Individual study 

Academic Responsibility: American Studies Staff

Course Content

The students select their own topic in consultation with tutors, and in early July submit a proposal, outlining the likely focus, structure and development of the dissertation, and working bibliography. The exact title is confirmed throughout the first few months of the autumn term, in consultation with the supervisor.

Examples of recent Individual Study topics by students include:

  • Why do people hate America?
  • The Anglo American Special Relationship since 1945
  • Capital Punishment in the USA
  • John Kerry and the Vietnam War
  • Martin Luther King and the American Dream
  • The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
  • The Films of Oliver Stone
  • The Art of David Hockney
  • Representations of Women in American Cinema
  • US Foreign Policy, Oil and Iraq
  • The Assassination of John F Kennedy
  • The CIA and Latin America.

Students receive guidance from their supervisor on subject-specific aspects of the ongoing work, for example, in the use and presentation of statistical data, historiography, literary or film criticism. Similarly, beyond the rudimentary aspects given in the taught session concerning format and typographical guidelines for bibliographies, advice on the final presentation (such as inclusion of pictures or statistics) will be given by supervisors.

Assessment

One final dissertation is submitted in early May (90%).  There is also a bibliographical exercise and an outline of the thesis (5% each).  Students can either choose a single module Individual Study (5000 words total) or a double module Individual Study (10,000 words).