ÊThe Medieval and Renaissance strands are separate, but it is possible to borrow some elements, and this is not uncommon. Each student works closely with a member of the Faculty on his or her chosen dissertation topic, as well as participating in seminars and classes. Training in how to read manuscript and early printed materials ensures that every student on the course is able to make use of the extensive collections in the University Library and in College libraries.
Cambridge has a distinguished international reputation in English and in many other fields in the humanities (for example, Classics, Modern and Medieval Languages, History, Philosophy, and History of Art), and students on this course may be able to attend lectures offered by any faculty within the school. This creates a learning environment which naturally enables interdisciplinary work. The course lasts nine months, with the last few months being devoted to intensive work on the dissertation.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should have developed:
- a comprehensive knowledge of their chosen area of research and of the critical debates within it;
- a wider knowledge of the literary writing of the period and the traditions that inform scholarship devoted to that writing; and
- skills in palaeography and codicology which will enable them to undertake research in the field.
