Teaching & modules

Modules

Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totalling 180 credits

Required modules

  • Working with Early Modern Literary Texts (30 credits)
  • The Life of the Book: Constructing Knowledge at the British Library (30 credits)
  • Research Methods and Practice (30 credits)
  • Dissertation (60 credits)

Optional modules

In addition, you are required to take two modules, totalling 30 credits, from a range of optional modules that may typically include:

  • Global/Local Shakespeares (15 credits)
  • Shakespeare’s Poems (15 credits)
  • Contested Voices in Early Modern England (15 credits)
  • Theatre Gender and Culture in Jacobean London (15 credits)
  • Poetic Movements, Poetic Moods 1660-1800 (15 credits)
  • Water and Environmental Humanities: Archives, Narratives, Futures (15 credits)
  • A range of master’s modules offered in the School of Arts & Humanities or Global Institutes, subject to approval.

If you are a part-time student, you will take The Life of the Book: Constructing Knowledge at the British Library (30 credits) in your first year along with 15 credits from the list of optional modules above. In your second year you will take Working with Early Modern Literary Texts (30 credits), Research Methods and Practice (30 credits), Dissertation (60 credits), and 15 credits of optional modules.

Teaching methods - what to expect

Lectures
Seminars
Self-Study

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
  • Written/practical examinations

Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations.

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