This course gives you the chance to pursue at length a research project inspired entirely by your own particular enthusiasms. The qualification would be a good preparation for proceeding to doctoral work. You will be supervised closely by two experienced academics in your field. Typically, you will meet them fortnightly in the first term and at regular intervals thereafter. All research students in English are required to attend skills and training courses at College and Institutional level. They give presentations to other research students and staff at departmental seminars and the annual departmental postgraduate symposium. The qualification may open the door to an academic career or boost employment prospects outside academia (in publishing, the media, the Civil Service, education, or education, for example). A thesis of not more than 60,000 words which demonstrates a significant contribution to the subject area, supported by detailed references and carefully presented in accord with scholarly conventions. This is followed by an oral examination of the thesis (viva) by two examiners who are not your supervisors, one of whom is external to the University.