Module MELA3161: DISSERTATION IN MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

MELA3161: DISSERTATION IN MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

Prerequisites

• • A Level II core language module in the subject of your Dissertation AND at least two relevant cultural (non-language) modules at levels I and II. This therefore excludes supplementary language modules such as 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 option 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 (8,000 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 a 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 assigned one of their proposed dissertation topics, students will have to demonstrate their preparedness by having done at least two relevant cultural modules at Levels I and II, and by registering for at least one relevant corequisite module 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. The criterion of ‘relevance’ will usually imply modules in the same language area, but should also involve establishing a background in a given historical period or medium (previous studies in literature, cinema or theatre, for instance). The precise topic is to be determined by negotiation with the supervisor, and is subject to the approval of the Dissertation Coordinator and MLAC Undergraduate Education Committee.
• The process of dissertation allocation begins in the third week of June when students submit two 100-word proposals outlining topics on which they would like to work, having consulted the list of supervisors available for the next academic year. 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.

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

• Preparation for the Dissertation begins with Ongoing Induction lectures in years 1 and 2, covering research skills and critical methodology. There are four further lectures on Dissertation skills in the final year.
• Students are entitled to a total of 3 hours of supervision time. This may include one or more group seminars, but will include a total of at least 2 hours of one-to-one supervision meetings. The length of each meeting may vary between 20 and 40 minutes, according to the needs of each student at different phases of the project. Students will see their supervisor at least twice in each of the first two terms.
• After each supervision, it is the responsibility of the student to 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.
• In the second half of Michaelmas term (week 6 or 7, deadline to be agreed between student and supervisor), students must submit to their supervisor a plan comprising: 1) the proposed title of the dissertation; 2) a draft abstract; 3) an outline of the proposed structure of the dissertation; 4) an annotated preliminary bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The total length should not exceed 3 A4 pages. Students whose projects may require vetting by the MLAC Ethics Committee (for example, if they plan to use surveys, interviews or potentially confidential data) are required to flag this up in the same submission, referring to the guidelines set out in the Dissertation Handbook.
• Students are required to submit to their supervisor one or two extracts from their dissertation, totalling approximately 1500 words. The precise arrangements (number of submissions, length of each, time of submission) are to be agreed between the supervisor and the student, but the last instalment must be submitted in time for feedback to be given before the end of Epiphany term.
• The supervisor will comment in writing on both the plan and the extracts within two weeks of submission. Submissions will also be discussed in supervision meetings.
• 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 teaching 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. Plan to be submitted to the supervisor by a date in weeks 6-7 of Michaelmas term to be agreed in writing with the supervisor. A total of 1500 words of material extracted from the dissertation is to be submitted for formative assessment at times to be agreed with the supervisor. One single submission, comprising: i) An abstract; ii) An outline of the structure of the dissertation; iii) An annotated bibliography giving details of both corpus and methodological framework; iv) A paragraph outlining any potential ethical issues to be encountered in the research process, discussed in reference to guidelines given on the main dissertation webpage. The length of this submission should not exceed 3 pages of A4 print in standard marginal pagination and size 12 font. The deadline is not fixed, but should fall in the second half of Michaelmas term, by arrangement with individual supervisors. i) For 20-credit dissertations, (an) extract(s) totalling around 1,500 words, to be submitted in one or more instalments, by agreement with the supervisor. The deadline for submission(s) should normally fall in Epiphany term, but this can be negotiated between supervisor and supervisees;

■ 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