The course structure is designed to enable flexibility in terms of period and specialism: you can choose to concentrate on nineteenth- or twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature, or take a selection of seminars in both. The flexible framework allows you to build a programme of specialised study in line with your own particular research interests. Guidance on developing your course of study will be given by a designated Faculty member who will also act each term as your dissertation supervisor. Having completed the MPhil, students should have: developed a deeper knowledge of literature written between 1830 and the present day in general, and their chosen area of research in particular; developed an understanding of critical and theoretical debates which enable the evaluation of current research in their dissertation field; developed a sophisticated understanding of how literary form engages with history between 1830 and the present and demonstrated independent judgment based on their own research.