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The MA English by Research is your opportunity to conduct in-depth research on a topic of your choice from the field of modern literary studies, relative to an area of staff expertise

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Key Course Details

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This piece of original research will usually be based on close study of the primary texts as well as engagement with critical, contextual and theoretical material as appropriate. You will conduct your research under the close supervision of a member of staff.

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Career Paths

  • Education
  • Publishing
  • Public Administration
  • Public sector
  • Private sector
  • Arts and Media industry

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Module Overview

Your research topic will be decided in consultation with a member of the English team. An individual supervisor will be assigned during the application and interview process and you will then work closely with them.

Dissertation supervision for the MA English by Research is available in the following broad areas:

19th Century Literature

20th Century and Contemporary Literature

Women’s Writing

Feminist Theory

Welsh Writing in English

Welsh Women’s Writing

Gothic Studies

Religious Poetry

Postcolonial literatures

Historical fictions

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

112 UCAS Points (or above)

- BBC (A-Level)
- DMM (BTEC)
- Merit (T Level)
- Pass (Access to HE Diploma)
- CC (Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate, Welsh Bacc)

Additional requirements include:

All applicants are required to attend an interview. For further support on preparing for interview and what to expect at interview, please read our application advice. One satisfactory reference from someone who is able to comment on your attitude and approach to learning in a professional or academic sense.  An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child and Adult Barring Lists and subscription to the DBS Update Service. A satisfactory medical will be required once an offer has been made. We will contact you closer to your start date with details of how to obtain these.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.  

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You will be based at the English Research Unit. English at the University of South Wales has a vibrant and highly-rated research community of literary scholars, creative writers and language specialists.

While our research is internationally-recognised and ranges from the medieval period to the present day, English at USW has a particularly strong commitment to the South Wales valleys in which the University is situated.

Teaching staff

Our research group includes creative writers such as short story writer Barrie Llewelyn, poet and critic Professor Kevin Mills, and novelist Dr David Towsey. Our literary scholars include experts on postcolonial writing (Dr Nicholas Dunlop), on contemporary women’s poetry (Professor Alice Entwistle), on historical fiction and the Gothic (Professor Diana Wallace) and on Welsh writing in English.

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) specialists Dr Mike Chick and Dr Rhian Webb research contemporary approaches to language teaching methodology and also examine how government policies on language and migration affect both language acquisition and integration.

Placements

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Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

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Possible career paths

The MA by research is an excellent qualification for further postgraduate study at MPhil or PhD level. Alternatively graduates will have developed the research skills needed for a range of careers in the arts, media, industry and public or private sectors, including teaching, public administration and publishing.

 

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