EN1SL: Shelf Life

Module code: EN1SL

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 1 (Certificate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr John Scholar, email: j.m.scholar@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Paddy Bullard, email: p.s.bullard@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module is an introduction to English literature’s material dimension, and to the library as a symbol. For the most part literary study involves the interpretation of poems, novels or plays. This module complements this ordinary kind of reading by investigating books and other archival documents as physical objects. Its focus is on the preservation, use and dissemination of material texts in libraries and collections, and on how those sorts of places have been represented in literature. 

One half of the teaching on the module is seminar-based. You will use set texts to find out how writers have imagined libraries and archives in the past and present: as treasure-houses for a culture’s most valued stories; as labyrinths that hide mysterious and dangerous knowledge; as cemeteries for ideas; as “thought in cold storage”; or, conversely, as bastions for the active defence of free thought. You will consider how literary representations of libraries and archives map onto their actual operation. The other half of the module is practice-based. You will go behind the scenes at the University of Reading’s Special Collections department. You will explore its world-class holdings and learn how its archives are safeguarded and made accessible to scholars. Reading’s Special Collections contain priceless stores of rare books and manuscripts, including the Overstone Library, the MERL library, the National Publishers’ Archive, and the Samuel Beckett Collection. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Exercise skills of close textual analysis, broad cultural synthesis and critical assessment
2. Analyse literary and material texts, and respond to their affective and cultural power, using appropriate approaches and terminology
3. Develop independent and imaginative interpretations of literary and material texts
4. Articulate a critical understanding of the material and literary dimensions of texts, and the way those dimensions are connected.

Module content

Texts in this module comprise mostly British or American nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first century texts. Authors studied may include Zadie Smith, Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson.  

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module is delivered through a combination of lectures and structured seminar discussion (on our Whiteknights Campus), and on-site practical work at Special Collections (i.e., in the archives and book collections of the London Road Campus). Students are required to do preparatory reading where appropriate. 

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

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

Assessments with numerical marks

• 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 three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/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.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

You will complete a series of short formative tasks throughout the semester, and you will receive feedback from your seminar tutor. The skills learned through the formative tasks will prepare you to undertake the portfolio and exam.  

Reassessment

Additional costs