EL7053 - The World in Print

If you choose to study on campus delivery will be primarily via student-led seminar discussion, facilitated by a tutor. If you choose to study by distance learning you can complete the module via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), populated with on-line learning materials. Whether you are on-site or distance learning you will study the same texts and have access to the same materials. On-site students are encouraged to take part in the discussion boards by way of building a cohort with the distance learning students. The assessment for both on-site and distance learning students is the same combination of non-assessed and assessed e-tivities (on-line tasks). You will be expected to undertake both directed and independent learning. Directed learning generally will take the form of preparation for seminars for on-site students and weekly reading guidance for the distance learning students, where you will be expected to contribute to discussion whether this is in the seminar or through the VLE. Independent learning generally will take the form of further reading and investigation, and revision/preparation for the assessment of the module. Assessments for all students taking this module will include a portfolio of e-tivities that have two roles. First, e-tivities will include non-assessed assessments that ensure the student has the technological capacity in terms of hardware and digital literacy to complete the module. Second, the e-tivities will include the assessed assessments that test the student’s aptitude in relation to the learning outcomes.

Campus-based students: By attending and participating in seminar discussions and activities, you will receive oral feedback on your ideas from your tutors, guidance on the content of the module and on the assessment tasks. Further one-to-one support from your tutors is available via advertised scheduled ‘office hours’ throughout the semester or by emailing to make an appointment or for advice. You are strongly encouraged to share your ideas for your assignments with your tutor in advance of submitting your assessed work.
Distance-learning students: By engaging and participating in the e-tivities, preparation tasks and online discussions, you will receive online feedback from tutors. You are strongly encouraged to share your ideas with your tutor before submitting assessed work. The VLE will be in every way comparable to on-site delivery. In place of seminars will be weekly reading, guidance on how to approach the materials, and follow-up discussion via engagement with on-line discussion forums. Distance learning students are provided with the same opportunity to discuss, analyse and question their understanding of the reading material via the discussion forums. In addition, distance learning students will be supported by an Associate Tutor, who will moderate (rather than facilitate) the online discussions, thereby fulfilling the same role as the seminar tutor.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
• 1. You will develop a sophisticated understanding of eighteenth-century texts and their print contexts

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• 2. You will be able to employ theoretical and critical material in relation to a range of literary texts
• 3. You will have enhanced critical, analytical, and research skills
• 4. You will be able to present a cogent and independent argument in response to current critical debates

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• 5. You will have an increased awareness of cultural debates, including about race, gender, class, nationality, and the environment

You will have three assignments.

The first is a 2,000-word essay applying of a work of print history to one of the primary texts studied on this module. You will select one monograph from a list provided, which will provide a critical overview of the print history of the eighteenth century. You will consider how it augments or limits understanding of your chosen primary text, as well as identifying any ways in which its approach or argument may be limited. This is worth 30%. You will receive written feedback. (MLO 2, 3, 4)

The second is formative (i.e. will not form part of your grade). You submit an essay plan and bibliography for your 4,000-word essay. You will exchange this with one other student, whose work you will provide feedback on and from whom you will receive feedback. Your tutor will also provide feedback on your plan and your contribution to your partner’s plan. You will receive this feedback by email. It helps you to prepare for the second essay. (MLO 2, 3)

The third is a 4,000-word essay. You will use your knowledge of theoretical, cultural, and historical contexts to present an argument that engages with the worlds constructed by eighteenth-century print. This is worth 70%. You will receive written feedback. (MLO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

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The World in Print examines how eighteenth-century print culture mediated Britons’ access to new worlds—whether distant colonies in North America and the Caribbean or the micro-climate of an English garden. The module encourages us to see the connectedness of Britain to the world through its literature by situating developments in print culture—for instance, the rise of magazines and literary reviews, the establishment of small provincial presses, or the publication of hitherto private genres of writing such as diaries and letters—as central to other major cultural shifts including women’s increasingly prominent roles in public life and the emergence of celebrity culture.

The World in Print will cover at least two of the following interconnected themes: New Worlds; The Natural World; The Beau Monde; and Women in the World. It will introduce you to current research in Eighteenth-Century Studies while also providing opportunities to explore methodologies and perspectives used across the Humanities (e.g. ecocriticism and the environmental humanities, colonial and postcolonial studies, feminist criticism and theory, history of the book and material culture). Eighteenth-Century Collections Online—a database of books, pamphlets, and broadsides containing over 180,000 titles amounting to over 32 million fully-searchable pages—will bring the world of eighteenth-century print culture alive, allowing you to study facsimile editions of works held in only a handful of libraries. The module is offered on campus and through distance learning. In both formats, you will engage in directed and independent learning as you hone your critical, analytical, and research skills.