Course Catalogue

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The medical humanities dissertation allows intercalating medical students in the BSc (Med Sci) or BSc (Dent Sci) Honours in Medical Humanities programme to pursue an extended individual research project on a medical and/or health related topic in the arts and/or social sciences. The intercalating student must choose a dissertation topic consistent with one of the medical and/or health related courses taken as part of the programme. A subject-specific supervisor will be provided. The difference between the 30-credit and 40-credit versions of the medical humanities dissertation is the word count for the summative assessments.

Semester 1

Students meeting as cohort in 3 × 1 hour small group sessions with programme convener and Student Learning Service Effective Learning Adviser to receive peer and mentor support in arts and/or social science research.

Semester 2

Students meeting as a cohort in 6 × 1 hour small group sessions with programme convener and Student Learning Service Effective Learning Adviser in order: to receive peer and mentor support in arts and/or social science research; to develop appropriate study and writing skills.

Students meeting individually with their subject specific dissertation supervisor in 3 × 1 hour meetings.

On LV4R-2035 Bachelor of Science (Medical Science) (B.Sc. (Med.Sci.)) in Medical Humanities plan, or LV4R-2044 Bachelor of Science (Dental Science) (B. Sc. (Dent. Sci.)) in Medical Humanities plan

None

No specific courses are co-requisite. However, the intercalating student in the BSc (Med Sci) or BSc (Dent Sci) Honours in Medical Humanities must choose a dissertation topic consistent with one of the medical and/or health related courses taken as part of the programme. Furthermore, the subject area of the dissertation may require the student to take a credit-bearing subject-specific research training course.

Dissertation Prospectus and Annotated Bibliography (1000 words) -10%

Dissertation  (10,000 words) - 90%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to

■ Provide an opportunity for students to identify an appropriate project in a specific area in the medical humanities

■ Train students to carry out individual, independent research, using library resources and other research tools

■ Introduce students to good academic practice regarding use of sources and references to sources

■ Teach students how to undertake a literature review and construct an appropriate annotated bibliography

■ Train students to evaluate and implement the most suitable method and approach for their chosen topic and summarise this succinctly in a research prospectus

■ Enable students to construct and present sustained arguments on a larger-scale specialised topic.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Apply arts and/or social sciences methodologies to critique a specialised topic in a medical and/or health related topic

■ Analyse a range of research literature from the arts and/or social sciences relevant to the chosen medical and/or health related topic

■ Identify and formulate a research question in the arts and/or social sciences appropriate to a medical or health related topic

■ Produce work that displays originality of thought in relation to medical and/or health related topics in the arts and/or social sciences

■ Mobilize excellent communication skills, particularly in extended written argument

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.