Module Information

Module Identifier
PGM0410
Module Title
Ways of Reading
Academic Year
2017/2018
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Seminar 3 x 8 Hour Seminars
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 3,000 word assignment  100%
Supplementary Assessment 3,000 word assignment  Resubmission of assignment choosing a different topic  100%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

  • Show an awareness of interdisciplinary perspectives on textual interpretation and analysis
  • Apply different appraoches to discourse and/or textual analysis
  • Engage with different kinds of texts
  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of the theoretical basis of particular 'ways of reading'
  • Show an ability to share, discuss and present ideas in an interdisciplinary context

Brief description

This module is designed for research students across the University. It will provide research training in text and discourse analysis, taking account of the multimodal nature of meaning-making. The module has been designed to develop the students capacity for critical reading.

Aims

This module will consist of separate sessions focussing on different ways of reading and different approaches to the interpretation and analysis of texts and types of discourse. The notions of 'text' and 'discourse' are taken in their broadest sense as encompassing verbal and visual 'texts', print and braodcast media, film. art and photography and the virtual discourses and images of cyberspace. Two braod principles underpin the module: 1) contemporary social life is increasingly textually-mediated and characterised by multi-modality; 2) in an interdisciplinary research environment, it is advantageous for research students to familiarise themselves with a variety of forms of textual analysis and to be able to examine texts through different lenses. As far as possible, the content of each session will be geared to the research interests of those participating in the module.

Content

The following topics are examples of what can be covered:
  • Gendered Ways of Reading
  • Ways of Editing
  • Narratology
  • Memory Studies
  • Semiotic analysis
  • The reading of visual images
  • Historians ways of reading
  • Lawyers ways of reading

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication Writing for different purposes and audiences. Critical reading of research literature in their field.
Improving own Learning and Performance Showing an awareness of own learning styles, personal preferences and research management preferences.
Research skills Understanding of a range of research methods. Ability to evaluate a range of approaches to textual analysis e.g. critical discourse analysis, semiotic analysis and other methods of textual analysis.
Subject Specific Skills Close analysis of text types relevant to the student's own research: e.g. images, moving images, written, printed and virtual texts.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7