CX 303

Module Coordinator: Professor Kevin Butcher

Overview

This is the core module which is designed to offer final-year honours students the opportunity to produce research on a topic of their interest. Students on the Dissertation module will be provided a unique one-to-one research supervision with expert academics who will help students to craft their ideas into a significant research paper. This module enables our students to examine and explore any aspect of the Classical world that they found particularly fascinating. Some past research topics include:

• The monetization of the Roman countryside in the Imperial period
• Jewellery through Antiquity and its importance
• The influence of classical literature on Victorian and 20th century novels.
• Digital marketing strategies for museums.
• A comparative study of the Delian league and NATO
• Reception of Greek mythology in graphic novels
• The application of international relations theory to major controversies in ancient history
• Magic and witchcraft in the ancient world
• To what extent is Alfred Hitchcock inspired by the methods of suspense and drama in Greek tragedy?
• The visibility of extra-urban ritual of Minoan Crete.

 

Aims

• To increase and enhance knowledge of the classical world by carrying out independent research on a subject of their choice.
• To communicate research ideas clearly through an extended piece of organized and articulate academic argument (between 8,000 and 10,000 words).
• To further develop skills in problem-solving and analysis and evaluation of material through working with primary sources, and with advanced scholarly literature independently, critically, and creatively.
• To develop skills needed to manage an extended piece of academic writing, including enhanced bibliographical management, coherent presentation of footnotes and of primary and secondary sources of whatever kind, and furthering of IT and word-processing abilities.
• To work effectively and constructively with a supervisor, and to further develop time-management skills.
• To further develop oral presentation skills through the core (though non-assessed) requirement to present their work-in-progress to peers and members of the department mid-way through the process, and by partaking in presentation-skills sessions put on as part of module induction.

Further guidance about module expectations and requirements are presented in the Departmental Handbook, and are discussed in detail in Induction sessions run by the Module Coordinator.