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Arts, Literature and Media (Research)

The research master Arts, Literature and Media is a two-year programme (120 EC) divided in four semesters. It provides a mix of theoretical and period-specific training, tailored to students' own ambitions and interests.

Students may choose between two lines designed to delve into specific – historical – periods that work with different understandings of media:

  • The medieval and early modern line;

  • The modern and contemporary line.

NB: These lines are not separate - students are invited to mix and combine courses from both lines.

Students are free to design the rest of the programme based on their own interests. They should choose two courses (20 EC) provided by the national research schools, which offer an educational program around specific fields of research: medieval studies, art history, literary studies, media studies, cultural analysis. They also take three courses (30 EC) that are specific to their research and can be chosen from Leiden master programmes or other universities. Finally, in the ‘case-based research’ component students obtain a good grasp of a researcher’s ‘laboratory’ by collaborating with a staff member on one of their ongoing projects (5 EC).

First Year

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Compulsory Courses

LUCAS seminar: Cultural Theory for the 21st Century-Studying Representation and Mediation 5
Research School Courses (Arts, Literature and Media) 5

Choose Two Out of Four of the Theme Courses

The Epic Course: A Pre-Modern Genre and its digital disclosure 10
Questions of Law and Justice in Literature, Art and Media 10
Imagining Reconciliation in Literature, Art and Media: Early Modernity to the Present Day 10
Digital Media and Machinic Cultures 10

Choose One Out of Two of the Core Courses

Core Course: Methodologies and Theories – Medieval & Early Modern 10
Core Course: Methodological Concepts in Arts, Literature and Media 10

Elective

Students take two courses from another programme for 20 EC in total in their first year. Suggestions:

ResMA course from another programme
Leiden Elective Academic Periodical 10

Second Year

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Compulsory Courses

Case Based Research 5
LUCAS Advanced Writing Seminar 10
Research School Courses (Arts, Literature and Media) 5
Thesis Seminar RMA Arts, Literature and Media
MA Thesis Arts, Literature and Media (research) 30

Elective

Students take one course from another programme for 10 EC in their second year

Non-curricular courses

Internship ALM 10
Leiden Elective Academic Periodical 10

More Info

The programme has the following objectives:

  1. to broaden and deepen the students’ historical, theoretical and medium specific knowledge, their cultural understanding, and their aesthetic and ethical sensibilities; to train them in the use of scholarly methods in the fields of arts, literature and media:

  2. to enable students to develop the following academic and professional skills:

  • the ability to solve (academic) problems independently, critically and creatively;

  • the ability to analyse complex problems;

  • the ability to clearly report academic results, both in writing and orally,

  1. to prepare students for an academic career at a university for postgraduate programmes;

  2. to prepare students for a non-academic career in the public or private sector for which advanced research skills and practical research experience are a prerequisite.

More information can be found in the Course and Examination Regulations (OER) of the programme: Faculty and study programme regulations

Career Preparation

Career Preparation in the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media

The programme

The curriculum of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media is characterised by a focus on Arts and Culture, Media Studies or Literary Studies, or students explore a single period (Middle Ages/Early Modern or Modern and Contemporary). The programme's flexibility will encourage you to adopt an interdisciplinary perspective. During your studies you will acquire a valuable range of skills and knowledge, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary, historical and theoretical.

How can you use this knowledge and the skills that you acquire? Which specialisation should you choose within your study programme and why? What skills do you already have, and what further skills do you still want to learn? How do you translate the courses that you choose into something that you’d like to do after graduation?

These questions and more will be discussed at various times during your study programme. You may already have spoken about them with your study coordinator, the Humanities Career Service or other students, or made use of the Leiden University Career Zone. Many different activities are organised to help you reflect on your own wishes and options, and give you the chance to explore the job market. All these activities are focused on the questions: ‘What can I do?’, ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How do I achieve my goals?’.

Activities

You will be notified via the Faculty website, your study programme website and email about further activities in the area of job market preparation. The following activities will help you to thoroughly explore your options, so we advise you to take careful note of them:

Transferable skills

Future employers are interested not only in the subject-related knowledge that you acquired during your study programme, but also in the ‘transferable skills’. These include cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and argumentation and innovation; intrapersonal skills, such as flexibility, initiative, appreciating diversity and metacognition; and interpersonal skills, such as communication, accountability and conflict resolution. In short, they are skills that all professionals need in order to perform well.

It is therefore important that during your study programme you not only acquire as much knowledge as possible about your subject, but also are aware of the skills you have gained and the further skills you still want to learn. The course descriptions in the e-Prospectus of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media include, in addition to the courses’ learning objectives, a list of the skills that they aim to develop.

Courses of the Research Master Arts, Literature and Media

Courses of the study programme obviously help to prepare you for the job market. As a study programme, we aim to cover this topic either directly or less directly in each semester.

Students can opt for an internship where they gain valuable work experience. You can contact the study adviser to discuss this option.

Contact

If you have any questions about career choices, whether in your studies or on the job market, you are welcome to make an appointment with the career adviser of the Humanities Career Service, or with your study adviser

February Starters

Most students start this study programme in September but there is also a possibility to start in February.

Programme changes

Students who start this programme in February follow a slightly adjusted version of the study programme presented in the study guide. For some of these adjustments there may be different options, so it is advisable to first discuss the adjusted study programme with the study advisor in order to take well-informed decisions.

The most important adjustments for February-starters concern the first year of their studies. Students are expected to follow the programme in the order mentioned below.

Compulsory

  • LUCAS seminar: Cultural Theory for the 21st Century - Semester 2 (autumn semester)

  • LUCAS Advanced Writing Seminar - semester 2 (autumn semester) - Semester 2 (autumn semester)

Choose one of the following

  • Core Course: Methodologies and Theories - Medieval and Early Modern - Semester 1 (spring semester)

  • Core Course: Methodological Concepts in Arts, Literature and Media - Semester 1 (spring semester)

Optional

  • Case Based Research - Semester 2 (autumn semester)
    The Case Based Research course can be taken in semester 2 or 3 (recommended) or semester 4 (possible but not recommended)

The other courses (theme courses and electives) remain unchanged and can be chosen according to timing and availability.

Thesis deadlines and graduation

Prior to handing in your thesis, you should have completed the resMA Thesis Seminar (5264VTSEM).

The informative and methodological sessions of the thesis seminar take place in the autumn semester; in the spring semester the seminar operates mainly as a collective writing- and peer-review-lab. February-starters can start the thesis seminar in their second semester (autumn) or in their third semester (spring); in the latter case, they attend the informative and methodological sessions in their 4th semester (autumn), parallel tot writing their thesis.

Graduation for February-starters takes place at the end of the autumn semester. The timeframe and related deadlines are as follows:

  • Submission of thesis proposal to the examination board: 15 June of the year preceding graduation

  • Submission of complete draft version of the thesis: 1 December

  • Submission of final version to supervisor: 21 December

Supervisor and second readers have four weeks to read and grade the thesis (six in holiday periods).