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English and History Bridge Dissertation - ENG00128H

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  • Department: English and Related Literature
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2024-25

Module summary

The bridge dissertation is one of the most exciting and most ambitious modules of your degree. Building on your Personal Research Plan (‘Texts & Histories’, Level Two), you will produce a sustained piece of work on a topic of your choosing that bridges English and History (subject to approval). You will be allocated a bridge dissertation supervisor who will offer tailored support throughout the process, and you will attend lectures that guide you through the challenges of refining your topic, structuring your research, and writing an extended piece of critical prose. You will learn how to engage critically with existing scholarship, identify your own original contribution to your chosen field, and develop and sustain an argument across 7-8,000 words.

The module will help you to undertake extensive independent research, communicate your textual / primary source analysis and scholarly insights to a range of readers and audiences, and present your research and close readings clearly and persuasively. You may extend and develop ideas that have fascinated you in previous modules or undertake historical and literary research in an area that you have not previously studied.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24 to Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

The aims of this module are to enable students to develop key skills in independent research and writing, with appropriate academic guidance and writing support. The module will offer students the opportunity to explore one element of their historical and literary interests in considerable depth. It will further enhance students’ core skills in research and writing, library and IT use, and transferable skills in communication, time management, and organisation.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with an appropriate range of primary texts and historical / literary sources, as identified by you, and the ability to undertake independent research on a focused topic.

  2. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with relevant contextual, critical, and theoretical materials and approaches in English and History.

  3. Evaluate key debates within the relevant academic fields or historiographical / theoretical frameworks dealing with your chosen research topic.

  4. Produce independent arguments, ideas, and textual analyses which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.

Module content

In Semester One, English and History combined course students will have two 30-minute supervision meetings with their (bridge) dissertation supervisor. Your first supervision meeting will include a discussion of your research proposal from the Texts and Histories core module. Your second supervision meeting will focus on either a short piece of writing of up to 2,000 words or a plan or outline of the whole (bridge) dissertation of up to 1,000 words. We all work differently, and it is up to you to decide whether you would like to submit a draft or a plan first. Please remember that you must complete both of these exercises: if you choose to submit a plan now, you will still have to submit a draft in the next meeting.

In Semester Two, you will have two further 30-minute supervision meetings with your (bridge) dissertation supervisor. Depending on what you submitted for the previous meeting, your third supervision meeting will focus on either a short piece of writing of up to 2,000 words or a plan or outline of the whole (bridge) dissertation of up to 1,000 words. Your fourth supervision meeting will discuss the final shape and structure of the (bridge) dissertation.

You are welcome at all stages to use staff open office hours (English) and student hours (History) to seek advice and ask questions.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

  • You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is designed to help you to improve your work, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further you can discuss it with your tutor or your supervisor, during their Open Office Hours
  • For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work, see the department's Guide to Assessment

Indicative reading

Key texts will depend on the subject of the bridge dissertation research.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.