EN2WPS: Writing in the Public Sphere

Module code: EN2WPS

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: 5

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Mary Morrissey , email: m.e.morrissey@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): Before taking this module, you must have at least 40 credits of EN-coded modules at Part 1 (except for visiting students). (Open)

Co-requisite module(s):

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

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

On this module, we study literature written in order to prompt social and political change. We examine speeches, pamphlets, tracts, and political posters from the early modern period to the present, and we consider how they continue to shape debates about class, race, religion, nationality, and women’s rights across the four nations of Britain and Ireland. We study ideas of a ‘public sphere’ in which political and cultural debate are conducted, and we analyse the techniques used in political literature. We will study a wide range of controversies in which political literature had an important impact, from Irish nationalism to the anti-slavery movement, and the continued relevance of many of these campaigns will be considered. We use our study of these texts to identify the rhetorical strategies necessary for successful political campaigning today. 

Module learning outcomes

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

1. Initiate, devise, compose and conclude critical projects, including a research report
2. Articulate their own and other people’s ideas concisely, accurately, and clearly
3. demonstrate personal commitment, intercultural competence, and international engagement in public discourse
4. Value personal, social, civic, and global perspectives, looking beyond any immediate task or question to its wider contexts.

Module content

We will study a wide range of short texts (pamphlets, speeches, and short tracts) which may include: William Wilberforce’s 1789 speech on the abolition of the slave trade, Marx and Engels’ The Communist Manifesto (1848), and Padraig Pearse’s ‘Ghosts’. Where possible, access to texts will be provided online. Students are asked to purchase Robert Cockcroft and Susan Cockcroft, Persuading People: An Introduction to Rhetoric (Palgrave,1992, 2005, 2014) as a guide to rhetorical analysis. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Weekly lectures will explain the context of the set texts and offer guidance on using formal rhetoric as an analytic tool. Seminars will allow us to consider the texts in greater detail and compare set texts with other material relevant to each debate.  

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.

Students can undertake a drafting exercise for their research report and submit it for feedback in week 8. 

Reassessment

Additional costs