This module offers an opportunity for single honours students in the final year of their undergraduate degree to undertake an in-depth project. The precise focus of your dissertation is to be agreed with your supervisor well in advance. For the purposes, German Studies is understood in a broad sense and taken to include aspects of literature, history, politics and visual culture. The language of the dissertation is English. The exact topic of your project is to be agreed with your module tutor at the beginning of the academic year. This module requires a high level of self-directed study and initiative. Supervision involves one-to-one tutorials with a research-active member of staff. The dissertation is a key component of a Single Honours German degree and is compulsory for all Single Honours students.

On successful completion of the module a student will be able to:

Submit a dissertation of the required length, which answers an agreed research question

Knowledge and Understanding:

Of a specific area agreed with the supervisor

Intellectual Skills:

Argue competently, using evidence, debate an issue, draw conclusions

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

Read materials in German, show sensitivity to the cultural context, use appropriate terminology and approaches

Transferable Skills:

Writing skills, structuring thought, independent study skills, time management skills, basic research skills

One-to-one supervision with a research-active member of the German department staff.

On completion of this module a typical student will be able to:
 

Personal transferable skills

·         Communicate complex ideas effectively in English

·         Use communications and information technologies for the retrieval and presentation of information

·         Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time-management

Generic intellectual skills

·         Gather, organise and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of sources

·         Develop a reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement

·         Reflect on his or her own learning and make use of constructive feedback

·         Manage his or her own learning and research self-critically

The generic skills will be manifest in literature searches on the internet and CD ROM, compilation of bibliographies and effective presentation of written work.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The roots of anti-Semitism in modern German history – Recommended for students with strong background knowledge in the history of National Socialism.
• Forever in the shadow of Hitler? Examine the Goldhagen debate on Hitler’s Willing Executioners (1996-1997). – Especially for students with an interest in contemporary debates on Nazism.
• An intellectual biography of historian and economist Jürgen Kuczynski (1904-1997) – Suitable for students with a strong background in 20^th century German history.
• Life and works of singer, song-writer and political activist Gerhard Gundermann (1955-1998) – This topic is recommendable for students of German & Music.
• GDR and FRG: a comparison – Recommendable for students with a strong interest in post-War German society.

·         The German Enlightenment

·         German Romanticism

·         Expressionism

·         The relationship between literature and German history

·         Women’s writing in German

·         GDR culture

·         Culture of the Berlin Republic

·         Genre-based studies, such as documentary theatre, the postwar short story etc

·         The works of a single author