Teaching & modules
Modules
Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totalling 180 credits.
Required modules
- Post 1945: Literature, Culture, Theory (30 credits)
- Thinking the Contemporary: Theory and Fiction in the Twenty-First Century (30 credits)
- Research Methods and Practice (30 credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
If you are a part-time student, you will take your dissertation and research methods and practices in your second year. You will also take one module from the optional modules listed below in your first year, and one in your second.
Optional modules
In addition, you are required to take two modules (totalling 30 credits) from a range of optional modules that may typically include:
- Genres of the Human (15 credits)
- Theorising Contemporary Violence (15 credits)
- Imperialism and Sexuality (15 credits)
- Queer American Poetry (15 credits)
- Realism and its Others in the Long twentieth century (15 credits)
- Contemporary Medieval (15 credits)
- Contemporary South Asian Women’s Writing (15 credits)
- Cultures of Secrecy – America and Beyond (15 credits)
Teaching methods - what to expect
If you are a full-time student, we will give you four to six hours of teaching each week through lectures and seminars, and we will expect you to undertake 26 hours of self-study per week.
If you are a part-time student, we will give you two to three hours of teaching each week through lectures and seminars in your first year and two to four hours in your second, and we will expect you to undertake 13 hours of self-study per week in your first and second years.
Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.
Assessment
- Coursework
Your majority of you performance will be assessed through coursework, although some optional modules may include other forms of assessment.
Application closing date guidance
Key Information
Course type:
Master's
Delivery mode:
In person
Study mode:
Full time / Part time
Duration:
One year full-time, two years part-time, September to September
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2026