In this hands-on course you will produce your own edition (of a historical text or group of texts), which you will find, select, transcribe, analyse and annotate. We will examine how new technologies have transformed the editing and publication of historical texts and your training will include use of digital technologies to focus on real data to make discoveries about culture, society and the history and transmission of the English language. (No specialized computing knowledge is required in advance for this course.)

1 x 2hr session per week (comprising 1x1hr lecture; 1x1hr practical work) over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

This is one of the Honours options in English Language and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

None

Course project (2,500 words) - 50%

Essay/review (1,500 words) - 25%

Portfolio of technical exercises completed after each practical session - 25%

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 will provide the opportunity to:

■ Use digital tools and techniques for the study of historical English texts;

■ Develop confidence and skill in the application of the techniques and methodologies of digital editing, digital publication and digital text analysis;

■ Develop students' capacity for independent and creative work.

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

■ identify editorial, presentational and textual issues presented by a range of historical English language texts;

■ mark up historical English language texts in XML;

■ evaluate and apply modern digital technologies to historical English language texts for purposes of analysis and digital publication;

■ construct solutions to research questions of appropriate complexity about language, culture and society best answered through digital editing.

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