American Studies Dissertation (T7053)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

The dissertation module will allow you to work on an American Studies project of your choosing. Weekly meetings, peer review and research workshops will guide you through the process of choosing your subject and devising research questions, identifying key debates in your chosen field, developing your own thesis and undertaking the sustained research necessary to demonstrate your mastery of the topic.

You will engage critically with both primary and secondary sources and strive to make an original contribution to your specialist area. The intention is to allow you the time and autonomy to produce a thoughtful and original piece of writing, to develop and demonstrate advanced skills of independent working, and to give expression to your academic interests in an intellectually disciplined and creative way. You will benefit from the guidance of a supervisor but the self-discipline, time-management and organisation required to complete the dissertation will be your responsibility. You will be expected to orally present your topic to your peers as part of the development process.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 278 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.