Introductory description

This 15 CAT module offers students the opportunity to undertake a short independent research project with an appropriate supervisor in the relevant field. It is a shorter version of the standard dissertation module, assessed by a final assignment of 4000-4500 words.
Projects should normally be associated with the research and teaching interests of a member of academic staff in the SMLC. Project topics will need to be approved by the module coordinator in conjunction with the relevant supervisor. Topics will normally be connected to an existing SMLC cultural module.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Students will audit the skills sessions for the LN400 dissertation module, either virtually or in person, according to the particular context of the academic term. Students will meet with supervisors on a regular basis. Otherwise students will conduct research either in person or virtually using materials available in the University Library, Modern Records Centre and other relevant libraries, archives and holdings.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• With guidance from the project supervisor, apply and evaluate independently critical approaches to the material under analysis.
• Argue in detail about the subject matter of the project (literature, linguistics, film etc.), supporting the argument with evidence from primary sources and with opinions from secondary literature.
• Analyse source material in the target language(s), showing awareness of its (their) relation to the social, historical and generic context in which it was (they were) produced, and present the results in writing.
• Gain advanced academic writing skills with an ability to marshal and present arguments and evidence in a well-structured, extended piece of writing according to accepted practice in the field

Indicative reading list

In addition to material relating specifically to the project, students may also wish to consult:

• Alex Osmond, Academic Writing and Grammar for Students (Los Angeles: SAGE, 2013).
• Brian Richardson, MHRA Style Guide. A Handbook for Authors and Editors, third edition (London: MHRA, 2013) - available as hard copy and pdf:
  (http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/)
• Nicholas S. R Walliman, Your undergraduate dissertation : the essential guide for success (Los Angeles: Sage, 2014). Warwick University Library 378.17 WAL (multiple copies)

Research element

The project revolves around the student conducting independent research while guided by a supervisor who is a specialist in the field.

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of modern languages and cultures through analysis of this primary material and through supervisory discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of constructing a project will be enhanced through supervision which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.