Module MELA3152: EXTENDED DISSERTATION IN MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

MELA3152: EXTENDED DISSERTATION IN MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

Prerequisites

• The Level 2 core language module in the subject of your Dissertation AND at least three relevant cultural (non-language) modules at levels I and II. This therefore excludes supplementary language modules such as Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ARAB2021), Persian (ARAB2041), Catalan Beginners (SPAN2061), and German Translation (GERM2091). This is to ensure that your dissertation is adequately supported in terms of background knowledge and/or suitable critical and theoretical approaches.

Corequisites

• The Level 3 core language module in the subject of your Dissertation AND at least one relevant final-year options in that language excluding non-core language modules such as: Specialised Translation (ARAB3041), French Translation (FREN3051), French Interpreting (FREN3331), German Interpreting (GERM3041), Italian Translation (ITAL3121), Russian for Professional Communication (RUSS3381), Spanish Translation (SPAN3131), and Catalan (Advanced) (SPAN3211). This is to ensure that your dissertation is adequately supported in terms of background knowledge and/or suitable critical and theoretical approaches.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• Any other dissertation module in any other academic department.

Aims

• To provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of one aspect of their studies by researching and writing an extensive piece of work in English in an area in which the department can offer research supervision.
• To cultivate independent, research-led learning.
• To provide project-management experience of planning, documenting, and writing an extended piece of work in English (12,000 words).
• To increase students’ facility in expressing themselves in English fluently, accurately, and at a suitable academic level, and in presenting and referencing their work according to the conventions of academic writing.
• To provide invaluable practice for those students wishing to progress to postgraduate study.
• The Dissertation in Modern Languages and Cultures seeks to enhance the employability of students by allowing them to demonstrate their ability as independent learners and researchers in the context of an extended research project that dovetails with the University’s principles for the development of the taught curriculum. Skills will be developed specifically through an extended enquiry-led activity that will provide students with the competences to succeed in the world of work and the ability to manage their own intellectual and professional development. By focusing specifically on questions of relevant research interest, students will develop as international citizens so that they can make a positive contribution to an increasingly globalized society.

Content

• The dissertation involves researching and writing an extended piece of work in which the department can offer research supervision. Students will thus be working closely with an expert in the field.
• In order to be accepted onto the dissertation module, students will have to demonstrate their preparedness by having done at least three culturally relevant modules in the language in which the dissertation is conducted at levels I and II, and by registering for at least one relevant corequisite module in the same language at Level III. This is to ensure that their dissertation is adequately supported in terms of background knowledge and/or suitable critical and theoretical approaches. Its precise content is to be determined by negotiation with the supervisor, and is subject to approval by the Dissertation Coordinator, and ultimately, MLAC’s Education Committee.
• The process of dissertation allocation begins in the third week of June when students submit three 100-word proposals, outlining topics on which they would like to work. In order to facilitate the allocation of supervisors, these proposals will have to be substantially differentiated from one another, and will need to correspond to areas of research specialism as outlined on the School website. Since module choices are also likely to be affected by the allocated dissertation topic, the student will also be asked to rank optional module choices corresponding to each proposal.
• When students return to Durham in their final year, their subject will be defined and the dissertation title approved by the Dissertation Coordinator and MLAC’s Education Committee. Students will submit their dissertation in the first week of the third term,.
• Teaching will primarily take the form of group presentations, consisting of short student presentations on topics including formulating a research proposal, methodology, and finding evidence. Groups will be made up of students working on similar topics.
• These seminars will be supplemented by one-on-one supervisions, as well as core dissertation skills lectures.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, the student will have greatly enhanced knowledge of a specialised subject. S/he will be familiar with both primary and secondary sources, and with the wider debates surrounding the texts, films, or other artefacts that form the main subject of the dissertation.

• The student will have further developed their ability to express complex ideas in a suitable register.
• The student will also develop a number of skills specific to the topic of their dissertation, which may include, by way of illustration:
• the ability to offer sustained close reading and analysis of particular texts, films, or other cultural artefacts, including the ability to recognise and appreciate the significance of particular literary/technical devices and structures;
• the ability to situate texts and/or other artefacts in relation to the context and circumstances of their production, plus the ability to appreciate their enduring ability to inform cultural studies;
• the ability to draw on critical theoretical discourse to situate their research within the broader debates and methodologies of the critical humanities.

• The student will have acquired skill and practice in researching a subject using primary and secondary sources, planning a coherent argument with the evidence to support it, presenting these arguments clearly and cogently in a sustained piece of writing, conforming to the norms of academic referencing.
• The students will have developed long-term project-management skills, including the ability to oversee the execution of a project from conception to completion.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The initial topic of the dissertation will be selected by the Dissertation Coordinator, in conjunction with available supervisors, on the basis of three proposals submitted by each student at the time of module registration. The allocation of a topic will be determined by the availability of supervisors, and informed by the quality of the submitted proposals.
• Students will attend two group seminars per term in which they will focus on both general and subject-specific research skills, and will have an additional six individual supervisions over the course of the academic year. This will be in addition to the Ongoing Induction lectures, covering research skills and critical methodology, delivered at Levels I and II, plus four dissertation skills lectures at Level III.
• After each supervision, students will use the Dissertation Supervision Monitoring form to write a brief summary of the key points discussed and submit it electronically to the supervisor for possible further comment.
• By the end of the second week of the Michaelmas term, students must submit to their supervisor a title, together with a programme of study for the dissertation.
• By the end of Week 5 of Michaelmas term, students should submit a 300-word research plan to their supervisor.
• By Friday of Week 10 in Michaelmas term, students should submit to their supervisor a 750-word extract of the dissertation, on an area to be decided in advance with the supervisor.
• Second and third 750-word extracts of the dissertation, on areas to be decided in advance with the supervisor, should normally be submitted over the course of Epiphany term, with one towards the beginning and one towards the end. Exact times are to be agreed upon in writing with the supervisor.
• The supervisor will comment in writing on both plan and extracts within two weeks of submission. Each submission will also serve as the basis for discussion in tutorials.
• Assessment of the dissertation will evaluate students’ ability to assimilate, understand and analyse critically the primary and secondary material associated with their dissertation topic, also their ability to present a sustained argument with suitable evidence, and to express themselves fluently and accurately in English, paying due attention to the relevant conventions of academic writing. Students will also be expected to produce a full and proper bibliography.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

* Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University. 300-word summary in the agreed language of the Dissertation to be submitted by the end of Week 5 of Michaelmas Term; 750-word extract in the agreed language of the dissertation to be submitted normally by the end of Week 10 in Michaelmas, and a second and third 750-word extract to be submitted over the course of Epiphany Term, at times to be agreed in writing with the supervisor. Group presentations in peer-review contexts on topics covering a range of methodological issues.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University