M.Phil. in Irish Writing Handbook 2020-2021 - Trinity College Dublin
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School of English
M.Phil. in
Irish Writing
Handbook
2020–2021
In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the General Regulations published in the University Calendar and
information contained in this programme handbook, the provisions of the General Regulations in the Calendar will prevail.
i
Contents
Important information on COVID-19 restrictions
and modes of teaching and learning 1
General Course Information
Introduction 2
Contact Details 3
Course-Specific Locations 3
Term Dates 4
Timetable 4
Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series 4
Teaching and Learning
Course Structure, Assessment & Progression 5
Course Workload 7
Module Descriptors & Reading List 8
Coursework Requirements: Essay Submission Deadlines 20
Dissertation Dates & Deadlines 21
Coursework Submission Requirements 22
Submission of Work 22
Word Count 16
Marking Scale 22
TCD Grading System 23
Presentation of Dissertations 24
Dissertations Guidelines 24
Plagiarism and Referencing Guide 27
External Examiner 30
Student Feedback and Evaluation 30
Research Ethics 31
General Course Regulations
Extension Requests and Late Submission 32
Illness 32
E-mail Protocol School of English 32
Resources and Facilities
Trinity Student ID Card 34
MyZone 34
Email 34
Internet 34
Blackboard 34
Trinity Apps 34
Computer Access 35
Library 35
Learning to Learn Online in Trinity 35
Residence 36
Graduate Students’ Union 36
Postgraduate Advisory Service 36
MyCareer from Careers Advisory Service 37
Accessibility and Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre 38
House Rules for Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre 36
Information about the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre 37
Important information on COVID-19 restrictions
and modes of teaching and learning
In order to offer taught programmes in line with government health and safety advice,
teaching and learning in Semester 1 for your programme will follow a blended model that
combines online and in-person elements to be attended on campus. This blended model
will include offering online lectures for larger class groupings, as well as in-person classes for
smaller groups: the differing modes of teaching and learning for particular modules are
determined by your home School. Information on the modes of teaching and learning in
Semester 2 will be available closer to the time.
Trinity will be as flexible as possible in facilitating late arrivals due to travel restrictions, visa
delays, and other challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. If you expect to arrive
later than 28th September, please alert your course coordinator as early as possible.
For those students not currently in Ireland, according to current Government health and
safety guidelines, please note that these students are expected to allow for a 14-day period
of restricted movement after arrival and prior to commencement of their studies, and
therefore should factor this into their travel plans.
For those students currently on the island of Ireland, we remind you of the Irish
Government’s advice that all non-essential overseas travel should be avoided. If you do
travel overseas, you are expected to restrict your movements for 14 days immediately from
your return, during which time you will not be permitted to come to any Trinity campus.
Therefore, as you are required to be available to attend College from the beginning of the
new teaching year on 28 September, please ensure you do not return from travel overseas
any later than 13 September.
School of English Statement on COVID-19 restrictions and
teaching arrangements
The School is committed to providing a safe and positive learning environment for all its
programmes, in accordance with College policy and government guidelines. In line with
College policy, there will be a mixture of online and face-to-face teaching and learning. All
large lectures will take place online; in respect of smaller group teaching, such as tutorials
and seminars, we are committed to providing some face-to-face teaching for all cohorts,
though a substantial proportion of such teaching will also be delivered online. Any face-to-
face teaching will adhere strictly to College and HSE guidelines. The School office will
provide precise details at the start of term, though please remember that the situation in
respect of Covid-19 remains fluid, and arrangements are subject to change. In advance of
beginning their studies, students are required to complete the training course provided by
College on health and safety and on adapting to online learning (accessed via Blackboard).
Those who become unwell with flu-like symptoms should not attend college, while those
who develop symptoms while on campus should proceed to the isolation room in your
building and seek medical advice. For teaching and learning queries, you are free to contact
the relevant programme director; in addition, all Schools have an assigned safety officer: for
the School of English, this is Elaine Maddock (maddocke@tcd.ie).
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Disability Awareness and Support
In the School of English, we are committed to providing and maintaining an inclusive
learning environment for all our students. One of the ways we do this is through
working closely with the Trinity Disability Service. If you have a disability, a mental
health condition, or an ongoing illness or medical condition, the Disability Service is
there to support you. Through registering with the Disability Service, you will be able to
discuss your experience of and needs in College, including accommodations in learning
and exams. The Disability Service can then tell us, while respecting your confidentiality
at all times, whether there are changes we can make to teaching and assessment which
will support you.
For more information on the Disability Service and how to register,
visit www.tcd.ie/disability, and you can also contact your Tutor, who can advise and
assist you. Dr Rosie Lavan (lavanro@tcd.ie), is the Liaison Officer in the School of
English and the point of contact between the School and the Disability Service: you are
welcome to contact her if you have any queries or concerns.
The Disability Service has also developed a number of Inclusive Learning and
Technology resources. For more information, please
visit https://www.tcd.ie/disability/resources/inclusive%20teaching%20and%20learn
ing.php.
General Course Information
Introduction
The course offers an exploration of Irish writing in English from the late sixteenth
century to the present. Trinity has educated many important writers, from Jonathan
Swift to Samuel Beckett, Eavan Boland to Anne Enright. It has also long led the way in
the teaching and researching of Ireland’s literature. Amid a diverse and dynamic
community of students and scholars, this course will allow you to gain a thorough
grounding in the field of Irish writing, from canonical figures such as Maria Edgeworth
and James Joyce to contemporary critical debates around gender, sexuality, class and
race. The centrepiece of the course is the ‘Perspectives in Irish Writing’ module.
Drawing on the expertise of Trinity’s world-leading faculty, it covers a range of texts,
genres, contexts and critical debates central to the study of Irish literary history. It is
complimented by ‘Single Authors’, which examines four leading figure of Irish writing in
detail: Maria Edgeworth, W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett.
A range of specialist option courses also enable you to shape your own distinct
programme of study. This year our options include ‘Shifting Scenes: Irish theatre 1960–
2020’, ‘Irish Poetry after Yeats’, ‘Big House Literature’, and ‘Mapping Literary Dublin’. In
the final phase of the course, you will complete a dissertation. This will allow you to
pursue in-depth research on a subject of your choice under expert supervision and
drawing on our outstanding library and archival collections. This course provides an
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excellent platform for moving on to doctoral research, as well as offering transferable
skills for a variety of future careers, including in education, the arts, publishing and the
media.
The course team wish you every success as you pursue your studies with the School of
English.
Contact Details
Staff Name Role/Title Email Phone
Dr Sam Slote Course Director slotes@tcd.ie 896 1319
Dr Julie Bates Course Director batesju@tcd.ie
Ms Sophia Ní Sheoin Course Executive Officer wilde@tcd.ie 896 2885
Dr Jarlath Killeen Head of School killeej@tcd.ie 896 2337
Ms Ruth Archbold School Administrator archbolr@tcd.ie 896 2890
Dr Tom Walker M.Phil. Coordinator walkerto@tcd.ie 896 4353
Dr Bernice Murphy PG Director of Teaching & murphb12@tcd.ie 896 2547
Learning
Course-Specific Locations
Normally the M.Phil. in Irish Writing is based at the Oscar Wilde Centre. This year the
course and Seminar Rooms are based around College, please see appropriate links
below:
References/Sources:
School of English Staff Contact Details
Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre
School of English
Interactive College Map
Blackboard
Academic Registry
Library
College Staff Contact Details
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Term Dates
Michaelmas Term (MT)
Teaching Term 28 September – 18 December 2020
Study/Reading Week 9 November – 13 November 2020
Hilary Term (HT)
Teaching Term 1 February – 23 April 2021
Study/Reading Week 15 March – 19 March 2021
Trinity Term (TT)
Research Term 26 April February – 27 August 2021
Reference/Source:
Academic Year Structure
Timetable
The Student Timetable is available to registered students before the beginning of
Michaelmas Term. Students can access their timetable in SITS: my.tcd.ie. This gives the
time and location, and identifies the lecturer for all their classes. There is a Blackboard
timetable but it is only updated once a day so if students are unsure if the information is
accurate they should double check it on their timetable available in SITS: my.tcd.ie.
It is important to be aware that all student timetables are subject to regular changes.
Reference/Source:
My TCD
Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series
The Staff-Postgraduate Seminar Series has been integral to the School of English research
community since the 1990s. The aim of the seminar series is to provide a relaxed and
convivial atmosphere for staff and students to present their research to their peers. The
series also welcomes distinguished guest lecturers from the academic community
outside Trinity College to present on their work. It is a fantastic opportunity to share
ideas and engage with the diverse research taking place within the School, and ideal
practice for future conference and lecturing opportunities. Students may present 20-
minute papers on any aspect of their research, while staff members and guest speakers
are invited to contribute 40-minute papers. A Call for Papers (CFP) is published before
each term inviting interested participants to submit a 200-word abstract outlining their
proposed paper.
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Teaching and Learning
Course Structure, Assessment & Progression
Teaching in this course takes place in two terms of twelve weeks duration. The first
term is called the Michaelmas Term, the second, the Hilary Term. In each of these terms,
students will take a combination of required courses and their choice of option courses.
In the third term, Trinity Term, students begin working on their dissertations.
Weighting of Credits
The course consists of five modules:
Perspectives in Irish Writing (20 credits)
Single Authors (20 credits)
2 X 10-credit Options (20 credits)
Dissertation (30 credits)
The Postgraduate Diploma in Irish Writing carries 60 credits.
The Postgraduate Master in Philosophy in Irish Writing carries 90 credits.
Weighting of Assessed Elements
Dissertation = 34%
Perspectives in Irish Writing Essay (x2) + Single Major Authors Essays (x2) = 33%
Option Essays (x2) = 33%
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is an academic credit
system based on the estimated student workload required to achieve the objectives of a
module or programme of study. It is designed to enable academic recognition for
periods of study, to facilitate student mobility and credit accumulation and transfer. The
ECTS is the recommended credit system for higher education in Ireland and across the
European Higher Education Area.
The ECTS weighting for a module is a measure of the student input or workload
required for that module, based on factors such as the number of contact hours, the
number and length of written or verbally presented assessment exercises, class
preparation and private study time, laboratory classes, examinations, clinical
attendance, professional training placements, and so on as appropriate. There is no
intrinsic relationship between the credit volume of a module and its level of difficulty.
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Assessment and Progression
Assessment is by a combination of written papers and dissertation. All modules are
weighted in the calculation of the overall mark for the course according to their ECTS
credit value. The pass mark for all elements is 40%. Students must complete the other
elements of the course satisfactorily before being allowed to present the dissertation.
None of the course modules are compensatable.
The Master in Philosophy degree is awarded on a Distinction/Pass/Fail basis.
M.Phil. To pass the course a student must achieve a mark of 40% or higher on each
module and the dissertation.
M.Phil. with Distinction may be awarded to a student who satisfies all of the following
four criteria:
1. they must achieve a mark of 70% in the dissertation element of the course (the
dissertation amounts to 30 ECTS)
2. they must achieve an average mark of at least 68% (without the benefit of
rounding up) in the taught modules of the course (these total 60 ECTS)
3. they must achieve a mark of at least 70% in at least half of the taught modules (ie
modules amounting to an aggregate of 30 ECTS)
4. they cannot fail any course module
Postgraduate Diploma: Candidates who satisfy the examiners in all modules but not in
the dissertation, or who choose not to submit a dissertation, may be considered for the
award of the Postgraduate Diploma in Irish Writing. To be awarded the Postgraduate
Diploma a student must achieve at least 40% in each of the taught modules, thereby
obtaining 60 credits.
A Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction may be awarded to a student achieving an
overall credit-weighted average mark of at least 70% across all modules.
References/Sources:
Calendar, Part III, Section III 'Examinations, Assessment and Progression' and
'Assessment and Progression Regulations'
National Framework for Qualifications
Trinity Courses
6
Course Workload
Mandatory Modules
EN7056 Perspectives in Irish Writing (20 ECTS)
This module is coordinated by Dr Julie Bates and Dr Sam Slote. It comprises a weekly
series of lectures and seminars (two hours per week) on the history and contexts of
Irish Writing from the late seventeenth to the present day. This course is given by
various lecturers from the School of English.
EN7057 Single Authors (20 ECTS)
This module, taught in a weekly two-hour seminar, covers the work of four major
individual authors from the Irish literary tradition. In Michaelmas term we study
Edgeworth and Yeats, and in Hilary term, Joyce and Beckett, as below:
Michaelmas Term:
Weeks 1 - 6 Edgeworth (Prof Aileen Douglas)
Week 7 Reading Week
Weeks 8 - 12 Yeats (Dr Tom Walker)
Hilary Term:
Weeks 1 - 6 Joyce (Dr Samuel Slote)
Week 7 Reading Week
Weeks 8 - 12 Beckett (Dr Julie Bates)
Optional Modules
Students are required to select one of 10 ECTS optional modules offered in Michaelmas
Term and one offered in Hilary Term. The Course Executive Officer will email you
before the start of the Michaelmas Term requesting your choices for both the
Michaelmas Term and the Hilary Term optional modules.
Michaelmas Term (Students choose one of the following MT Term modules)
EN7134 Shifting Scenes: Irish Theatre 1960-2020 (10 ECTS)
This is taught by Prof Nicholas Grene in a weekly 2-hour seminar
EN7098 Irish Poetry after Yeats (10 ECTS)
This is taught by Dr Rosie Lavan in a weekly 2-hour seminar
Hilary Term (Students choose one of the following MT Term modules)
EN7090 Big House Literature (10 ECTS)
This is taught by Dr Paul Delaney in a weekly 2-hour seminar
EN**** Mapping Literary Dublin (10 ECTS)
This is taught by Prof. Chris Morash in a weekly 2-hour seminar
7
Module Descriptors & Reading Lists
Mandatory Modules
EN7056 Perspectives in Irish Writing
ECTS allocation: 20
Module Coordinator: Dr Julie Bates/Dr Sam Slote
Teaching Faculty: Prof Andrew Murphy; Dr Clare Clarke, Dr David
O’Shaughnessy; Dr Jarlath Killeen; Dr Julie Bates; Dr Tom
Walker; Prof Aileen Douglas; Seán Hewitt
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Michaelmas and Hilary terms
Description:
This course introduces students to the social and cultural contexts in which Irish
writing in English developed from the eighteenth through to the twenty-first century. It
investigates key terms that students will encounter in the critical literature on Irish
writing and culture. In addition to covering a selection of significant authors and texts, it
addresses a number of theoretical issues and concepts relevant to understanding Irish
writing.
Please note: students will be advised on set readings and background
bibliography before and during the course.
*Some texts and materials will be distributed in advance or posted on
Blackboard.
Michaelmas Term: Weeks 1-12
Introduction to Irish Writing
Week 1: W. B. Yeats, The Literary Movement in Ireland; 'September 1913'; The
Fisherman* [AM]
Week 2: Douglas Hyde, The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland; D. P. Moran, The
Battle of Two Civilisations* [AM]
Week 3: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Oxford World’s Classics) [D.O’S]
Week 4: Women poets of the early eighteenth century: Mary Barber and
Constantia Grierson* [AD]
Week 5: Charles Macklin* [D.O’S]
Week 6: Oliver Goldsmith* [D.O’S]
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: Sydney Owenson [JK]
Week 9: Writing the Irish Famine: William Carleton* [CM]
Week 10: Bram Stoker, Dracula [CC]
8Week 11: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray [JK]
Week 12: Lady Gregory and the Literary Revival* [SH]
Hilary Term: Weeks 1-12
Week 1: The Theatre of the Revival* [SH]
Week 2: The Poetry of the Revival* [TW]
Week 3: Revolution and Independence: Frank O’Connor* [SH]
Week 4: The Emergency at Home: The Bell* [TW]
Week 5: The War Abroad: Elizabeth Bowen* [SH]
Week 6: Teresa Deevy* [SH]
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: Gender and nation: Edna O’Brien, The Country Girls [SH]
Week 9: The Troubles and Literary Criticism* [SH]
Week 10: Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin* [TW]
Week 11: The Celtic Tiger: Tana French, Broken Harbour (2012) with [CC]
Week 12: Imagining home: Selected stories from Donal Ryan, A Slanting of the Sun
(2015), and Melatu Uche Okorie, This Hostel Life (2018)* [SH]
EN7057 Single Authors
ECTS allocation: 20
Teaching Faculty: Prof Aileen Douglas, Dr Tom Walker, Dr Samuel Slote
and Dr Julie Bates
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Michaelmas and Hilary terms
Michaelmas Term: Weeks 1-6
Maria Edgeworth (1768 -1849): Prof Aileen Douglas
The representation of Ireland is an important aspect of much of Maria Edgeworth’s
fiction. In works such as Castle Rackrent (1800), Ennui (1809), and The Absentee (1812),
Edgeworth made Ireland the setting and subject of fiction in innovative ways. In
addition to these works for adults we will read a number of Edgeworth’s tales for
children and young people. Topics to be considered include: audience; gender and
writing; history and violence; Ireland and global Edgeworth.
Week 1: Introduction and Castle Rackrent
Week 2: Ennui
Week 3: ‘The Orphans’ (1800)
Week 4: The Absentee
Week 5: Global Edgeworth: Stories from Popular Tales (1804)
9Week 6: Intertextual Edgeworth
Primary Texts
o Castle Rackrent and Ennui, ed. Marilyn Butler (Penguin, 1992)
o The Absentee, ed. W. J. McCormack and Kim Walker (OUP, 1988)
o Additional primary texts will be accessed online or distributed in photocopy. Please
read Castle Rackrent in advance of our first meeting.
Suggested Preliminary Reading
o Deane, Seamus, Strange Country: Modernity and Nationhood in Irish Writing
(Clarendon, 1999)
o Dunne, Tom, Maria Edgeworth and the Colonial Mind (NUI, 1984).
o Ferris, Ina, The Romantic National Tale and the Question of Ireland (Cambridge,
2002).
o Ingman, Heather, Irish Women’s Fiction: from Edgeworth to Enright (Irish Academic
Press, 2013), Chapter 1.
o Murphy, Sharon, Maria Edgeworth and Romance (Four Courts, 2004).
o O’Gallchoir, Clíona, Maria Edgeworth: women, enlightenment and nation (UCD
2005).
Michaelmas Term: Weeks 8-12
W.B. Yeats (1865-1939): Dr Tom Walker
The course will examine a range of Yeats’s poetry, drama and prose. Structured loosely
around different phases of his career, seminars will emphasise key historical and
cultural contexts, as well as attending to questions of poetics and ideology.
Week 8: Folklore and Symbolism
Poems: ‘The Stolen Child’, ‘The Man who Dreamed of Faeryland’, ‘To
Ireland in the Coming Times’, ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’, ‘The
Valley of the Black Pig’, ‘The Secret Rose’
Prose: ‘The Symbolism of Poetry’, ‘The Celtic Element in Literature’
Week 9: Controversy and Conflict
Poems: ‘Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation’, ‘To a Wealthy
Man…’, ‘September 1913’, ‘The Cold Heaven’, ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’,
‘In Memory of Major Robert Gregory’, ‘An Irish Airman Foresees his
Death’, ‘The Fisherman’, ‘Easter 1916’, ‘Sixteen Dead Men’, ‘The Rose
Tree’
Plays: The Dreaming of the Bones*
Week 10: Shaping History
Poems: ‘The Second Coming’, ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, ‘Meditations in Time
of Civil War’, ‘Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen’, ‘Leda and the Swan’,
‘Byzantium’, ‘Lapis Lazuli’, ‘Long-legged Fly’
Plays: The Resurrection
Prose: A Vision – book 5*
10Week 11: Self and Anti-self
Poems: ‘Ego Dominus Tuus’, ‘Demon and Beast’, ‘Among School Children’,
‘A Dialogue of Self and Soul’, ‘Vacillation’, ‘Cuchulain Comforted’, ‘Man and
the Echo’
Prose: sections from Per Amica Silentia Lunae and from ‘A General
Introduction for my Work’
Week 12: Songs, Buildings, Bodies
Poems: ‘A Prayer for My Daughter’, ‘The Tower’ , ‘In Memory of Eva Gore-
Both and Con Markievicz’, ‘Coole Park, 1929’, ‘Crazy Jane talks with the
Bishop’, ‘Her Vision in the Wood’, ‘Parnell’s Funeral’, ‘Under Ben Bulben’,
‘News for the Delphic Oracle’, ‘The Statues’
Plays: Purgatory.
Prose: sections from On the Boiler
Primary Texts
o W.B. Yeats, The Major Works, ed. Edward Larrissy (Oxford World’s Classics)
The texts marked with an asterisk above are not in this edition; copies of them will be
provided in advance of each relevant session. Members of the seminar are strongly
encouraged to begin their reading of primary texts in advance of the first class meeting.
Selected Criticism
Getting some biographical hold on Yeats is important. His life is consciously integrated
into his work and he was a publically prominent writer through most of his career. The
best two accounts are: R. F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, 2 vols (1997 and 2002); and
Terence Brown’s more critically inclined (and somewhat shorter) The Life of W.B. Yeats
(2001). Also still very illuminating and entertaining is Richard Ellmann’s classic Yeats:
the Man and the Masks (2nd ed. 1973). David Pierce, Yeats’s Worlds: Ireland, England
and the Poetic Imagination (1995) is also informative and well illustrated. Good places
to start to orientate oneself in relation to Yeats criticism are: John Kelly and Marjorie
Howes, eds, The Cambridge Companion to W.B. Yeats (2006); and David Holdeman and
Ben Levitas, eds, Yeats in Context (2010). A more detailed bibliography will be
distributed at the beginning of the course.
Hilary Term: Weeks 1-6
James Joyce (1882-1941): Dr Sam Slote
This course will examine Ulysses from a variety of perspectives: Joyce as an ‘Irish
writer’; Joyce as an ‘English writer’; Joyce as a ‘European writer’; the poetics of style and
form; the politics of style and form; modes of ideology (race, religion, gender, and
nation); framing a literary tradition; the production and reception of Modernism; etc.
We will begin with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and discuss that novel insofar
11as it leads towards Ulysses thematically and stylistically. We will also discuss the
composition of Ulysses as is indicated on the NLI Ulysses drafts.
Week 7: A Portrait and Ulysses: ‘Telemachus’ – ‘Nestor’
Week 8: Ulysses: ‘Proteus’ – ‘Hades’
Week 9: Ulysses: ‘Æolus’ – ‘Wandering Rocks’
Week 10: Ulysses: ‘Sirens’ – ‘Oxen of the Sun’
Week 11: Ulysses: ‘Circe’ – ‘Eumæus’
Week 12: Ulysses: ‘Ithaca’ – ‘Penelope’
Please read A Portrait and the first two episodes of Ulysses (‘Telemachus’ and ‘Nestor’)
for the first class.
Primary Texts
o James Joyce, Ulysses, ed. Hans Walter Gabler (London: the Bodley Head, 1993). I
strongly recommend the Gabler edition.
o James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Any edition will suffice.
Preliminary Reading
Among the books you might want to read in advance for this course are the following:
o Derek Attridge, How to Read Joyce (London: Granta, 2007).
o Derek Attridge, ed., The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004, 2nd ed.).
o Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982, rev. ed.).
o Terence Killeen, ‘Ulysses’ Unbound (Wicklow: Wordwell, 2004).
o John McCourt, ed., James Joyce in Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2009).
The Killeen book is especially recommended as a guidebook for first-time readers.
Hilary Term: Weeks 8-12
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989): Dr Julie Bates
Description:
This module considers a range of works by Beckett, including novels, short stories, and
plays for stage, radio and television. We will read these works drawing on concepts
from the field of Environmental Humanities. Over the course of the module, we will
focus on a number of distinctive features and preoccupations of his writing, including
the following: the prominence of animals in Beckett’s work; the challenge his writing
poses to ideas of human exceptionality; his characters’ embodied experiences of
disability, illness, and senility; the physical environments within which his characters
find themselves, from lyrically evoked landscapes to abstract sites subject to extreme
changes in temperature; and the potential model that Beckett’s writing offers to the
question of how art and literature can respond to the Anthropocene and climate crisis.
12Reading List
Before we meet, I encourage you to read as much of Beckett’s writing as possible. I will
provide scans of relevant materials during the module.
Primary Texts
o Beckett, The Complete Dramatic Works (Faber, 2012)
o Beckett, Molloy (Faber, 2009)
o Beckett, Malone Dies (Faber, 2010)
o Beckett, The Unnamable (Faber, 2010)
o Beckett, The Expelled, The Calmative, The End, with First Love (Faber, 2009)
o Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose, 1950-1976 (Faber, 2010)
o Beckett, Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, Worstward Ho, Stirrings Still (Faber, 2009)
Secondary reading will include the following:
o Ackerley, Chris (2007), ‘Samuel Beckett and Anthropomorphic Insolence’, Samuel
Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui, 18, pp. 77-90.
o Braidotti, Rosi (2009), ‘Animals, Anomalies, and Inorganic Others’, PMLA, 124:2, pp.
526-32.
o Beckett and Animals (2013), edited by Mary Bryden. Cambridge University Press.
o Connor, Steven (1982), ‘Samuel Beckett’s Animals‘, Journal of Beckett Studies, 8, pp.
29-42.
o Derrida, Jacques (2002), ‘The Animal that Therefore I Am’, Critical Inquiry, pp. 369-
418.
o De Vos, Laurens (2018), ‘The Observer Observed: The Promise of the Posthuman:
Homeostasis, Autopoiesis and Virtuality in Samuel Beckett’, Journal of Beckett
Studies, 27:2, pp. 245-260
o Dillon, Sarah (2018), ‘The Horror of the Anthropocene’, C21 Literature: Journal of
21st-Century Writings, 6(1): 2, pp. 1-25.
o Effinger, Elizabeth (2011), ‘Beckett's Posthuman: The Ontopology of “The
Unnamable”’, Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui, 23, pp. 369-81.
o Garrard, Greg (2011), ‘“Endgame”: Beckett's “Ecological Thought”’, Samuel Beckett
Today/Aujourd'hui, 23, pp. 383-397.
o Giles, Jana María (2008), ‘“The Aesthetics of Relinquishment”: Natural and Social
Contracts in Beckett's “The End”’, Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui, 20, pp. 175-
188.
o Donna Haraway (2006), ‘Encounters with Companion Species: Entangling Dogs,
Baboons, Philosophers, and Biologists’, Configurations, Volume 14, Number 1-2, pp.
97-114.
o Carrie Rohman (2018), Choreographies of the Living: Bioaesthetics in Literature, Art,
and Performance. Oxford University Press.
o Kari Weil (2012), Thinking Animals: Why Animal Studies Now? Columbia University
Press.
o Kennedy, Seán (2018), ‘Introduction: (Dis)Embodied Beckett Studies?’, Journal of
Beckett Studies 27.1, pp. 1-4.
o Murray, Rachel (2016), ‘Vermicular Origins: The Creative Evolution of Samuel
Beckett’s Worm’, Journal of Literature and Science, 9:2, pp. 19-35.
o Rabaté, Jean-Michel (2016), Think, Pig! Beckett at the Limit of the Human, Fordham
University Press.
13Optional Module: Michaelmas Term
(Students choose one of the following Michaelmas Term modules)
EN7098 Irish Poetry after Yeats
ECTS allocation: 10
Teaching Faculty: Dr Rosie Lavan
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Michaelmas term
Description:
The course will consider various directions taken by Irish poetry after W. B. Yeats, and
some of the concerns – formal, thematic, political, and personal – which have
preoccupied poets writing in and about Ireland since the early decades of the twentieth
century. Each seminar will focus on two poets, emphasise key historical and cultural
contexts, and attend to questions of poetics and ideology.
Week 1: Introduction: ‘After’ Yeats
Week 2: Counter-revivals: Austin Clarke and Patrick Kavanagh
Week 3: Modernist departures: Samuel Beckett and Thomas MacGreevy
Week 4: Vision and form: Louis MacNeice and Blanaid Salkeld
Week 5: Nature and perception: Sheila Wingfield and Rhoda Coghill
Week 6: History: Richard Murphy and John Montague
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: Politics and representation: Thomas Kinsella and Eavan Boland
Week 9: Ireland and elsewhere: Derek Mahon and Paul Muldoon
Week 10: Language and violence: Medbh McGuckian and Ciaran Carson
Week 11: Translations: Seamus Heaney and Vona Groarke
Week 12: Transformations: Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Primary Texts
o Austin Clarke, Collected Poems, ed. R. Dardis Clarke (Carcanet) or Selected Poems, ed.
W. J. McCormack/Hugh Maxton (Penguin/Lilliput).
o Louis MacNeice, Collected Poems, ed. Peter McDonald (Faber), or Selected Poems, ed.
Michael Longley (Faber).
o Patrick Kavanagh, Collected Poems or Selected Poems, both ed. Antoinette Quinn
(Penguin)
o Thomas Kinsella, Collected Poems or Selected Poems (both Carcanet). Due to complex
textual issues a pdf will also be provided of the original printings of the key poems to
be discussed.
o Richard Murphy, Collected Poems (Gallery) or The Pleasure Ground: Poems 1952-2012
(Bloodaxe/Lilliput)
o Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Selected Poems (Gallery/Faber)
14o Derek Mahon, Selected Poems (Penguin), Collected Poems or New Collected Poems
(both Gallery). Due to complex textual issues a pdf will also be provided of the original
printings of the key poems to be discussed.
o Ciaran Carson, Collected Poems (Gallery Press)
Other primary material will be distributed via pdfs through the term.
Useful anthologies of Irish verse you might wish to consult in preparation include:
Patrick Crotty, ed., The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry (Penguin); Patrick Crotty, ed.,
Modern Irish Poetry (Blackstaff); Wes Davis, ed., An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry
(Belknap/Harvard Univ. Press); Thomas Kinsella, ed., The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse
(Oxford); Lucy Collins, ed., Poetry by Women in Ireland: A Critical Anthology 1870-1970.
Secondary Reading
Useful places to start in terms of secondary reading include: Patricia Coughlan and Alex
Davis, eds, Modernism and Ireland: The Poetry of the 1930s (1995); John Goodby, Irish
Poetry Since 1950 (2000); Alan Gillis, Irish Poetry of the 1930s (2005); Matthew
Campbell, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Poetry (2003); Justin Quinn,
The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry, 1800-2000 (2008); Fran Brearton
and Alan Gillis, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry (2012). More specific
secondary bibliography will be passed on during the course.
EN7134 Shifting Scenes: Irish Theatre 1960-2020
ECTS allocation: 10
Teaching Faculty: Prof. Nicholas Grene
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Michaelmas Term
Description:
The period covered by this module has been one of major social and cultural changes in
Ireland, with its transformation from an isolated, largely agricultural society into a fully
modern, globalised economy. Notable features of this set of changes have been
Ireland’s membership of the EU, the collapse of the authority of the Catholic Church, and
the liberalisation of public opinion reflected in referenda on marriage equality and
abortion, while the years of political violence in the North were constant reminders of
the unfinished business of Irish history. This has also been a time of change in Irish
theatre, the 1960s often seen as a second Irish theatrical renaissance with the
emergence of playwrights such as Brian Friel, Tom Murphy and Thomas Kilroy,
followed by Frank McGuinness, Marina Carr, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson and
Enda Walsh, and the setting up of new theatre companies such as Druid (1975), Field
Day (1980) and Rough Magic (1984). The aim of this course is to look at paired plays to
explore the varying dramatic forms used to express the country’s shifting scenes, often
not directly but by a re-working of traditional themes and a revision of the sense of the
past. The syllabus is a provisional one because the plays chosen will be varied to
allow for the inclusion of current productions; the analysis of performance as
well as published texts will be one dimension of the course. After an initial
15introductory overview, the module will be taught entirely through student-led seminar
discussion. It will be assessed by one submitted essay.
Week 1: Introductory overview
Week 2: Fathers and Sons. Brian Friel, Philadelphia Here I Come! (1964), Hugh
Leonard, Da (1973)
Week 3: Legacies of War: Christina Reid, Tea in a China Cup (1983), Frank
McGuinness, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (1985)
Week 4: (Grand)mothers and Daughters: Tom Murphy, Bailegangaire (1985), Martin
McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996)
Week 5: Talking it through: Tom Murphy, Conversations on a Homecoming (1985),
Conor McPherson, The Weir (1997)
Week 6: Childhood memories: Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), Marina Carr,
The Mai (1994)
Week 7: Reading week
Week 8: Re-imagining history: Donal O’Kelly, Catalpa* (1995), Elizabth Kuti, The
Sugar Wife* (2005)
Week 9: Irish diaspora: Jimmy Murphy, Kings of the Kilburn High Road (2000)*, Enda
Walsh, The Walworth Farce (2006)
Week 10: Women artists: Thomas Kilroy The Shape of Metal (2003)*, Nancy Harris, The
Beacon (2019)
Week 11: Old folks in homes: Pat Kinevane, Forgotten (2006), Deirdre Kinahan,
Halcyon Days (2012)
Week 12: Post Troubles: Stacey Gregg, Shibboleth (2015), David Ireland, Cyprus Avenue
(2016)
* copies of these texts, which are not readily accessible, will be posted on Blackboard.
Reading list
Almost all the plays prescribed for this module are available in the Library as Drama
online texts. However, for those who like to own hard copies or have a particular
interest in one of the playwrights, these are editions you might want to buy. It is
essential that you have texts at hand in class.
o Marina Carr, Plays 1 (London: Faber, 2000)
o Brian Friel, Plays 1 and 2 (London: Faber, 2016)
o Stacey Gregg, Shibboleth (London: Nick Hern Books, 2015)
o Nancy Harris, The Beacon (London: Nick Hern Books, 2019)
o David Ireland, Cyprus Avenue (London: Bloomsbury, 2016)
o Thomas Kilroy, The Shape of Metal (Oldcastle: Gallery Press, 2003)
o Deirdre Kinahan, Halcyon Days (London: Nick Hern Books, 2012)
o Pat Kinevane, Silent & Forgotten (London: Methuen Drama, 2012)
o Martin McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (London: Methuen Drama, 1996)
o Frank McGuinness, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme
(London: Faber, 2016)
o Conor McPherson, The Weir (London: Nick Hern Books, 1998)
16o Tom Murphy, Plays: 2 (London: Methuen Drama, 1993)
o Christina Reid, Plays 1 (London: Methuen Drama, 1997)
o Enda Walsh, Plays: Two (London: Nick Hern Books, 2014)
Secondary reading
o John Devitt, Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash, Shifting Scenes: Irish Theatre-Going,
1955-1985 (Dublin: Carysfort, 2008)
o Nicholas Grene and Chris Morash (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish
Theatre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
o Eamonn Jordan (ed.), Theatre Stuff: Critical Essays on Contemporary Irish Theatre
(Dublin: Carysfort, 2000)
o Eamonn Jordan and Eric Weitz (eds.), Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish
Theatre and Performance (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
o Patrick Lonergan, Irish Drama and Theatre since 1950 (London: Bloomsbury, 2019)
o Martin Middeke and Peter Paul Schnierer (eds.), Methune Drama Guide to
Contemporary Irish Playwrights (London: Methuen Drama 2010)
o Christopher Murray, Twentieth-Century Irish Drama: Mirror up to Nation (London:
Manchester University Press, 1997)
o Anthony Roche, Contemporary Irish Drama, 2nd ed. (London: Palgrave Macmillan,
2009)
Optional Module: Hilary Term
(Students choose one of the following Hilary Term modules)
EN7090 Big House Literature
ECTS allocation: 10
Teaching Faculty: Prof. Paul Delaney
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Hilary Term
Description:
This course traces the continuation and development of ‘Big House literature’ in post-
independence Irish writing. The course begins with an introductory class which
outlines theories of the genre and contextualises some of the readings for the course. A
central question of the course is whether the survival of Big House literature in the
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is illustrative of the ‘generative power’ of the
genre, as Vera Kreilkamp has suggested, or whether it demonstrates the ‘comparative
poverty’ of the Irish literary tradition, in the words of Seamus Deane.
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: William Trevor, The Story of Lucy Gault (2002) (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 2010)
Week 3: Lennox Robinson, The Big House (1926) in Selected Plays (Gerrards Cross:
Colin Smythe, 1982); W.B. Yeats, Purgatory (1938) in The Major Works
(prescribed for Single Authors Yeats seminars)
Week 4: Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September (1929) (London: Penguin, 2000)
17Week 5: Elizabeth Bowen, ‘The Big House’ (1940) and excerpts from Bowen’s
Court (1942); Seán O’Faoláin, ‘Midsummer Night Madness’ (1932) and ‘A
Broken World’ (1936) (**texts available in PDF)
Week 6: J.G. Farrell, Troubles (1970) (London: Phoenix, 1993)
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: Jennifer Johnston, How Many Miles to Babylon? (1974) (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 2010)
Week 9: Molly Keane, Good Behaviour (1981) (London: Virago, 2006)
Week 10: Brian Friel, Aristocrats (1979) (Oldcastle: Gallery, 1983)
Week 11: Edna O’Brien, House of Splendid Isolation (1994) (London: W&N, 2002)
Week 12: John Banville, Birchwood (1973) (London: Picador, 2010)
Suggested Preliminary Reading
Vera Kreilkamp’s The Anglo-Irish Novel and the Big House (Syracuse UP, 1998) is the
best place to start, as it combines a thoughtful analysis of many of the texts on the
course with good contextual overviews. Kreilkamp’s essay ‘The novel of the big house’,
in John Wilson Foster’s The Cambridge Companion to the Irish Novel (Cambridge UP,
2006), provides a succinct summary of much of this argument. Perceptive essays can
also be found in two edited collections: Jacqueline Genet, ed. The Big House in Ireland:
Reality and Representation (Brandon, 1991); and Otto Rauchbauer, ed. Ancestral Voices:
The Big House in Irish Literature (Lilliput Press, 1992). Seamus Deane’s essay ‘The
Literary Myths of the Revival’ offers combative views on the subject, and retains critical
value; it can be found in his early study, Celtic Revivals: Essays in Modern Irish Literature,
1880-1980 (Faber, 1985)
Members of the seminar are encouraged to begin their reading of primary texts in
advance of the first class meeting. A detailed bibliography will be distributed at the
beginning of the course.
EN**** Mapping Literary Dublin
ECTS allocation: 10
Teaching Faculty: Prof Chris Morash
Contact: 1 x 2 hours/week in Hilary term
Description:
Mapping Literary Dublin will explore the ways in which urban space is produced by
literature. Each seminar will be focused on a particular zone within the city; some of
the texts considered in relation to a given zone will be pre-assigned, but some will be
chosen by the class. Texts will cover a range of historical periods, genres and writers.
The seminar as a whole hinges around the critical tool of the dérive, which will be
conducted in weeks 6 and 11.
18Week 1: Reading Space
Week 2: Baggotonia & Graftonia
Week 3: Stephen’s Green
Week 4: Trinity and College Green
Week 5: The Liberties
Week 6: Dérive I
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: O’Connell Street & Abbey Street
Week 9: The Southside Suburbs
Week 10: Dublin Bay
Week 11: Howth Castle and Environs
Week 12: Dérive II
Mapping Literary Dublin: Advance Reading List
This module will involve looking at multiple texts in each seminar, some of which will
be chosen by the seminar group over the course of the module. However, a couple of
critical/theoretical works are worth reading in advance. In terms of primary texts,
while students are not expected to have read Joyce’s Ulysses in advance, it is worth
having some familiarity with it before the seminar starts. It will also be useful to have
read Bowen’s Seven Winters.
o Elizabeth Bowen, Bowen’s Court & Seven Winters: Memories of a Dublin Childhood
(London: Vintage, 2017).
o James Joyce, Ulysses, Sam Slote, annot. ([1922] London: Alma, 2012).
o Guy Debord, “Theory of the Dérive”, trans Ken Knabb, Internationale Situationiste 2
(Dec., 1958); https://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/theory.html
o Chris Morash and Shaun Richards, Mapping Irish Theatre: Theories of Space and
Place (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)
o Yi-Fu Tuan, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience ([1977] Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2001).
Course Learning Outcomes
▪ Provide a background in all genres of Irish writing, from the 18th century to the
present.
▪ Prepare the students to undertake a lengthy independent research project.
▪ To familiarise the students with the latest scholarship in Irish studies.
▪ To familiarise the students with the various debates that have informed Irish
studies.
▪ To study certain key figures in Irish writing in depth.
19Coursework Requirements: Essay Submission Deadlines
MICHAELMAS TERM (28 September – 18 December 2020)
EN7056 Perspective in Irish Writing Essay: (Due Friday 18 December 2020)
The 4,000 words essay is due by Friday of week 12 of Michaelmas Term.
EN7057 Single Authors Essay: (Due Friday 5 February 2021)
The 4,000 words essay on EITHER Edgeworth OR Yeats is due by Friday of week 1 of
Hilary term.
Students are required to submit ONE essay relating to their chosen option:
EN7098 Irish Poetry After Yeats: (Due Friday 19 February 2021)
The 4,000 words essay is due by Friday of week 3 of Hilary term.
EN7134 Shifting Scenes: Irish Theatre 1960-2021: (Due Friday 19 February 2021)
The 4,000 words essay is due by Friday of week 3 of Hilary term.
HILARY TERM (1 February – 23 April 2021)
EN7056 Perspective in Irish Writing Essay: (Due Friday 23 April 2021)
The 4,000 words essay is due by week 12 of Hilary Term.
TRINITY TERM (26 April February – 27 August 2021)
EN7057 Single Authors Essay: (Due Friday 7 May 2021)
The 4,000 words essay on EITHER Joyce OR Beckett is due by Friday of week 2 of
Trinity Term.
Students are required to submit ONE essay relating to their chosen option:
EN7090 Big House Literature Essay: (Due Friday 21 May 2021)
The 4,000 words essay is due by Friday of week 4 of Trinity Term.
EN**** Mapping Literary Dublin: (Due Friday 21 May 2021)
The 4,000 words essay is due by Friday of week 4 of Trinity Term.
20Dissertation Dates & Deadlines
Indication and preliminary discussion of dissertation topics: (Week beginning 19
April 2021)
Indication and preliminary discussion of dissertation topics in week 12 of Hilary term.
Dissertation Consultations: (From May-August 2021)
Consultations between students and supervisors on dissertations on the basis of
individual arrangement.
Supervisor signoff Dissertation (From May to 13 August 2021)
During Trinity Term, students work independently on their dissertations. Please note
that supervisor sign-off is 13 August 2021.
Submission of Dissertation (Due Tuesday 31 August 2021)
The content should be 15,000-16,000 words. Dissertations must be typed and bound in
accordance with the University regulations, available from the Course Executive Officer.
M.Phil. in Irish Writing Court of Examiners (January 2022)
Further to the Court of Examiners meeting, the Master in Philosophy in Irish Writing is
awarded on a pass/fail basis.
Publication of Results (January 2022)
This will be communicated and published through the Student Portal on mytcd.ie. An
official transcript and examiner’s report will be available by request through the Course
Executive Officer, 2-3 weeks after the publication date.
Commencements (Spring 2022)
Award of degree to successful candidates at Spring Commencements. For more details
please see the Academic Registry Graduation Website at the following link:
https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/graduation/
Successful postgraduate taught students (M.Phil.) will automatically be invited to
register through their mytcd.ie inbox early in 2022.
21Coursework Submission Requirements
The course is assessed by means of presented papers and a dissertation. Students must
submit essays relating to their compulsory courses and to their chosen options.
Please note in the schedule above the dates by which papers should be presented in
relation to specific courses. Topics for these papers will be posted on email and/or on
the notice board in the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre.
Submission of Work
Work is to be submitted to the wooden post box in the hall, inside the door of the
Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, as well as a PDF version to be submitted on Blackboard, any
time or day before the 12 noon deadline on the day the work is due in.
Word Count
Essays must be between ±10% of the designated word count. The word count range for
a 4,000 word essay is between 3,600-4,400 words. Both the upper and lower ends of
the word count range is an absolute limit. Presented papers are kept on file by the
Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre.
PLEASE KEEP A DIGITAL COPY OF ALL PRESENTED WORK
Marking Scale
Although the M.Phil. degree is awarded on a Distinction/Pass/Fail basis, individual
assignments within the M.Phil. courses are marked according to the following
standards:
1st 80–100 A paper of outstanding merit; publishable quality.
1st 70–79 A very strong and original paper: work displaying analytical
and argumentative power with good command of the facts
and/or arguments relevant to the questions and evidence of
ability to organise them with clarity, insight and efficiency.
Upper 2nd 60–69 Work displaying analytical power and argumentation of the
quality associated with a First, but with less comprehensive
and thorough command of evidence. Or work showing
considerable thoroughness but less analytical skill or less
clarity in organisation.
Lower 2nd 50–59 Competent work with no major defects, but giving an
incomplete account of the question, or marred by
inaccuracies. Or work which demonstrates lapses in (but does
not lack) analytical and argumentative skills.
223rd 40–49 Work that is generally weak with muddled argumentation, but
containing some evidence of knowledge of facts and analytical
skill. These marks are also used for work that, while competent
and knowledgeable in itself, does not address the question
asked.
Fail 0–39 Very poor quality work, not meeting the standards of information,
understanding and analysis required for graduate level.
TCD Grading System
Class Numerical Mark Equivalent
Grade (US)
I 70 -100% A+
II.1 65 – 69% A
60 – 64% A-
II.2 57 – 59% B+
54 – 56% B
50 – 53% B-
III 47 – 49% C+
44 – 46% C
40 - 43% C-
References/Sources:
Calendar, Part III, Section III 'Examinations, Assessment and Progression' and
'Assessment and Progression Regulations'
National Framework for Qualifications
Trinity Courses
My TCD Publication of Results January 2021
Graduation
23Presentation of Dissertations
Dissertation (30 ECTS)
The dissertation must be between 15,000 and 16,000 words, on a topic chosen in
consultation with the M.Phil. course directors and supervised during the summer by a
member of the teaching staff. Dissertations must be bound in accordance with the
University regulations and guidelines, see below. A word count should be included at
the end of the dissertation. Three copies should be presented. The dissertation must not
exceed the designated word count. Work exceeding the word count may be penalised.
The dissertation is an independent research project and a central element of the M.Phil.
Students will receive detailed supervision throughout the research and writing process.
Students and supervisors should agree a writing-up plan early on that will take account
of the particular demands of the project and that will allow adequate time for both
parties to write, read, and revise draft materials as appropriate. Students are expected
to ensure that draft material is submitted in line with the schedule agreed with the
supervisor. Substantive feedback will not normally be available after mid-August.
Dissertation Guidelines
• Students are advised to consult previous dissertations
• Two soft-bound copies and one hard-bound copy submitted by 31 August
2021 to the Course Executive Officer
• Submit a PDF version of your dissertation by 31 August 2021 to
Blackboard
• The content should be 15,000-16,000 words (this includes
footnotes/endnotes but not bibliography). Both the upper and lower ends of
the word count range is an absolute limit. The spacing is double or 1.5. Print
on one side of the paper only Paper size A4
• Add the word count to the end of the dissertation, ideally after the concluding
paragraph and before the bibliography.
• The format is normally Times New Roman and 12 point font
Format: TITLE PAGE (with statement bottom page)
DECLARATION (signed)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT (approx. 1 page)
A loose single page Abstract should be included – this can be similar to the
Summary
• The cover should have the dissertation title
• The hard-bound dissertation colour should be navy blue with gold embossing, in
either a plain or TCD textured cover.
• The hard-bound dissertation spine should navy blue with gold embossing
24• The soft-bound dissertation front cover should be either navy blue with gold
embossing, or transparent with black and white title page underneath.
• The soft-bound dissertation spine should be navy blue
• The soft-bound dissertation back page colour should be navy blue
• Please note that printers require a separate PDF document for both the front
cover and the side cover.
M.Phil. in Irish Writing 2021 Student Name
(hard-bound) (soft-bound)
TITLE PAGE
The title page should have the following:
(i) Title
(ii) Student Name
(iii) It is important to include the following
statement at the bottom of the page:
Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Master in Philosophy in Irish Writing, School of
English, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
August 2021.
25DECLARATION PAGE (must be signed)
I declare that this thesis has not been submitted
as an exercise for a degree at this or any other
university and that it is entirely my own work.
I agree that the Trinity College Library may lend
or copy this thesis upon request.
Signed..............
August 2021
TCD students have used the following bookbinding firms:
• Reads Design and Print
Setanta Centre
Nassau Street
Dublin 2
Phone: 01.6799117
Website: https://www.reads.ie
• Duffy Book Binders Ltd
Seville Terrace
Dublin 1
Phone: 01.8557579 Fax: 01.8557579
E-mail: duffybookbinders@eircom.net
• The Thesis Centre Ltd
65 Camden Street Lower
Dublin 2
Phone: 01.4753616 Fax: 01.4757342
Email: thesis@indigo.ie Website: thesiscentre.com
• Print Save
8 Burgh Quay
Dublin 2
26Email: students@printsave.ie
Telephone: 01.6777838
US students have used the following book binding firms.
• Acme Bookbinding, P.O. Box 290699, 100 Cambridge Street, Charlestown,
MA 02129-0212
Monday through Friday; 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. (617) 242-1100 local
(800) 242-1821 toll-free (617) 242-3764 fax Email: info@acmebook.com
• Smith-Shattuck Bookbinding, Princeton, NJ.
www.thesisbookbinding.com
Tel: 609.497.1445
Plagiarism and Referencing Guide
Plagiarism is a matter taken very seriously by the College and all students are
responsible for ensuring that they understand what constitutes plagiarism. Please note
that all postgraduate students must complete an online tutorial on plagiarism
before they submit work. This tutorial can be found here: http://tcd-
ie.libguides.com/plagiarism/ready-steady-write
Full Plagiarism Regulations:
Plagiarism - Excerpted from the College Calendar
1. General
It is clearly understood that all members of the academic community use and build on
the work and ideas of others. It is commonly accepted also, however, that we build on
the work and ideas of others in an open and explicit manner, and with due
acknowledgement.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the work or ideas of others as one’s own, without
due acknowledgement.
Plagiarism can arise from deliberate actions and also through careless thinking and/or
methodology. The offence lies not in the attitude or intention of the perpetrator, but in
the action and in its consequences.
It is the responsibility of the author of any work to ensure that he/she does not commit
plagiarism.
Plagiarism is considered to be academically fraudulent, and an offence against academic
integrity that is subject to the disciplinary procedures of the University.
2. Examples of Plagiarism
27Plagiarism can arise from actions such as:
(a) copying another student’s work;
(b) enlisting another person or persons to complete an assignment on the student’s
behalf;
(c) procuring, whether with payment or otherwise, the work or ideas of another;
(d) quoting directly, without acknowledgement, from books, articles or other sources,
either in printed, recorded or electronic format, including websites and social media;
(e) paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, the writings of other authors.
Examples (d) and (e) in particular can arise through careless thinking and/or
methodology where students:
i. fail to distinguish between their own ideas and those of others;
ii. fail to take proper notes during preliminary research and therefore lose track of
the sources from which the notes were drawn;
iii. fail to distinguish between information which needs no acknowledgement
because it is firmly in the public domain, and information which might be widely
known, but which nevertheless requires some sort of acknowledgement;
iv. come across a distinctive methodology or idea and fail to record its source.
All the above serve only as examples and are not exhaustive.
3. Plagiarism in the context of group work
Students should normally submit work done in co-operation with other students only
when it is done with the full knowledge and permission of the lecturer concerned.
Without this, submitting work which is the product of collusion with other students
may be considered to be plagiarism.
When work is submitted as the result of a Group Project, it is the responsibility of all
students in the Group to ensure, so far as is possible, that no work submitted by the
group is plagiarised.
4. Self-Plagiarism
No work can normally be submitted for more than one assessment for credit.
Resubmitting the same work for more than one assessment for credit is normally
considered self-plagiarism.
5. Avoiding Plagiarism
Students should ensure the integrity of their work by seeking advice from their
lecturers, tutor or supervisor on avoiding plagiarism. All schools and departments must
include, in their handbooks or other literature given to students, guidelines on the
appropriate methodology for the kind of work that students will be expected to
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