EN3DIC-Dickens

Module Provider: English Literature
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:6
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites: English Part 1
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2021/2

Module Convenor: Prof Andrew Mangham
Email: a.s.mangham@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

An opportunity for the detailed and intensive study of the work of Charles Dickens, based on the close analysis of four works and exploring Dickens's innovations and developments of the novel form in his historical and cultural contexts.

Aims:

This module provides students with an informed critical knowledge of the work of Charles Dickens. It aims to promote knowledge and understanding of a body of fiction in both its formal and cultural contexts. 

Assessable learning outcomes:
By the end of the module students will be expected to:
£ Employ critical skills of textual analysis to demonstrate an understanding of
the novels they have studied and apply these skills to analysis of a further
Dickens work, not studied in seminar.
£ Discuss a range of Dickens£s fiction in relation to some of the aesthetic and
socio-historical contexts explored on the module
£ Show an informed critical engagement with ideas encountered in seminars
and secondary materials
£ Research, organize and articulate a scholarly critical argument in writing.

Additional outcomes:
Each module is designed to encourage you to develop skills of oral communication and effective participation in group work. Additionally, you will be encouraged to enhance your IT competence through the use of relevant web resources and library databases, and through the word-processing of assessed coursework.

Outline content:

The module provides an opportunity for the detailed and intensive study of a single author. Texts may vary from year to year but will be chosen to illustrate a range of fictional modes in Dickens’s work including comic, realistic, melodramatic, and gothic. Students will consider Dickens’s development of the novel both in terms of form and in its cultural significance as a site of self-consciousness in a period of critical social change. Other topics may include the relationship of Dickens’s work to contemporary social problems and reform, and the importance of pictorial and theatrical elements in the selected fiction. A plurality of critical approaches will be considered.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
Three seminar hours weekly, for which students are required to do preparatory reading. Students are also entitled to a half-hour tutorial on their formative written work. With the consent of the module convenor, students may also undertake a placement, through which they will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills gained in studying for this module in a professional context outside the University.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Seminars	30		1
Tutorials	0.5
Guided independent study:	129.5		39
Total hours by term	161		40
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written exam	50
Written assignment including essay	50

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Two-hour examination (50%), to be sat during the Summer Term.

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Assessed essay of 2500 words (50%), to be submitted at the end of week 11, Autumn term.

Formative assessment methods:
Formative Assessment Methods - work which provides opportunities to improve performance (e.g. through feedback provided) but which does not necessarily always contribute towards the overall module mark:

Students write one formative essay, of between 1500 and 2000 words. Feedback will also be provided on the assessed essay of 2250-2500 words, or the equivalent placement report.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:
A mark of at least 40% overall.

Reassessment arrangements:

Re-examination in August. Coursework will be carried forward if it bears a confirmed mark of 40% or more. Otherwise it must be resubmitted in August.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books: 

2) Specialist equipment or materials: 

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: 

4) Printing and binding: 

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: 

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: 

Last updated: 24 November 2021