BA Liberal Arts / Course details

One of the hallmarks of a Liberal Arts degree is being able to pursue the topics and issues that matter most to you, without being held back by disciplinary approaches and perspectives. In addition to your final-year Engagement Project, which is about developing an applied and collaborative piece of research, you have the opportunity to undertake an independent research project, akin to a mini-dissertation (or a long essay).

On this module, you will be guided by an individual tutor, as well as in group workshop sessions, to develop your own substantial piece of academic research. You’ll be supported with all stages of the research process: from identifying a research topic through a literature review, to developing your research questions and how you respond to them; and from writing the first drafts of your ideas to finishing your final edits and proofreading ahead of submission.

In keeping with the learning objectives of Liberal Arts, interdisciplinarity will be a key feature of your research project, and to this end you’ll receive additional training in interdisciplinary methods and approaches that supplements learning from earlier core modules on your degree, but tailored more to your own research project.

• To develop and undertake an independent research project;
• To practice interdisciplinarity when undertaking a substantial piece of research.

1. Introducing interdisciplinarity research projects (workshop)
2. Finding you topic (supervision)
3. Developing your research questions and proposal (workshop)
4. Refining your topic (supervision)
5. Writing your research proposal (supervision)
6. Drafting your first chapter (supervision)
7. Discussing your progress (workshop)
8. Continuing your writing (supervision)
9. Editing and submitting your work (workshop)

The course is taught as a combination of individual supervisions (4 x 30-minute sessions), which take place with a supervisor who has specialist knowledge in the field of study; and group workshops (6 x 1 hour sessions), which bring the cohort together to facilitate research development through peer feedback (these are led by the CUD). Group workshops take place face-to-face at scheduled points throughout the year; individual supervisions can be organised to take place on campus or online, at the discretion of the student and their supervisor. Other engagement with the course should take the form of individual research.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have:

• A detailed knowledge of their chosen topic/approach;
• Familiarity with interdisciplinary tools and methods particular to their line of enquiry.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Complete a literature review for their chosen topic;
• Develop an interdisciplinary methodology, and explain its rationale for the research project;
• Explore a range of theories and ideas from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, and refine these in accordance with the research objectives and aims;
• Construct a well-reasoned argument that shows evidence of analysis and critique.

This course will enable students to develop the following skills:

• Research skills (finding and analysing relevant sources);
• Communication skills (writing clearly and accessibly);
• Time management (planning and adhering to deadlines).

Through self-determined learning, i.e. where students set their own learning agenda with guidance and support from academic staff and peers, this course will equip students with:

• Self-organisation (opportunity to reflect on own working styles);
• Self-reflection (opportunity to reflect on own values and ideas).

Patrick Dunleavy, Studying for a Degree in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1986)

Catherine Lyall et al., Interdisciplinary Research Journeys (2014)

Bryan Greetham, How to Write Your Undergraduate Dissertation (London: Red Globe Press, 2019)

Dennis Feather, From Proposal to Thesis: Writing an Undergraduate Dissertation (Hoeilaart: White & MacLean, 2015)

Patricia Leavy, Research Design (Guilford, 2017)

Celia Lury et al. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Research Methods (Oxon: Routledge, 2018)