Content: This module consists of an essay of 6,000 words maximum on a subject of your choice related to one or more of the modules being taken in the final year. The Extended Essay is a dissertation (equivalent to an entire 15-credit module assessed by modulework and examination). The significance of the module-codes is that Extended Essays with GREK or LATN codes can count towards the final-year language requirement (in Greek or Latin) for the BA Classics. To be accepted, however, essays submitted under these codes must focus on study of texts in the relevant original languages, with a strong linguistic (if not necessarily linguistics) focus. The Extended Essay is an opportunity for you to explore a subject that interests you (arising from the topics studied in some of the other modules taken) in depth and to produce a piece of self-directed, and hopefully original, research.


The module will have only one formal meeting, in mid-October, where the module convenor will explain how the module is organized, identify crucial deadlines and expectations, and make recommendations about how to proceed in defining your topic. This is followed, around Reading Week of Term 1, by submission of your provisional essay title on Turnitin, after which you will be assigned a supervisor with whom you will work on developing your research project. You are expected to meet with your supervisor at least once in Term 1 to sketch out the project in more detail: a final title, a 300-word abstract and a brief initial bibliography will then have to be submitted at the end of Term 1 via Turnitin.


In Term 2 you will meet with your supervisor to discuss progress as often as you and the supervisor deem necessary: a minimum of two meetings is expected. The supervisor will read one full draft of your Extended Essay; supervisors are not expected to read drafts after the end of Term 2 teaching. The final essay will be submitted on the first day of Term 3 (one electronic copy via Turnitin).


Your essay is expected to have a strong thesis and to define the contribution it makes to the field clearly and well; it is also expected to have an argument. Essays should go beyond purely descriptive work or uncritical summaries of existing opinion. The marking criteria used to assess Extended Essays can be found in the Department's Undergraduate Handbook. Examples of successful Extended Essays from past years can be found on the module Moodle page.

Skills: By the end of this module, you will have defined a research project of special personal interest to you, and researched and written a substantial piece of independent scholarship (equivalent, more or less, in length to a short published article in an academic journal). You will have practised taking control of your own learning, time-management, a variety of research skills, and the skills needed to draft and present your own scholarly work.

Notes: Students who are writing primarily about Greek texts in the original may choose to take GREK0012 ESSAY ON APPROVED SUBJECT (GREEK) rather than CLAS0043; students who are writing primarily about Latin texts in the original may choose to take LATN0012 ESSAY ON APPROVED SUBJECT (LATIN) rather than CLAS0043. If you are in doubt about which module you should choose, please contact the Ancient World Tutor for advice. Please note that it is possible, for those who wish to do it, to substitute a 30-credit, 10,000-word Ancient History or Archaeology dissertation for the compulsory Extended Essay in the BA Ancient World or choose it as an option in the BA Classics – this, however, needs to be set up in time, and registered for by the end of the registration period at the beginning of Term 1 of the academic year in which you plan to submit your dissertation.