Entry requirementsEntry requirements At least an upper-second class honours degree (or equivalent) in arts or humanities. Prospective students will be called for interview.
Academic titleMRes Editing Lives and Letters 1500-1800
Course descriptionThis course provides a research qualification unique in the United Kingdom. It has been designed for students with an interest in archival research, critical editing, life-writing and document-based and intellectual histories. Training in the skills required to pursue these interests is central to the programme. It should be stressed that these skills are an essential and indispensable part of the distinctive CELL training, which is primarily envisaged as a preparatory training for those intending to progress on to a PhD programme.
The compulsory core course provides the skills required for archival research in manuscript and early modern print production. The course is taught by seminars, workshops, and field trips to relevant institutions including the Plantin-Moretus Print Museum in Antwerp. A Latin class enables even beginners to become sufficiently familiar with Latin primers and dictionaries to be able to make ad hoc translations of Latin phrases, sentences, and short texts. Beginners’ Greek is also available. You are trained to use information technology to enhance your editing skills. Modular courses encourage students to use these skills intellectually and creatively.
Course content
You will take a core module:
* Textual Scholarship.
This course will teach you the skills required for twenty-first century scholarly research.
You will have a choice of two further modules from the following:
* Urban Culture and the Book: London Publishing and Readers in the Sixteenth Century
* Writing Lives from Letters: The Archive and the Production of Historical Biography
* The Changing Shape of Knowledge 1500-1750
* Readers and Reading in Early Modern England
* Writing a Biography: An Award-winning Author’s View
* Public and Private Cultures in Shakespeare’s England
* Sources for Biographical Research 1500-1700
You will also be required to follow two skills modules: IT for Graduate Research (semester one) and Beginners’ Latin (semesters one and two). You will be expected to attend the CELL Director’s weekly seminar. Beginners’ Greek in the second semester is optional.
Subject to the approval of CELL, you may also choose modules offered by the School of English and Drama’s MA in Renaissance. By prior arrangement, you may arrange to take an appropriate module offered at Birkbeck College.
Assessment
You will complete four practical assignments for the core course, a 4,000-word essay for each module and a 10-15,000 word dissertation.