Introduction
This programme will be available in 2021-22 and applications will open in Spring 2021.
Explore literature’s relationship with place and environment at an ancient university, home to a collection of literary treasures spanning over 500 years. Delivered by experts in English literary studies, the programme provides you with practical and theoretical knowledge drawn from a wide range of critical and interdisciplinary perspectives. Through core and optional courses, we will address the ways literature reacts to and depicts environmental and ecological crises, the intersections between heritage, memory, literature, and location, and questions of cosmopolitanism, travel, and home across diverse time periods and genres.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MLitt
- Duration
- 12 months or 24 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time or Part Time
- Start Month
- September
- Location of Study
- Aberdeen
Discover how aspects of place and environment are shaped and expressed in literature across a spectrum of literary periods and styles. You will examine the way literature conveys the ideology of place, covering a selection of relevant issues including environmental crises; the intersection between heritage, memory and location; and questions of cosmopolitanism, travel, and home. The programme intends to broaden your academic knowledge of English Literature with the option to focus on specific literary movements to pursue your own interests. There are fantastic opportunities to work with scholars who have significant international research profiles in an exciting and developing area of literary studies.
Research training involves the acquisition of practical skills and specialised knowledge and understanding of literary periods and critical issues that will be directly relevant to each candidate's proposed field of research. The programme will take advantage of the unique setting of the University of Aberdeen and enable students to explore the connection between literature, landscape and built environment through course-work and field trips. Students can take this degree as a stand-alone one-year or two-year part-time Masters degree or as a first step towards an MPhil or PhD (subject to admission to a further degree programme either at Aberdeen or elsewhere). Students who start in January should be aware that they will complete the dissertation in the middle of the programme, over the summer between their two semesters of coursework.
What You'll Study
- Degree Content
-
Degree Content
Courses include training in theory and methods of research, plus a large variety of options covering both different periods and genres. Availability of options courses may vary from year to year.
Compulsory Courses
- Locations/Dislocations: The Role of Place in Literature
- Places and Environments: Critical Dialogues
- Dissertation in Literatures, Environments and Places
Optional Courses
- The Novel: Environments and Encounters
- Placing the Romantic
- Scottish Literature
- Writing the Self (EL55C2)
-
30 Credit Points
What is at stake in writing autobiographical texts? What are the forms writers have used to write themselves? Is autobiography simply, as Oscar Wilde states, the lowest form of criticism? Looking at a range of texts from the Medieval period to the present, with a special focus on women’s writing, this course examines the formal, ethical, political, and aesthetic choices writers make when writing themselves.
View detailed information about this course - Locations and Dislocations: the Role of Place in Literature (EL5590)
-
30 Credit Points
This course examines the social, political and cultural construction of place in literary texts. The imaginative co-ordinates of places such as ‘Scotland’, or ‘England’ exist in a constant state of flux, refusing to yield an essential, authentic image. Using core texts from the early modern period paired with more recent literary responses we explore the idea of place in its various forms. Key themes and issues to be discussed will include the rural and urban divide; literature and nationhood; the nature of community; the significance of emigration, and displacement; walking texts, metropolitan literature, and ideas of the “new world”
View detailed information about this course
We will endeavour to make all course options available; however, these may be subject to timetabling and other constraints. Please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- E-learning
- Group Projects
- Individual Projects
- Peer Learning
- Seminars
Assessment Methods
Assessment methods vary by individual course and include essays, reports, presentations, written exercises and written and oral examinations. The MLitt also requires a 15,000 word dissertation, while the diploma consists of coursework alone.
Courses are assessed through essays, presentations, group and project work. The variety of assessment in the programme ensures that students apply theory to practice and become expert communicators and team players.
Why Study Literatures, Environments and Places?
- This programme can be used to progress to a research-based career and serves as preparation for intensive and specialist research at doctoral level.
- It also offers valuable experience for those wishing to work in a range of careers such as teaching, journalism and heritage, and for those who have an interest in literature.
- Acquire research skills and specialised knowledge and understanding in literary periods and critical issues relating to your specific research interests.
- Benefit from academic support and mentoring from scholars who are experts and researchers in their field.
- Obtain practical and theoretical knowledge drawn from a wide range of critical and interdisciplinary perspectives.
- Flexibility to focus on specific literary movements to pursue your own interests.
- Ideal for those who want the challenge and enjoyment of a further year of literary study.
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
A 2.1 Honours degree or the equivalent in English Literature or a relevant cognate discipline in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Please enter your country to view country-specific entry requirements.
English Language Requirements
To study for a Postgraduate Taught degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.5 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 6.0; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 90 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 21; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 62 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 176 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 169; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
Document Requirements
You will be required to supply the following documentation with your application as proof you meet the entry requirements of this degree programme. If you have not yet completed your current programme of study, then you can still apply and you can provide your Degree Certificate at a later date.
- Degree Transcript
- a full transcript showing all the subjects you studied and the marks you have achieved in your degree(s) (original & official English translation)
- Personal Statement
- a detailed personal statement explaining your motivation for this particular programme
International Applicants
Fee Information
Please refer to our InfoHub Tuition Fees page for fee information for this programme, or contact study@abdn.ac.uk.
International Applicants
Further Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Aberdeen
Additional Fee Information
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our InfoHub Tuition Fees page.
Funding Opportunities
The SFC Postgraduate tuition fee scholarship may be available for those classified as Home/EU fee status students for this programme. Visit the scholarship page for more information.
The James Carnegie maintenance scholarship for postgraduate students is available with this degree.
Scholarships
Eligible self-funded international Masters students will receive the Aberdeen Global Scholarship. Visit our Funding Database to find out more and see our full range of scholarships.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Day
On Tuesday 18th May, The University of Aberdeen will hold a Postgraduate Virtual Open Day.
It is open to everyone who is interested in Postgraduate Taught and Research study.
Find out moreCareers
The programme offers exciting opportunities to pursue careers in education, journalism, public and third sectors. Students also benefit from the support and mentoring from academic staff, providing a strong basis for undertaking doctoral research in English Literature.
Our Experts
- Programme Coordinator
- Helena Ifill
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. Staff changes will occur from time to time; please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions Service
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX