Course director: Professor Terry O'Connor (MSc), Dr Kevin Walsh (MA)
The degree programmes are designed for students who wish to prepare themselves for research in any aspect of archaeology within the Department's areas of interest. They can provide the preliminary training-year for students intending to proceed to doctoral studies, and will appeal especially to those students whose chosen field requires specific or concentrated teaching unavailable through other taught Master courses. The degree is also suitable for students who can spend only one year in postgraduate research, for example those already employed within the profession who wish to enhance their academic qualifications in a specific area. The programmes are under the overall direction of a Director of Studies: for the MA this is the Higher Degrees Officer (Dr Kevin Walsh); for the MSc it is Professor Terry O'Connor. Students are allocated a main supervisor, drawn appropriately from the academic staff of the Department. They also have a thesis advisory panel, consisting of the Director of Studies, the main supervisor and one other member of staff. They will guide the choice of options, language where relevant and research topics. For information on the Department's staff, their research activities and interests, including a statement of research policy, and a list of some suggested research topics see the staff pages, the research pages and the suggested topics page. The programmes are structured to offer considerable flexibility. While they follow the main structure of all Masters programmes, with a compulsory skills modules and major taught modules during the first two terms, students can support their particular needs and interests by 'picking and mixing' from postgraduate modules, and to a limited amount from undergraduate modules, which are offered for other degree programmes within the Department of Archaeology, and/or from individually 'tailor-made' tutorial modules. Students registered for the MA in Archaeological Research also enhance their study skills by taking a modern or ancient language at a level suited to their previous experience. For details see Course Structure The teaching in the first six months is focused on preparing students for the writing under supervision of a dissertation (max. length: 20,000 words) during the second six months. The topic chosen can be any aspect of archaeology within the Department's areas of interest. Students intending to proceed to doctoral research will probably relate their dissertation to their proposed wider topic, perhaps by examining the theory and method necessary, by a pilot or case study, or by study of a parallel problem.
Last updated by KJW; Sept 2007