Leagan Gaeilge   Text Version   Display: Zoom (-) (+)   View ( Normal High contrast ) Printer Friendly  A to Z  Sitemap

MA in Classics

The MA programme aims to develop and professionalise skills and knowledge base of students who have already gained a good knowledge of Antiquity and wish to orient themselves towards research and independent enquiry.

We welcome applications from well-qualified candidates with backgrounds in all relevant disciplines. If you would like to make an informal enquiry, e-mail the Course Director, amanda.kellynuigalway.ie.

NUIG undergraduates who obtain First Class Honours in their undergraduate degrees will be eligible for postgraduate scholarships.

Online prospectus page...

Greek and Latin

Greek and Latin are offered to all MA students. You are expected to attend courses in both languages, but formal assessment arrangements vary according to the needs and prior attainments of each student. Those taking Beginners’ Latin will typically be assessed for formal credits only on the Latin modules, and need not sit the Greek exam. Those who have already studied Latin or Greek for a year or more will take a suite of modules agreed with the Course Director at the beginning of the year, and will be formally assessed to a level that meets the requirement in terms of ECTS credits.

Dissertation

The dissertation (CC515) is officially a semester-two module, but students are advised to begin working on their dissertation topics as early as possible.

MA Course Structure: Semester One

Core Module

CC511 Classical Studies I – Transformations and Renewals

Language options

Beginners’ Latin
CC230 Beginning Latin Part I (Bisagni)
CCS202 Latin and Historical Linguistics Part I (Bisagni)

Intermediate Latin
CCS304 Explorations in the Latin Language (Moran)
CCS309 (Strand A) Reading Texts in Latin (Stansbury)

Advanced Latin
CC517 Advanced Classical and Medieval Latin (Moran)

Greek
CCS205 Beginning Ancient Greek Part I (Moran)
CCS308 Reading Ancient Greek Texts (Kelly) [intermediate level]

MA Course Structure: Semester Two

Core Module

CC512 Classical Studies II
CC515 The Dissertation

Language options

CC232 Beginning Latin Part II (Bisagni)
CCS203 Latin and Historical Linguistics Part II (Bisagni/Moran)

Intermediate Latin
CC320 (Strand A) Studies in Latin Literature (Arkins)
CC321 Latin Texts from Medieval Ireland and Britain (Bisagni)

Advanced Latin
CC518 Advanced Latin (Stansbury)

Greek
CCS206 Beginning Ancient Greek Part II (Moran)
CCS310 Studies in Ancient Greek Literature (Kelly) [intermediate level]

MA in Classics Module Descriptions

CC511 Classical Studies I — Transformations and Renewals

Each lecturer conducts a two- or three-week block with a two-hour seminar in each week. The purpose of these start-off seminars is to introduce you to all the members of the Classics team, to alert you to the broad range of research fields among us, and to enable you to orient your work in relation to our expertise. The topics chosen for the seminars correspond with the research interests and specialities of that lecturer. Each lecturer’s seminars will be assessed through a written exercise as well as through presentation work.

Seminar schedule

All meetings are held on Thursdays from 3–5 unless otherwise arranged. The first three sessions, starting on the 6th of September, will be held in office 506 in the Classics Department, and thereafter either here or room AC203 (Concourse).

• Week 1–3 (Kelly): Sept 6, 13, 20
  ’Trade and exchange – analysing a material world’
  
• Week 4–5 (Bisagni): Sept 27, Oct 4
  ’Bilingualism, diglossia and code-switching in ancient and medieval languages’
  
• Week 6–7 (Moran): Oct 11, 18
  ’Aspects of education in Antiquity’
  
• Week 8–9 (Stansbury): Oct 25, Nov 1
  ’Texts within texts’
  
• Week 10–11 (O’Donoghue): Nov 8, 15
  ’Theoretical approaches to studying gender identities in Antiquity’
  

By the middle of the first semester you will be thinking about a research topic and liaising with a supervisor for your dissertation. By mid-late semester students will have registered for their dissertation topic with the most relevant supervisor, and will have begun preparatory work on the bibliography review and first chapter.

*Students will be presenting their work in progress at the end of the semester to a public (although small) audience.

CC512 Classical Studies II 

These seminars are designed to facilitate your dissertation. They will serve to sharpen your research focus and help you order your findings as you proceed. The seminars will also develop your ability to discuss academic issues over a range of broad topics while also drawing you closer to a network of fellow researchers.

The sessions will be held on Thursdays 3–5 p.m. in office 506 in Classics or IT206.

Weeks 1–6: Methodologies for Research

• Week 1 (Kelly): Jan 10
  ’Materiality and text; reading an artefact’
  
• Week 2 (Stansbury): Jan 17
  To be confirmed.
  
• Week 3 (Bisagni): Jan 24
  ’Reconstructing the past through linguistics’
  
• Week 4 (O’Donoghue): Jan 31
  ’Forever young? Age and gender in archaic Tarquinia’
• Week 5 (Herring): Feb 7
  ’Apulian Vase-Painting by numbers: Some thoughts on the production of vases depicting indigenous men’
  
• Week 6 (Moran): Feb 14
  ’Language, identity and origin stories’
  

Weeks 7–10: Focusing on problems in research
We will now move to a series of student-driven practical seminars. These will be chaired by Dr Amanda Kelly on Thursdays 3–5 p.m. in weeks 7–10. For each session a student (or students) will circulate in advance an article which is pivotal to his/her dissertation topic. All members will read this article before the seminar. At the seminar the student who chose the piece will outline the article, emphasizing its significance for his or her dissertation, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the argument, after which the floor will be opened for discussion.

These seminars are designed to introduce students to the analytic and investigative skills needed for dissertation writing, and also to the benefit of peer assessment. The discussions should provide helpful suggestions for future research or potential avenues for investigation.

Weeks 11–12: Presenting research work in progress
Across these two sessions each student will give a 15-minute presentations of the outline and plan of his or her thesis, followed by informal questioning from the floor. You may invite your supervisor to attend if you wish.

CC515 The Dissertation

A comprehensive draft of the thesis will be submitted by June 1st for the supervisor to correct. The draft should be as professional as possible with a full chapter-by-chapter breakdown and extensive bibliography. The Harvard system of citing references will be followed.

Students will then polish their work over the summer and submit their final thesis to be assessed by the external examiner. The dissertation will consist of 15,000–20,000 words (max).

 

• Disclaimer
• Privacy
• Copyright
• Accessibility