(BA) Bachelor of Arts
Philosophy and Literature (Including Foundation Year)
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Essex Pathways
Colchester Campus
Honours Degree
Full-time
Philosophy
English
BA VQ52
24/12/2013
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
A-levels: 180 points, including DD (or equivalent)
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 5.5 overall.
If you are an international student requiring a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.
Other English language qualifications may be acceptable so please contact us for further details. If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels required. Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
None
External examiners
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
To provide a wide-ranging and flexible philosophy curriculum, embracing both analytic (or Anglo-American) and Continental (Modern European) philosophical thought, and a varied, flexible and distinctive curriculum focused on the study of English literature and encompassing several genres and periods, together with a curriculum which focuses on the interrelations between the disciplines of philosophy and literature.
To encourage students to identify the relevance of philosophy to other forms of enquiry and its interconnections with other disciplines, in particular literature, and its applicability to issues in public and moral life.
To develop students' capacities for independent philosophical thought and critical reflection, and to encourage students to exercise their own judgements in the reading of both primary and secondary literary texts.
To provide students with the skills necessary for subsequent research or further study and which will enhance their graduate careers.
The outcomes listed below represent the minimum that might be expected of a graduate of the Departments of Philosophy and Literature of the University of Essex.
It is the intention of the Departments that the vast majority of graduates will achieve significantly more.
Details of the different standards expected for the various classes of degree can be found in the Student Handbook produced annually by the Departments.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: For philosophy modules: one or more philosophical texts from a variety of traditions (historical, analytic and Continental). For literature modules: a range of English literature from the early modern period to the present-day including knowledge of a variety of genres.
A2: For philosophy modules: significant figures in the history of philosophy and of some central theories, arguments and issues connected with them. For literature modules: some major figures in the field of English literature and some major tendencies or movements in its history.
A3: For philosophy modules: techniques of philosophical reasoning and conceptions of philosophical method, embracing diverse traditions and approaches. For literature modules: the basic methods of critical analysis and argument in literary study.
A4: For philosophy modules: major issues currently being debated by philosophers. For literature modules: some key critical debates which have informed the field of literary studies.
Learning methods
A1-A4 are acquired through: teaching in lecture and class format; lecturers conveying module content in a general manner while allowing for, and encouraging, questions from students, while classes generally focus on specific textual, argumentative or practical examples.
In year 3 literature modules the format changes to a two hour seminar giving further scope for students to practise their oral communication skills.
The use of books and journal articles to convey module content and to write essays and prepare for examinations.
Assessment methods
A1-A4 are assessed through continuous coursework and unseen written examinations.
Coursework consists of essays written during the academic year for a specified module, returned with a grade and written feedback for the student.
Students are expected to display techniques of philosophical reasoning and conceptions of philosophical method in their philosophy coursework, while in literature they are expected to analyse texts in the light of the contextual, conceptual and comparative frameworks offered to them on the course, while also formulating their own arguments and displaying critical competence.
Coursework tests the ability to research a topic using, for example, library and internet resources, expound specified texts and enter into detailed argumentation with them.
Unseen exams test the ability to rehearse and assess arguments in relation to specific questions posed within a limited time frame.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: For philosophy modules: ability to identify complex philosophical arguments and present one's own evaluation of them. For literature modules: analyse and interpret literary texts.
B2: For philosophy modules: ability to use and criticise specialised philosophical terminology. For literature modules: to read and comment cogently on complex literary texts.
B3: Ability to reason critically, argue coherently, and assess the merits of various arguments.
B4: For philosophy modules: ability to summarise complex and demanding philosophical texts and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the views they propose. For literature modules: to identify critical positions and interrogate them.
B5: For philosophy modules: ability to identify underlying issues in philosophical texts, debates and arguments, and to highlight deficiencies such as unquestioned assumptions, and superficial analogies and unsubstantiated claims. For literature modules: to make and account for connections between literary texts.
Learning methods
Skills B1-5 are obtained and developed through the teaching and learning methods described above.
Students are expected to read background material for lectures and classes, and to participate fully in class discussion.
In literature, the seminar based work of year 3 encourages critical discussion arising from the analysis and interpretation of texts with an emphasis on being able to reason cogently and to present one's own viewpoint persuasively.
Assessment methods
Outcomes B1-5 are assessed through continuous coursework and unseen written examinations.
Coursework consists of essays written during the academic year for a specified module, returned with a grade and written feedback for the student.
Examinations consist of essay-based questions, for which in philosophy revision classes are provided.
C: Practical skills
C1: For philosophy modules: ability to write a philosophical essay, expressing oneself clearly. For literature modules: to deploy a vocabulary and a critical terminology for the analysis of literary texts.
C2: Ability to abstract and synthesise relevant information from a range of sources, using books, journal articles, library and internet resources.
C3: Ability to use accepted conventions for presenting references and bibliographies in academic writing.
C4: Ability to use a knowledge of literary and generic conventions.
C5: Ability to use a literary critical methodology in written work, employing reasoned argument to appreciate and evaluate a literary text.
C6: Ability to use an effective style of writing to convey a range of responses as readers of a literary text.
C7: Ability to use a range of methods (library and internet resources) to perform bibliographical searches.
Learning methods
Skills C1, C2, C3, C5, C6 and C7 are gained by the preparation for and writing of coursework, in conjunction with guidance given in teaching, comments on essays and in departmental handbooks for both philosophy and literature.
Skill C4 is developed in literature through classes (first and second years) and seminars (third year).
Assessment methods
Assessment is by coursework essays and unseen examinations.
Essay questions test all skills.
Examination questions test skills C1 and C4-C6.
D: Key skills
D1: For philosophy and literature modules: ability to write clearly and to produce effective written communication. For literature modules: ability to produce effective oral communication.
D2: Use of relevant information technology to research and present written work.
D4: For philosophy modules: ability to identify the problem to be solved, to articulate critically the assumptions underlying or connected with the problem, to compare and contrast differing and often contradictory solutions to the problem: and to provide argument and evidence in defence of one`s solutions to the problem. For literature modules: finding, understanding and organizing information
D5: Ability to work in a variety of work contexts.
D6: Ability to organize one's reading and thinking in relation to specific topics, to work to a deadline, and to learn from comments on coursework and oral communication from teachers.
Learning methods
Skills D1-D6 are acquired and developed through the teaching and learning methods described above and in class and, for literature, in seminar discussion.
Students are encouraged to use the university key skills on-line package, work processing packages, library searches and internet philosophy resources.
Assessment methods
Outcomes D1, D2, D4 and D6 are assessed through continuous coursework and unseen written examinations.
Coursework consists of essays written during the academic year for a specified module, returned with a grade and written comment for the student.
Examinations consist of essay-based questions.
Outcomes D1 and D5 are assessed in literature through a participation mark.