introduce key modes of analysis in transnational and interdisciplinary study as well as consider different methodologies, themes and intellectual debates. Assessment includes an extended essay, seminar presentation and a critical review of an academic research paper.

You also select 90 credits from a range of optional modules, spread across at least two disciplines. Optional modules vary year to year and below is a selection of recent modules on offer:

- American Cold War Propaganda

- Geiger Counter at Ground Zero: Explorations of Nuclear America

- From Wounded Knee to the Little Bighorn Casino: The Vietnam War in American History

- American Narrative in the Age of Postmodernism

- American Modernism

- Boundary Busting and Border Crossing

- Myth, Image, Fashion and Propaganda in the Cuban Revolutionary Era

- History and Memory

- American Foreign Policy

The remaining 60 credits are made up with a Dissertation. Written over the summer term, this 12,000 word extended study allows students to work on their own research project based on primary research. You have the opportunity to present your ideas as part of workshop sessions on researching American Studies in the core course and receive supervision from an academic specialist.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take modules from other programmes so that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas that interest you.

Assessment

Assessment for this course includes an extended essay, seminar presentation and a critical review of an academic research paper.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

- provide you with a thorough grounding in the techniques and approaches necessary for advanced research in American Studies.

- promote interdisciplinarity as a conceptual mode of theory and analysis (encourage you to ‘operate across disciplines, learning how to integrate a variety of approaches in formulating and solving problems, and using diverse materials and information sources.’

- encourage critical reflection and engagement with public debates relating to aspects of American society.

- consolidate the strengths of our long-running undergraduate programmes whilst interrogating, challenging, and moving outside the exceptionalist rhetoric and nation-state ideology of conventional American Studies (develop a ‘synthesising impulse…which can work across, as well as interrogate traditional discipline boundaries in innovative ways’.

- promote a curriculum supported by scholarship, staff development and a research culture that provides breadth and depth of intellectual inquiry and debate.

- assist you to develop cognitive and transferable skills relevant to their vocational and personal development.

Research areas

Staff interests broadly fit within the parameters of American literature, American history, American film and American politics, although we actively welcome interdisciplinary projects that investigate several areas of study. Current strengths in American Studies at Kent are: Native American literature and culture; African-American history; slavery and the Atlantic world; the American West; US environmental issues; US visual culture; Disney and recreation; American realist fiction; modern American poetry; US immigration politics; American science fiction; Hollywood; US foreign policy.

The American West
Kent is the only UK institution to operate a research cluster on the American West, with five members of the Centre specialising in trans-Mississippi studies. The research cluster engages in pioneering work on Native American literature, Western films and video games, female frontiering and several other elements of the Western experience.

The Study of US Environmental Issues
US environmental history is a relatively new field of study, but of increasing importance. Our two environmental specialists work on wildlife management, animal studies, nuclear protest and concepts of ecological doomsday.

The Study of Race, Ethnicity and Borders
The Centre has a long history of studying race and ethnicity. Currently, six members of the team cover a range of topics that include African-American political, cultural and social history, Native American literature, Latin American relations and immigration writing and politics.

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“Science fiction, fantasy, musicals, and period films offer the most obvious platform of eye-catching design, but it should be remembered that even if the subject is contemporary, or the style emulates documentary, we are still witnessing an illusion which has been designed.”
Peter Ettedgui — Production Designer

The MA Film Production course is for gifted and emerging filmmakers seeking to learn on the job, to go beyond the short film, to define themselves as artists within a working film production crew, and to gain that vital production experience demanded by the industry.

Work Placements | In line with the courses’s emphasis on industry experience, you will be encouraged to undertake, seek out short-term work opportunities in your field. These can occur when your pathway is normally not involved in a particular production stage, for example with production designers during post-production. This opportunity is available for all students, Home/EU and for International, details can be found on our Working during and after page. The experience you and other students gain through this work out in the industry enhances and -compounds the learning and collaboration on the course.

NAMED AWARDS AVAILABLE IN

MA Film Production (Producing)
MA Film Production (Directing)
MA Film Production (Production Design)
MA Film Production (Cinematography)
MA Film Production (Editing)
MA Film Production (Sound Design)
MA Film Production (Documentary)
MA Film Production (Screenwriting)

Mirroring the working patterns of film production these named awards also reflect the degree of physical production engagement for these disciplines. With Producers, Directors and Documentary makers taking their films through all the stages from first idea, through to development, pre-production, production, post, and on right through to delivery to the audience. Whilst the disciplines of Production Design, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Design, and Screenwriting, over that same time period, will be engaged in the physical production, post of two or more films.

For the Portfolio Short Films made on the course, the budgets are seed funded. For other units, all the basic costs of materials and equipment are covered.

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Our newly designed programme takes account of twenty-first-century developments in the field, giving students a trans-historical and often multi-disciplinary research approach to a set of broad, founding concepts and making sure they are up-to-date with the evolving digital focus of recent research in English studies. Our research specialisms include American studies and the literary periods Early Modern, Victorian, and Modern and Contemporary.

Additional areas of expertise include linguistics, Irish studies, drama, and the history of the book. We guarantee all students that each module will include components relating to our stated research specialisms.

Alongside our flagship ‘Research Mentoring’ module—where students work under the mentorship of a range of literary experts, studying the research they are currently undertaking – this allows students to follow a specific specialism through their MA.

Study areas include resources for advanced research, research mentorship, icons and iconoclasts, boundaries and transgressions, texts and technology, and a dissertation.

See the website http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/programmes/departments/arts/english/

Programme modules

This is not a conclusive but typical structure of the programme.

Programme modules:
Semester 1

- Icons and Iconoclasts
This module considers issues in literary history, particularly those of canonisation, the politics of reputation, fashion, and posterity, and the processes by which certain writers and texts become culturally embedded and certain others do not. It also examines ideas of formal and generic convention and reception history. In seminars, students will look at either a single text (which could be ‘iconic’ and canonical, ‘iconoclastic’ and unassimilated by cultural institutions such as universities, or a text which is deemed canonical despite its apparent rejection of convention, respectability, etc., e.g. Ulysses), or pit an ‘iconic’ and an ‘iconoclastic’ text against each other. The module will be driven by authors and texts rather than by overarching theoretical considerations. For example, one could read an H.G. Wells scientific romance' such as The Time Machine (1895) against a less well-known example of Victorian or Edwardian science fiction, or pit a familiar early modern drama alongside one which is less often studied or performed. The course will fashion a series of dialogues between writers, texts, history and audiences. These dialogues will range across historical eras appropriate to the research interests of staff teaching on the module, so coverage may vary from one year to another.

- Resources for Advanced Research
The module aims to introduce students to a range of different research methods; develop their research skills to Master’s level; and enhance their library skills. It also aims to introduce them to different ways of engaging in research cultures appropriate to the focus of their studies; enable them to develop a research profile; and gain skills in the presentation of their research. The module prepares students for the Dissertation module and aims to provide them with skills useful for disseminating the results of their dissertation after they graduate.

- Research Mentorship
From a list of available faculty, students choose four staff members (mentors) to work with in three-week blocks throughout the semester. They study what the staff member is currently researching, giving them a unique insight into current research as it happens. The process is one of mentorship and academic shadowing. The reading is likely to be a mixture of primary and secondary texts, and potentially an introduction to specific research questions and methodologies. Staff will be offered in groups, e.g. for every three weeks, there should be between three to five members of staff to choose from and, as far as possible, there will be a spread of expertise so that students can follow an area of faculty research specialism as much as possible. This may include the early-modern, Victorian, or Modern and Contemporary literary periods, American studies, or Irish Studies.

Semester 2:
- Boundaries and Transgressions
This module aims to identify and explore forms of transgression in a wide range of written texts from the early modern period to the present. Working with members of staff with a variety of research specialisms, students will assess what is at stake – aesthetically, culturally and ideologically – in boundary-crossings of very diverse kinds. ‘Boundaries and Transgressions’ will be issue-led, analysing some of the conceptual, temporal and spatial crossings performed by literary texts. This module offers students an exciting opportunity to consider mutations in literary transgression during some four hundred years. Cultural boundaries will appear as violated rather than safely policed (as when gender divides break down, or the body and the mind mingle promiscuously, or the human is entangled with – not shielded from – the animal). Elsewhere, the module will explore texts that cross periods (writings in which, for example, Victorianism and modernism interweave) or range across plural geographies (American literature, say, that refuses a posture of national autonomy and traverses the Atlantic or the Pacific).

- Texts and Technologies
This module focuses upon how texts and technologies have developed in intertwined manners. As technology changes, so can texts, their modes of distribution, their social and cultural significance and influence, and their manner of being collected, stored, and accessed. The module seeks to explore how texts and technology have influenced each other in different historical periods; to examine the response to communication technology in literary and theoretical texts; and to trace fundamental changes in literature and literary research brought about by radical technological developments such as the printing press, the internet, digital analysis, and digital data storage. How do changes in technology alter the way we experience texts and how we use them?

Summer
- Dissertation
The module enables students to initiate, devise, develop and successfully complete a research-based dissertation, and to further their knowledge and practical experience of research methods and techniques in English Studies. Students will identify an area of study that they would like to develop further. The module will consist of independent research, but students will meet with, and receive oral and written feedback from, an individual supervisor. The supervisor will give guidance on the subject matter, focus, structure and research area of the dissertation. Between Easter and the end of semester they can submit up to 5,000 words in draft form for comment and discuss the development of their chapters with their supervisors. Students will then work independently after the end of the semester to produce a 15,000 word dissertation.

Careers and further study

This programme meets the needs of students seeking to qualify for entry to a research degree, teachers of literature and those wishing to update their knowledge or develop their own research skills.

Why choose Arts, English and Drama at Loughborough?

The School of Arts, English and Drama is renowned as one of the world’s top places for studying the visual, literary and performing arts, offering outstanding opportunities across its wide remit. Each course is designed to inspire talented individuals with the drive and determination to succeed.

We provide many exciting ways to enhance skills, including research-led teaching by recognised international scholars, access to multi-million pound facilities, contact with prominent industry links, and superb entrepreneurial support.

A unique range of post-graduate taught programmes and research opportunities encompass art, design, history, theory, performance, postmedieval literature, linguistics studies.

We offer a unique range of postgraduate taught programmes and research opportunities which encompasses art, design, theory, performance by practice, post-medieval literature, creative writing, linguistics and theatre

- Facilities
Our students have full access to our state-of-the-art facilities, which offer a tantalising number of creative possibilities. They provide industry standard outputs, and you will receive an unparalleled level of professional training in using them.

- Career Prospects
Over 92% of our graduates were in employment and/or further study six months after graduating. Our students develop excellent transferable skills because of the range of topics studied on our courses and the diversity of teaching and learning methods we use.

Find out how to apply here http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/programmes/departments/arts/english/

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