2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

PHIL2323 Research in Philosophy

40 creditsClass Size: 150

Module manager: Léa Salje
Email: l.c.salje@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Pre-requisite qualifications

None

Module replaces

None

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This research engagement and preparation module is designed to give BA Philosophy students an essential toolkit for conducting their own research in philosophy. These skills are taught by showing rather than telling: a number of research-active staff members lead sessions on their own cutting-edge research, and the work that goes into it behind the scenes. The primary purpose is to equip students with the practical research skills and intellectual confidence needed to tackle their own research project in the final year.

Objectives

The overall objective of this module is to develop the research skills needed to become producers as well as consumers of philosophical research. Specifically, on completion of this module, students will have gained:

(i) knowledge of the various stages of a successful philosophical research project (e.g., literature review, project planning, question design, drafting, implementation of feedback);

(ii) a good awareness of the range of intellectual skills required for a successful research project in philosophy (e.g., analytical, interpretative, critical, reflective);

(iii) increased confidence in a range of areas of practical and personal development underlying good research practice (e.g., working collaboratively, writing skills, presentation skills); and

(iv) experience of a wide range of new philosophical ideas and topics.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this module students will have:

1. extended their knowledge and understanding of the nature of philosophical research methodology

2. improved the ability to develop and defend their own philosophical view

3. developed an awareness of key philosophical positions and arguments in a particular area of philosophy

4. developed their ability to see connections between two or more different areas of philosophy

Skills outcomes
By the end of this module students will have:

1. improved skills necessary for personal responsibility in a work context (learning to learn, self-management, awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, strategies to improve their skills); and

2. improved transferable skills (communication both written and verbal, problem solving, teamwork).

Syllabus

The syllabus is designed around research preparation, execution and dissemination skills, and making the ‘hidden curriculum’ visible to all students. Topics might include, e.g.:

- Time and workload management

- Reading effectively & note-taking

- Producing extended bibliographies

- Inclusive citation practices; who gets represented?

- Question design

- Explication of methodology

- Thinking about researcher positionality

- Argument analysis

- Mapping out logical space

- Understanding, interpreting and summarising a target position

- Structuring a piece of work

- Giving and implementing feedback, written and verbal

- Developing sustained objections

- Developing original positive positions

- Writing for the reader

- Presentation skills

This syllabus will be taught via discussion of philosophical content that will change each year depending on the research specialism of the teaching staff. We will aim for a balance of philosophical subfields each year, organised around a central theme (e.g., ‘The Self’, ‘The Human Condition’, ‘Thinking about Thinking’, ‘The Way Things Are’.)

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Team Work	10	3.00	30.00
Lectures	22	1.00	22.00
Mini Conference	1	8.00	8.00
Seminars	9	2.00	18.00
Practicals	1	2.00	2.00
Private study hours			320.00
Total Contact hours			80.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			400.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Semester 1: There will be opportunities for informal formative feedback at weekly practical sessions, at which the research skill is discussed and groupwork exercises set. These will be interactive sessions, with plenty of opportunity to request and gain feedback on groupwork exercises completed the week before.



Semester 2: Students will be expected to develop their coursework essay during the semester, and at some points will be invited to bring elements of the piece of work to class as material to work on relevant to the research skill being discussed (e.g., ‘summarise your opponent’s key argument’); these will be used as the basis for in-class peer feedback. By design, this is a somewhat unusually frequent and ‘hands on’ source of ongoing formative feedback, so we expect the quality of the final submissions to be higher than average at L2.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Group Project	Portfolio of groupwork exercises from semester 1	30.00
Essay	4,000 words	70.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

The group project cannot have an individual resit in the same format; the alternate resit format will be an individual portfolio of a suitably shortened length, but still including a component relating to each of the groupwork exercises from semester 1.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/04/2024 16:19:42

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