Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. The MSc in Digital Scholarship introduces you to the full range of issues which arise when digital tools and methods are applied to traditional humanistic scholarship. It will equip you with the tools and knowledge to surmount those challenges, enabling you to develop a digitally-enhanced scholarly project of your own. You will learn to lead and manage digital projects in and outside the strictly academic domain, and gain the expertise to progress to innovative doctoral research projects. Course structure The course is comprised of the following four main elements, each of which helps you prepare for the dissertation. Elements of digital scholarship This core paper provides a systematic overview of every stage of a digital project and its data life-cycle. Each topic is illustrated by ongoing work in one or more of Oxford's flagship digital scholarship projects, the key problems they have encountered and the solutions they have developed. As such, the series also serves to introduce students to the division's major projects in the field, with a view to choosing the practicum placement and the dissertation topic. Methods of Digital Scholarship Methods of Digital Scholarship, running in the first term, will require you to choose two technical options papers which provide the hands-on training needed to equip students with specific methods relevant to their project. Subject-specific paper You will choose a subject-specific paper to provide graduate-level work of a more traditional kind in a discipline of your choice in the second term. The option will be selected from a list of existing master's papers available from faculties of the Humanities Division. Please note that availability of options may vary from year to year. Practicum placement The fourth element is a practicum placement in which you will gain experience developing your proposed research topic while working within Oxford's vast array of flagship Digital Scholarship projects and planning their own research projects with potential supervisors. Dissertation All of this work culminates in the dissertation, which is formulated flexibly to encourage both traditional academic prose and non-traditional digital outputs. You will work with a supervisor and have up to six hours of contact time/ support from them, starting at the end of Michaelmas term and continuing through Hilary term, though the bulk of the work will be concentrated in Trinity (summer) term.