KL Coded Courses - FLEXIBLE ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

The course presents students with a general introduction to understanding the unique manner in which sociologists seek to understand contemporary societies from an objective and scientific standpoint. Students are presented with current and classical approaches to understanding the social process that underlie self construction, group formation and social interaction within an urbanising and globalising social milieu.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week (with additional guest lectures and alternative exercises) and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (one 1500 word essay; 40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

This course offers an introduction to the language and practice of formal film analysis. Each week we will explore a different element of film form and analyze the ways in which it shapes the moving image. Rather than offering a survey of film history or a small collection of classics, this course invites students to think about formal elements within and across a wide range of genres, styles, historical moments, and national contexts. By the end of this course, the successful FS1505 student will have acquired the necessary tools to continue coursework in film studies. Students will be able to recognize and communicate the ways in which meaning is made in cinema.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (made available on-line), 1 one-hour tutorial per week, and 1 three-hour screening

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 Essay 1,500-2,000 words (40%); 1 two-hour Final Cumulative Exam (40%); Tutorial Assessment (20%).
Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

Short writing assignments (including responses papers, shot-by-analyses, and screening reports) will be submitted and discussed in tutorial groups.

Written and/or oral feedback will be offered on short tutorial assignments (see above) and essays.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

The course covers a broad range of historical events ranging from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. It introduces students to the development of International Relations as a discipline, but also to key concepts and analytical skills required to study the subject at a higher level.

Subjects studied include:
19th Century and Balance of Power
Imperialism and Colonialism
Early 20th Century
World Wars and Cold War
East-West Confrontation
Détente and Contemporary Theories of IR
Nuclear Proliferation
IR as a Discipline

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

Assessment: One online quiz (5%), one bibliography test (10%), one 1500 word essay (25%) and 1 two hour written examination (60%).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Pryor

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

Students intending to follow the History of Art programme at Honours level must take two of the three Level 1 courses offered.

Overview

This course is organised around a pre-selected sequence of times and countries (eg. Italy 1400, France 1900) in which key developments in art history took place. These are presented each week in chronological fashion and extend from pre-history to the present day. Tutorials are closely related to the lectures, providing students with the opportunity to explore specfic works in detail.

Structure

2 lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%: 1 essay of 1,000 words at 30% and computer assignment at 20%).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (100%). NB All coursework must have been submitted.

Formative Assessment

Open door policy of all staff involved in course.

Essay marking and return; responses in class; online quizzes; responses in class discussions.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course is available in the second half session of 2011/12 as KL1597

Overview

Scotland is one of the oldest political units in Europe, emerging as a discernible entity by the later 10th century. The objective of this course is to chart the underlying continuities and radical changes that mark the nation’s historical development from the 12th century up to the present day. The course will explore underlying processes such as ‘industrialisation’ and ‘Clearance’ as well as clearly defined events such as the Wars of Independence or the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707. In doing so the class assesses the value of, and the problems inherent in, studying societies through the prism of national history.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).
In course assessment
• assessed essay (3,000 words) at 40% of the final assessment;
• meaningful tutorial participation (‘meaningful participation’ requires the delivery of a presentation AND the production of one brief source report) at 10% of the final assessment.

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr S Alcobia-Murphy

Pre-requisites

Overview

Literature can provoke, offend and disturb as well as entertain. This course considers some of the most powerful and controversial works of modern literature. It examines the circumstances of publication, the nature of the controversy, and the cultural and critical impact of each work. The course shows how poems, plays and novels can raise searching questions about national, racial and personal identity, and looks at the methods used by writers to challenge their readers, as well the responses of readers to such challenges. Included are texts such as: Vladimir Nabokov’s (i)Lolita, Art Spiegelman's Maus and Seamus Heaney's North.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures (Tue and Thur at 12) and 1 one-hour tutorial (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (50%): 1000 word essay (15%); 1500 word essay (25%); Tutorial Assessment Mark (10%). 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Durham and Dr R McColl Millar

Pre-requisites

Overview

An understanding of the way language is structured is an invaluable tool to discuss and analyse English and other languages. This course provides students with an introduction to the main aspects of English linguistics. Students will learn how to identify and analyse the major "building blocks" of language through an introduction to phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as sociolinguistics. Examples for illustration and discussion will be drawn from varieties of English spoken in the British Isles and world-wide. Lectures and tutorials will be geared to providing students with an active vocabulary with which to discuss language and essential analytical tools with which to analyse its structure and function.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures, and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 3 on-line assessments (20% each); one 1,500-2000 word paper (30%); Tutorial Assessment Mark (10%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr T Birrell

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

This course will identify the core issues and debates at the heart of political discourse and further train students in the basic tools for analyzing political questions and communicating their answers to a variety of audiences. To that aim, a mixture of substantive political science topics and training in analytical and presentational skills will be provided. The course will tackle a number of specific questions: What is politics? What is political science? How shall political decisions be made? By whom? And at what level (local, national or international)? How is public policy made by governments, and how do lobbyists and political parties influence the process?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and associated tutorial teaching.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%). Breakdown of continuous assessment: online quiz (10%), essay (30%).
Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%, to be carried over from 1st attempt).

Feedback

Feedback will be provided