Course summary

The Masters by Research is a new and exciting programme offered by the School of Postgraduate Theology at Liverpool Hope University The programme offers its students the opportunity to research in depth a topic that particularly interests them in the fields of Theology, Philosophy or Religious Studies. Research will be supervised by one of the departmental tutors, and will result in the production of a 30,000-35,000-word dissertation. Students will be encouraged to examine the effectiveness of academic research methods as aids to study and self-development, as a resource for the advancement of knowledge and understanding generally, and as a means for investigating, generating and implementing creative and independent solutions to problems in the field. Students will be helped to develop their capacity for advanced and sustained project management skills. These include outlining, defining and planning a research project, establishing and meeting deadlines, recording and reflecting on outcomes and generating sophisticated and robust arguments. Students will be challenged to find their own academically critical voice that will enable them to discuss their chosen topic against the background of contemporary academic debates. At the same time, they will investigate and deploy appropriate methodologies in a sophisticated manner.