Related courses

• MA Literature (Full-time)
• MA Literature (Part-time)
• MA Psychoanalytic Studies (Full-time)
• MA Psychoanalytic Studies (Part-time)
• PhD Literature (Full-time)
• PhD Literature (Part-time)
• PhD Psychoanalytic Studies (Full-time)
• PhD Psychoanalytic Studies (Full-time)
• PhD Psychoanalytic Studies (Part-time)
• PhD Refugee Care (Full-time)
• PhD Refugee Care (Part-time)
• Graduate Diploma Psychodynamic Approaches (Full-time)
• MA Creative Writing (Full-time)
• MA Creative Writing (Part-time)
• MA English Language and Literature (Full-time)
• MA English Language and Literature (Part-time)
• MA Film and Literature (Full-time)
• MA Film and Literature (Part-time)
• MA Film Studies (Full-time)
• MA Film Studies (Part-time)
• MA Foundations of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (Part-time)
• MA Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies (Full-time)
• MA Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies (Part-time)
• MA Myth, Literature, and the Unconscious (Part-time)
• MA Psychoanalytic Social Observation (Full-time)
• MA Psychodynamic Counselling (Part-time)
• MA Psychosocial Studies (Full-time)
• MA Psychosocial Studies (Part-time)
• MA Refugee Care (Full-time)
• MA Refugee Care (Part-time)
• MA Translation and Literature (Full-time)
• MA Translation and Literature (Part-time)
• MA Wild Writing: Literature and the Environment (Full-time)
• MA Wild Writing: Literature and the Environment (Part-time)
• PhD Creative Writing (Full-time)
• PhD Creative Writing (Part-time)
• PhD Film Studies (Creative Practice) (Full-time)
• PhD Film Studies (Creative Practice) (Part-time)
• PhD Film Studies (Full-time)
• PhD Film Studies (Part-time)
• Graduate Diploma Psychoanalytic Studies with English for Academic Purposes (Full-time)
• MA Management and Organisational Dynamics (Full-time)
• MA Management and Organisational Dynamics (Part-time)
• MA Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (Full-time)
• MA Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (Part-time)
• PG Diploma Management and Organisational Dynamics (Full-time)

Introduction

A Masters course is an academically rigorous programme during which you explore your subject in depth, reaching a high level of specialist knowledge. You draw on knowledge and skills from your undergraduate study or your professional life to produce work of a high academic standard, informed by current thinking and debate.

A Masters course lasts for twelve months (full-time), starting in October, and consists of taught modules during your autumn and spring terms, and normally a research-based dissertation or other project-based work submitted in September. Your balance of modules and research varies according to the subject but, typically, your research counts for 60 credits and there are 120 credits of modules, varying from 10 to 40 credits each. (If you are from the EU, then our Masters courses are regarded as ‘second-cycle’ qualifications under the Bologna Declaration and consist of 90 ECTS credits).

Please note that module information on our course finder provides a guide to course content and may be subject to review on an annual basis.

Stage 1 Modules

Compulsory: Dreams And Myth
Compulsory: Interpretation Of Myth
Compulsory: Mythological Psyche: Key Texts Of C G Jung I
Compulsory: Translating Myth
Core: Dissertation
Core: Myth And Modernism

Introduction

Your postgraduate study at Essex gives you an opportunity to develop your own ideas and interests, and to engage with thinking at the leading edge of your subject, as part of the research community in our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, and our wider academic and professional community.

As you are studying a non-science subject, then your teaching mainly takes the form of lectures and classes.

Your assessment is a combination of written coursework, end-of-term tests, practical and laboratory work (where appropriate) and end-of-year exams. During the summer, you will work on a dissertation or individual project included in your final grade.

Teaching methods and styles

Within our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, all our MAs can be taken either full-time for one year or part-time over two years. Five modules are followed, over the autumn and spring terms, and generally consist of ten two-hour seminars, the format of which may include introductions by your tutor, presentations by you and discussion based on a programme of reading.

Your dissertation

If you are studying within our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, then you produce a dissertation (of approximately 20,000 words) written between April and September. Where appropriate, films, plays or pieces of creative writing can be submitted as your dissertation.

There is normally considerable freedom for you to choose the topics of your essays and dissertation. You will be issued with our MA guide giving detailed advice on writing at MA level and your written work will be supervised by appropriate specialist staff.

Please note that if you are taking a Graduate or Postgraduate Diploma, you do not need to do the dissertation.

Seminars and conferences

Within our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, our regular staff-graduate seminar provides a forum, both intellectual and social, at which our students may give papers about their work in progress. Visiting scholars are invited to speak about their research and interdisciplinary seminars are also offered by other departments in our School of Humanities and Comparative Studies.

Career destinations

A number of our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies graduates have gone on to undertake successful careers as writers.

Other past MA and research students are now established as scholars, university lecturers, teachers, publishers, publishers’ editors, journalists, arts administrators, theatre artistic directors, drama advisers, and translators.

Your employability and Essex

A postgraduate qualification is a major achievement and greatly valued by employers. Recent surveys show that higher degree graduates are more likely to obtain jobs at professional or managerial level and less likely to be unemployed. For some jobs a postgraduate qualification may be essential, for others it offers a competitive edge. Our graduates go into a variety of jobs, where the key employability skills and knowledge they have gained through postgraduate study are put to good use.

Our Languages for All programme lets you study a language, alongside your course, at no extra cost. You can take one of 50 taught language modules on a part-time day-time basis, or undertake flexible web-based learning, or opt for a language module taught in the evening. As employers can struggle to find graduates able to speak more than one language, Languages for All places Essex graduates in a very advantageous position.

If you achieve your Masters, you may wish to extend your knowledge with a research degree and many who graduate from Essex choose to stay here for research study. Some of our Masters may be taken as the first part of an Integrated PhD, leading to your PhD after a further three years of full-time study.

Support for postgraduates

Our University has a range of support services designed to help you to achieve your full potential and get the most out of your studies. These form a co-ordinated network of support, and are an important part of your overall student experience at Essex.

Our staff operate an 'open door' policy so are available to discuss any concerns with you throughout the year.

Research study opportunities

Within our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, we offer supervision for PhD, MPhil and MA by dissertation. Our staff offer a wide range of expertise in different literatures and various approaches to literature, covering most aspects of early modern and modern writing in English, plus a number of other languages.