BA Creative Writing and Theatre

Title:

Introduction to Creative Writing

Code:

EN1CW

Convenor:

PROF Peter Robinson

Summary:

This module allows students to develop their skills in creative writing across a range of genres. They will be introduced to practical and theoretical issues involved in the activity, and will develop skills in the composition, criticism, revision, and polishing of creative work. Building on ideas from the lecture course, students will produce a portfolio of creative writing for discussion in seminars and contribute to the discussion of presented work. Students will also produce a critical essay derived from the subjects studied in the lecture course in consultation with seminar leaders.

Assessment Method:

Portfolio 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Genre and Context

Code:

EN1GC

Convenor:

DR Chloe Houston

Summary:

This module is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of two formative pairings of historical moment and genre: the Renaissance stage and the Victorian novel. In the first term, students will study four Renaissance plays, with an emphasis on drama as a distinct genre with its own particular conventions, and with attention to key aspects of the Renaissance stage, from playing spaces to the use of stage props. In the second term students will study three major Victorian novels, engaging with contextual issues of urbanisation, gender, sexuality and identity. In both cases, students will be encouraged to analyse literature in relation to genre and context and will gain an understanding of their intersections at particular historical moments.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Poetry in English

Code:

EN1PE

Convenor:

PROF Steven Matthews

Summary:

This module provides students with training in skills of close reading that are foundational to the study of English Literature, as well as an overview of the history of poetry in English. Students will be introduced to major movements and ideas in key periods from the early Renaissance up to the present; and to a range of genres including love poetry, political poetry, pastoral, elegy, satire, the sonnet, the ode, and the dramatic monologue. Poems studied later in the course will be drawn from the wider English-speaking world, including Ireland, the Caribbean and North America, and will include a diversity of voices.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Analysing Theatre and Performance

Code:

FT1ATP

Convenor:

DR Matt McFrederick

Summary:

How do theatrical stories allow us to examine and reimagine our impression of the world today?  What practical qualities do theatre makers return to - or reinvent - in creating meaning in performance?

In this introduction to theatre and performance, you will share your interpretations and expand the ways you see and think about theatre in relation to the world today. You will learn how to be a confident spectator and reader of theatre through a range of diverse and topical performances in local or in London-based venues - previous trips have included the National Theatre, RSC Live, Peking Opera, the West End and smaller, innovative fringe venues.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What is Comparative Literature?

Code:

EN1COMP

Convenor:

DR John McKeane

Summary:

This module will introduce students to some of the major critical and theoretical issues in the study of Comparative Literature, as well as to important methodologies for studying literature in a comparative context. Approaching a cluster of texts from different cultural and historical traditions, students will be encouraged to reflect on the practices and consequences of reading transnationally.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Research and Criticism

Code:

EN1RC

Convenor:

DR Nicola Abram

Summary:

This module provides a secure foundation in both the practical skills and theoretical literacy needed for the degree-level study of literature. It combines advanced training in reading, research, and academic writing with an introduction to debates around the core concepts of ‘reader’, ‘author’, and ‘text’. The set texts – a selection of short stories and literary essays from across the world – invite students to reflect on the complexities of these critical terms and to become more independent and more questioning as readers. A series of online screencasts equip students with subject-specific skills such as writing a critical precis and plot summary as well as general academic good practice like referencing and incorporating quotations.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Shelf Life

Code:

EN1SL

Convenor:

DR John Scholar

Summary:

This module is an introduction to English literature’s material dimension, and to the library as a symbol. For the most part literary study involves the interpretation of poems, novels or plays. This module complements this ordinary kind of reading by investigating books and other archival documents as physical objects. Its focus is on the preservation, use and dissemination of material texts in libraries and collections, and on how those sorts of places have been represented in literature.

One half of the teaching on the module is seminar-based. Students will use set texts to find out how writers have imagined libraries and archives in the past and present: as treasure-houses for a culture’s most valued stories; as labyrinths that hide mysterious and dangerous knowledge; as cemeteries for ideas; as “thought in cold storage”; or, conversely, as bastions for the active defence of free thought. They will consider how literary representations of libraries and archives map onto their actual operation. The other half of the module is practice-based. Students go behind the scenes at the University of Reading’s Special Collections department. They explore its world-class holdings and learn how its archives are safeguarded and made accessible to scholars. Reading’s Special Collections contain priceless stores of rare books and manuscripts, including the Overstone Library, the MERL library, the National Publisher’s Archive, and the Samuel Beckett Collection.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Portfolio 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Twentieth-Century American Literature

Code:

EN1TCL

Convenor:

PROF David Brauner

Summary:

Summary module description: Twentieth-Century American Literature presents students with a challenging range of work, bringing together canonical texts with the less familiar; engaging with work by white and African-American writers; and covering a number of genres and sub-genres, from poetry, the short story and drama, to crime fiction. Students will develop their skills in the close reading of literary texts; they will acquire and demonstrate an ability to respond to shifts in modes, styles, and preoccupations across the period; they will learn about and begin to debate ideas of cultural, ethnic, class and racial difference in relation to the US national identities.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

Code:

EN1TRANS

Convenor:

DR Claire Ross

Summary:

This module introduces students to the main theoretical approaches to translation. The lectures will adopt a historical perspective and address how translation practice has evolved over time. Together, we shall also look at how and whether theory has had any influence on translation practice in the market-place.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Approaches to Film

Code:

FT1ATF

Convenor:

DR Adam O'Brien

Summary:

How do films tell stories, make meanings, and contribute to our culture? What questions can, and should, we ask of a film?

This module includes a mix of cinema screenings, seminars and lectures, exploring a range of fiction and non-fiction films. Class discussions and assignments will challenge you to explore the meanings and cultural significance of moving images, across the 20th and 21st centuries.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Approaches to Television

Code:

FT1ATT

Convenor:

DR Faye Woods

Summary:

In an era of intensified competition for audiences and technological innovation, the box in the corner has expanded to include a vast universe of televisual content that can be slipped into your pocket. In this module you will learn the tools to both analyse this wealth of programming and the industry that produces it. Considering contemporary developments alongside the extensive history of the form, it examines continuities rather than disruption. Centred on close analysis and critical reading, you will explore a range of exciting viewpoints and frameworks through which to approach television.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Comedy on Stage and Screen

Code:

FT1CSS

Convenor:

DR Simone Knox

Summary:

This module gives you the opportunity to study comedy on stage and screen, encompassing film, television, theatre and stand-up comedy. You will engage with the relevant critical vocabulary and contextual knowledge to explore how humour is created, consumed and debated, across a range of genres and practices. Case studies may include classic and contemporary film comedies (e.g. screwball comedy, black comedy); musical comedies (e.g. The Book of Mormon); stand-up comedy (e.g. Ali Wong, Hannah Gadsby); sitcoms (e.g. Friends); or the work of specific creative practitioners (e.g. Joe Orton). 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Exploring the Studio

Code:

FT1ES

Convenor:

PROF Teresa Murjas

Summary:

This module offers you the experience of developing creative practical work, working in small teams. It introduces you to relevant facilities and equipment, processes of practical group work, and exploring how meaning is created in cultural media. This module is focused on the creative possibilities in the Film/TV Studio, a space which calls for projects that draw both on elements of staging a live performance and filming for the screen, involving decision-making processes concerning scripting, set design, costume, make up, lighting and/or sound. So, this module is suitable for you whether you have a particular interest in film, television and/or theatre.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Project 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Management

Code:

AP1SB1

Convenor:

PROF Julian Park

Summary:

This module provides a contemporary and comprehensive introduction to management science and its relevance to businesses. Interactive in-class activities and the use of online apps will help you learn techniques for inspiring teamwork in an organisation context, discover the importance of strategic management design for achieving an organisation's goals, and understand the roles of the manager and the responsibilities this carries. You will also have a range of opportunities to gain hands-on practising decision making through case studies. Furthermore, develop your leadership skills to motivate and guide a team towards the achievement of an organisation’s objectives.  

Assessment Method:

Class test 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Revolutions in Human Behaviour: 4 Million Years BC to the Present

Code:

AR1REV

Convenor:

PROF Steve Mithen

Summary:

This module investigates the development of human society from a long-term and global perspective. It traces the human journey from our earliest ancestors of c. 4 million years ago to the present day. The module considers the key revolutions and transitions that have affected human thought, behaviour and society, focussing on the evidence from material culture. Key themes include: human evolution, the development of complex societies, the inventions of metallurgy and writing, the industrial and agricultural revolutions, and globalisation. The module is taught by  a combination of online lectures, face-to-face seminars and lectures, practical classes and a field trip.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Revolutions in Human Behaviour: 4 Million Years BC to the Present [10 credits]

Code:

AR1REV10

Convenor:

PROF Steve Mithen

Summary:

This module investigates the development of human society from a long-term and global perspective. It traces the human journey from our earliest ancestors of c. 6 million years ago to the present day. The module considers the key revolutions and transitions that have affected human thought, behaviour and society, focussing on the evidence from material culture. Key themes include: human evolution, the development of complex societies, the inventions of metallurgy and writing, the industrial and agricultural revolutions, and globalisation. The module is taught by a combination of online lectures and face-to-face seminars and lectures.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Greek History: war, society, and change in the Archaic Age

Code:

CL1GH

Convenor:

PROF Amy Smith

Summary:

This module will introduce students to a period of Greek history too often neglected in first-year study, one which established the foundations of the Classical World and saw the emergence of political and social forms still influential today. Starting in the eighth century BC and ending with the Persian invasions of Greece in the early fifth, the module tracks the upheavals, innovations and conflicts of the age, across Greece and beyond.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Class test 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ancient Song

Code:

CL1SO

Convenor:

PROF Ian Rutherford

Summary:

This module introduces students to the lyric poetry of ancient Greece and Rome, studying authors from both civilisations and considering a range of thematic approaches to the surviving corpus of poetry. It is intended to be suitable for beginners and for those who have studied some ancient literature before; there is no language requirement, but there will be an opportunity for students who do have relevant skills to employ them in their coursework and exams.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Modernisms & Mythologies

Code:

FA1MM

Convenor:

DR Jenny Chamarette

Summary:

This module will provide a broad, introductory survey of key developments in the history, theory and criticism of art during the modern period. Its starting point will be theories of the development of modernity and its social, political and economic components, and the ways in which modern art functions in and on its historical contexts. It will continue to look at the retrospective modernist critical and theoretical accounts of modern art's development.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intercultural Competence and Communication

Code:

IL1GICC

Convenor:

MS Joan McCormack

Summary:

In this module students develop skills and understanding needed for working in the multi-cultural global workplace. In the Autumn term it will consider intercultural competence and communication from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, education, inclusivity, business, language and discourse. In the Spring term students will apply their knowledge to define and explain a defined a real-world issue.

The module will be delivered at the University of Reading Whiteknights campus

Assessment Method:

Oral 10%, Portfolio 30%, Project 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Linguistics

Code:

ML1IL

Convenor:

MR Federico Faloppa

Summary:

This module aims to familiarise students with principles in general linguistics, and to give students an overall picture of what a language is, how it works, and what its main structures are, with a particular focus on French, German, Italian and Spanish. It will also provide useful meta-linguistic competence which can be applied to the study of any other language.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 20%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Student Enterprise

Code:

MM1F10

Convenor:

DR Lebene Soga

Summary:

This is a dynamic module introducing students to key concepts of business start-up. Students work in a team to identify and develop a new business opportunity, and then seek to test their idea through ‘lean start-up’ experiments. Students will be introduced to key concepts of entrepreneurial management including design thinking, business model creation, entrepreneurial finance and marketing. This is a highly interactive and practical module, with a focus on experiential learning.

Assessment Method:

Project 60%, Class test 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Science of Climate Change

Code:

MT1CC

Convenor:

PROF Nigel Arnell

Summary:

This module provides an introduction to the science of climate change, aimed at students who do not necessarily have a scientific background.

Assessment Method:

Exam 70%, Assignment 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

British Society

Code:

PO1BRI

Convenor:

DR Dawn Clarke

Summary:

The module draws on theories and approaches from Politics, Sociology, Psychology, History and Philosophy to consider some of the main contours of contemporary British Society. The module will explore a number of images of Britain including: Britain as a Welfare State, Multicultural Britain and Britain as a Class Society. It will also explore crime and deviance in Britain, the role of the mass media and the increasing power of the food industry. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Inequality

Code:

PO1INE

Convenor:

DR Jonathan Golub

Summary:

Inequality is everywhere around us: different individuals earn different salaries, people of different genders and backgrounds have access to different economic opportunities, and those at the top of the income distribution have radically distinct life chances than those at the bottom. What explains rising inequality, is it fair and what are the consequences? Should anything be done to reduce inequality, and if so, what? This course aims to answer these questions by providing students with the analytical tools and knowledge to understand and explain the evolution of earnings, racial and gender inequality over time and its variation across developed countries. It also considers the economic, normative and political implications of different forms of inequality, in particular gender and racial inequality. Is inequality at the top of the income distribution (i.e. the 1% v. the rest of us) the inevitable outcome of a well-functioning market system or does it suggest problems in the way democracy works? Does inequality undermine democracy for instance by affecting political participation or increasing the appeal of non-liberal populist parties? Take the course and you will find out more about these fascinating questions and more!

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 10%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Political Ideas

Code:

PO1IPI

Convenor:

DR Andrew Reid

Summary:

An introduction to political theory, covering central topics like the state and its authority, democracy, rights and liberty, equality and social justice, and war and intervention, as well as some of the basic methods for understanding them all. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Reason and Argument

Code:

PP1RA

Convenor:

DR Jumbly Grindrod

Summary:

This module enhances students’ ability to understand and construct complex arguments through the study of logic and the psychology of human reasoning. Reading: A module guide will be available. Recommended: Jamie Carlin Watson and Robert Arp, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury, 2015.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Psychology

Code:

PY1IPY

Convenor:

DR Katie Barfoot

Summary:

This module is delivered at the University of Reading, for students who are interested in but not studying Psychology.  

Assessment Method:

Exam 60%, Report 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What the font? Making and using typefaces

Code:

TY1WTF

Convenor:

DR Rob Banham

Summary:

You are surrounded by fonts. Social media, text messages, email, branding, advertising, websites, books, magazines … Human (and machine) communication relies extensively on fonts, but what do you really know about them? How and why are new fonts created? And is it ever OK to use comic sans?! This module will introduce you to the world of typeface design, exploring the history, theory, and practice of making and using fonts and giving you the opportunity to design a typeface of your own. No background in design is required.

Assessment Method:

Set exercise 50%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Identity, Performance and Culture

Code:

FT2IPC

Convenor:

DR Matt McFrederick

Summary:

On this module, you will explore the construction, representation and theatrical performance of diverse modes of identity such as gender, sexuality, class, nation, ethnicity or disability.  We will consider how these intersect with the performance of identity in culture more generally, asking how theatre and performance can both reinforce particular identity positions and stereotypes, and can also expose or contest narrow, oppressive or exclusionary identity positions. We will investigate the work of theatre practitioners in relation to specific socio-historical, theoretical and theatrical frameworks, and will consider a range of performance forums such as public installations. 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Business of Books

Code:

EN2BB

Convenor:

DR Nicola Wilson

Summary:

This module will enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of the book as a technology and provide the critical skills with which to consider the history and future of the book as a form. Through a combination of theoretical, methodological and hands-on teaching sessions and workshops, we will study the role and function of books in a select number of different places, historical periods, and institutional contexts, including for instance in the library, in the book shop, the publishing house, and in the board room.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Contemporary Fiction

Code:

EN2CF

Convenor:

PROF Bryan Cheyette

Summary:

This module will provide the opportunity to study a selection of fiction in English from the 1980s to the present day. It will highlight the formal, thematic and cultural diversity of Anglophone fiction produced in this period. Students will encounter a range of authors, including but not limited to African-American, Irish-American, Anglo-Indian, Anglo-Japanese, Canadian-Trinidadian, black British and Nigerian – though the use of such identity categories will be subject to critical scrutiny.Texts will be studied in and against a number of social, political and historical contexts, including multiculturalism, feminism and globalisation. The module will also engage with many of the key critical/theoretical paradigms of the past four decades, such as post-colonialism, post-modernism, transnationalism and intersectionality.

Assessment Method:

Exam 67%, Assignment 33%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Chaucer and Medieval Narrative

Code:

EN2CMN

Convenor:

DR Aisling Byrne

Summary:

Sometimes called the 'father of English literature', Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) is one of the great innovators in English literary history. In this module we will explore his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales. This is a story collection of enormous variety, featuring everything from vulgar comedies to moral fables and from biting satires to narratives of tragic love. Each week we will explore a different text from The Canterbury Tales and delve into some of Chaucer's key themes, such as love, religion, gender, class, chivalry and magic. The module will also introduce some of the major literary and intellectual influences upon Chaucer's work and set his narratives alongside comparable texts from the period.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Critical Issues

Code:

EN2CRI

Convenor:

DR Stephen Thomson

Summary:

Building on ideas and issues already broached in EN1RC Research & Criticism, this module offers the opportunity to explore critical theory in greater depth. The study of a variety of theoretical texts dealing with topics such as language, ideology, power, gender, and race, will offer not only ‘tools’ for dealing with these issues but also a space in which to reflect on, and gain a deeper understanding of, the ways in which these issues have commonly been thought. This is a challenging module, demanding patient engagement with arguments that may not immediately fit into our common-sense ways of thinking and that may, indeed, require us to question some of the grounding assumptions on which our everyday thinkings rests. But it is also a deeply rewarding module, and highly recommended for anyone considering a dissertation touching on any of the topics mentioned above.

Assessment Method:

Portfolio 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Creative Writing: Non-fiction and Long-Form Journalism

Code:

EN2CWJ

Convenor:

MS Shelley Harris

Summary:

Creative non-fiction is a wide, exciting, and ever-evolving contemporary genre. It includes memoirs, essays, blog posts, long-form journalism, biography and auto-fiction, and the increasing number of books and articles which fall between these genres. This module will explore this genre, and help you to write your own pieces or pieces of creative non-fiction. Learning takes place in seminar groups, where analytical reading and practical writing interconnect, and in smaller peer groups, where students support each other’s editing with constructive feedback.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 30%, Portfolio 70%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Creative Writing: Poetry

Code:

EN2CWP

Convenor:

PROF Peter Robinson

Summary:

Creative writing is always an interplay between the act of reading and that of writing, each informing the other. In this module, we will critically engage with a range of poems, consider some of the key debates about the form, and write our own poetry in response, experimenting with the possibilities of the genre. Learning takes place in seminar groups, where analytical reading and practical writing interconnect, and in smaller peer groups, where students support each other’s editing with constructive feedback.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 30%, Portfolio 70%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Creative Writing: The Short Story

Code:

EN2CWS

Convenor:

MS Shelley Harris

Summary:

Writers are readers too, and all authors are engaged in a creative cycle: reading literature, writing it, and taking that experience back into their reading. This module invites student writers to explore that process, critically engaging with a range of short stories, encountering some of the key debates about the form, and writing their own short fiction in response. Learning takes place in seminar groups, where analytical reading and practical writing interconnect, and in smaller peer groups, where students support each other’s editing with constructive feedback. This module is delivered at the University of Reading.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 30%, Portfolio 70%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Modernism in Poetry and Fiction

Code:

EN2MOD

Convenor:

DR Mark Nixon

Summary:

This module examines the concepts of modernity and modernism, and relates them to the history of early twentieth-century poetry and fiction. Experimentation and innovation in poetic and narrative form are explored as responses to wider social upheaval and cultural movements.

Assessment Method:

Exam 67%, Assignment 33%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Old English Literature

Code:

EN2OEL

Convenor:

DR Eleni Ponirakis

Summary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl0T_Gz-KWI&t=8s

This module introduces students to the period of English literature that is often the most unfamiliar: the Old English or Anglo-Saxon period (c.7th-11th century). Old English literature is richly rewarding, not just because it has been an important influence on many twentieth-century writers (most famousl, J.R.R. Tolkien), but because its literary techniques and themes (female heroes, battles with Vikings, dragons, voyages of exile) are different to much later English literature. This module allows students to explore the literature of a time when England was part of the culture of the North.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Romantic Period

Code:

EN2RP

Convenor:

DR Matthew Scott

Summary:

The module will provide a broad introduction to the varied literary culture of the Romantic period in Britain by examining a diverse group of texts written between 1750 and 1850.

Assessment Method:

Exam 67%, Assignment 33%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Renaissance Texts and Cultures

Code:

EN2RTC

Convenor:

PROF Michelle O'Callaghan

Summary:

Renaissance Texts and Cultures is a module in which students explore the ways that English literature was shaped by, and helped to re-shape, English culture in the years between the Reformation and the Civil Wars. It provides students with a training in historicist literary criticism, that is, the critical approach that stresses the interconnectedness between literary texts and the cultural and political processes current at the time when the texts were first written and made public.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Shakespeare

Code:

EN2SH

Convenor:

PROF Lucinda Becker

Summary:

The module is organised chronologically in order to focus attention on Shakespeare’s development as a dramatist. Close study of plays, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and The Tempest, will encourage students to explore aspects of tradition and innovation in Shakespeare’s use of theatrical modes. The module will allow students to integrate a knowledge of the intellectual, cultural and stage history of the period into their study of the texts.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Victorian Literature

Code:

EN2VIC

Convenor:

DR Lucy Bending

Summary:

The Victorian era is one of great diversity and tension. It is a period when authors began to think about man's place in a world without God; about the workings of the mind; and the role of class and gender in the construction of identity. This module will engage with these, nd other ideas, looking at some of the greatest works of Victorian literature. The module will include novels (Charlotte Bronte's Villette, and Hardy's Return of the Native), poetry (Tennyson's In Memoriam, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese) journalism (Thackeray's 'Going to See a Man Hanged'), short stories (Daughters of Decadence edited by Elaine Showalter) and plays (Wilde's A Woman of No Importance).  The module offers a broad and exciting sweep of different modes of writing, drawing on some well-known and canonical texts, and some texts that are less frequently studied in an attempt to understand what mattered to the Victorians.

Assessment Method:

Exam 67%, Assignment 33%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Writing America

Code:

EN2WA

Convenor:

DR Sue Walsh

Summary:

The module is concerned with literary constructions of American identity in American literature, focusing on some of the ways in which imaginative writers have perceived and defined the New World in relation to the Old and helped to shape or contest the nation's sense of cultural distinctiveness. The module will examine both the diversity of American voices and the emergence of common preoccupations, including myths of the frontier, Manifest Destiny, personal and political liberty, and the the construction of race, gender and sexuality.

Assessment Method:

Exam 67%, Assignment 33%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Writing, Gender, Identity

Code:

EN2WGI

Convenor:

DR Cato Marks

Summary:

This module introduces students to a range of texts and critical approaches which address the relationship between writing and identity. Set texts cover a broad chronological sweep and include letters, novels, short stories and autobiographical works. We explore questions around the constructions of gender, sexuality, race and class in the set texts and more broadly. We discuss and debate assumptions embedded in the texts and our own assumptions as readers of these texts. We explore the power dynamics at play in a text and consider the implications. Lectures provide a contextual framing for the set texts and begin to open out critical questions around writing and identity; seminars are focussed on detailed analysis of the set texts and the recommended secondary reading.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Writing in the Public Sphere

Code:

EN2WPS

Convenor:

DR Mary Morrissey

Summary:

On this module, we study the literature written in order to prompt social and political change. We examine speeches, pamphlets, tracts, and political posters from the early modern period to the present, and we consider how they continue to shape debates about class, race, religion, nationality, and women’s rights across the four nations of Britain and Ireland. We study ideas of a ‘public sphere’ in which political and cultural debate are conducted, and we analyse the techniques used in political literature. We use our study of these texts to identify the rhetorical strategies necessary for successful political campaigning today.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Exploring Location

Code:

FT2EL

Convenor:

DR Tonia Kazakopoulou

Summary:

Building on Part 1, this module gives you the opportunity to deepen your engagement with creative practical work, working on more advanced projects. You will explore the creative possibilities of working on location, for the purposes of staging a live performance and/or filming for the screen. In groups, you will choose a site and develop a creative project in response. You will develop your experience of Health and Safety practices, relevant equipment and processes of practical group work. You will be able to follow your particular interests in specific creative decision-making processes, such as scripting, set design, lighting and/or sound.  

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Project 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Film Forms and Cultures

Code:

FT2FFC

Convenor:

DR David Foster

Summary:

This module will broaden your knowledge of historical and contemporary global cinema through screening a variety of exciting film forms.  This will deepen your understanding of the relationships between films and their artistic, social and cultural contexts. The module iincludes art cinema and experimental in documentary, giving you the opportunity to engae with, analyse, discuss, research and write about a diverse range of carefully selected films and relevant critical/theoretical material.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Placements and Employment Skills (Twenty Credits)

Code:

FT2PE20

Convenor:

DR Lucy Tyler

Summary:

Through taught sessions you will gain relevant employment skills. You will then have the opportunity to apply these skills through self-directed study. You will either a) self-organise a placement to undertake in an industry or organisation of your choice or b) undertake a detailed examination of an industry, organisation or role of your choice. Students will develop their approach to the written assessment supported by workshop discussion, and tutor and peer feedback, and in doing so will also develop their pitching and presentation skills.  

In the summer term of the previous year, a session will provide advice on how to secure a placement.  

Assessment Method:

Portfolio 50%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Performance Skills: Acting and Directing

Code:

FT2PS

Convenor:

DR Lisa Woynarski

Summary:

In this module, you will enter the rehearsal room and practically explore acting and directing strategies. By exploring historic and contemporary acting and directing modes from a global context, this module will enable you to develop a tool-kit of practical acting and directing strategies and approaches to inform your work and identity as an artist-practitioner.  This is part of critical practice so you will be critically Through a case-study approach, you will engage with a diverse set of aesthetic forms of theatre and performance, exploring their associated directing and acting methodologies and critical ideas within them such as agency and expression. You will have the opportunity to test out these different modes of acting and directing in hands-on sessions, reflecting on their use and application of different strategies and approachesin practice.?

Assessment Method:

Practical 50%, Oral 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Screen Storytelling and Criticism

Code:

FT2SSC

Convenor:

DR Adam O'Brien

Summary:

This module explores film and television storytelling, against the backdrop of different genres and historical periods. It focuses on a coherent selection of films / programmes, plus associated critical and theoretical writing. You will explore a range of narrative techniques, and develop your skills in close analysis. This work will be integrated with the study of videographic criticism. You will produce a series of short videographic exercises, and develop skills which will enable you to create video essays for assignments on other modules on your degree programme.  

Assessment Method:

Project 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Television and Contemporary Culture

Code:

FT2TCC

Convenor:

DR Faye Woods

Summary:

This module deepens your understanding of television form, industry and the complexity of the medium and its programming. It provides the tools to critically engage with issues of representation and identity, explores industrial concerns (who has the power to make television and how does that impact how and what stories are told) as well as global production and trade of television. It considers different approaches to television storytelling and representations of the world around us through a selection of television genres and forms, which may include reality tv, documentary, period drama and sitcom. 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Project 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Literature, Language and Education

Code:

LS2LLE

Convenor:

MRS Suzanne Portch

Summary:

This module aims to provide students with an opportunity to apply their existing degree-based knowledge and learning and extend it within their chosen specialisation. 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 45%, Oral 10%, Report 45%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.