Student Handbook - The School of Language, Linguistics and Film

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School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film
Handbook for
Undergraduate Students
2012-13
This handbook is for all students taking
Single or Joint Honours BA degrees involving:
Catalan
Comparative Literature
European Studies
Film Studies
French
German
Hispanic Studies
Linguistics
Portuguese
Russian
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This Handbook should be used together with the Academic Regulations and the Student
Guide. This Handbook provides information specific to the School of Languages, Linguistics
and Film, while the Student Guide gives information common to all students at the College.
The Academic Regulations provide detailed information on award requirements and
governance.
Nothing in this Handbook overrides the Academic Regulations, which always take
precedence.
This Handbook is also available online at:
http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate
The Student Guide is a College publication which will be available at the start of the
academic year. The Guide should be used together with this Handbook for general
information on your time at Queen Mary. It is available online at: http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk
The Student Guide contains a wide range of information, including:
• Academic and student support services
• The academic year
• Campus facilities
• Simplified academic regulations
• How to? advice
• Queen Mary contact information
• Calendar
• Graduation and alumni
• Student administration, and common issues and processes
• College policies
• Campus and College information
The Academic Regulations are available online at:
http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/
This Handbook can be made available in large print format. If you would like a large print
copy, or have other requirements for the Handbook, please contact Jill Evans:
j.k.evans@qmul.ac.uk or 020 7882 8300.
The information in this handbook is correct as of September 2012. In the unlikely event of
substantial amendments to the material, we will attempt to inform you of the changes.
The College cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of information given in
third party publications or websites referred to in this Handbook.
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1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 7
About the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film ............................................................................... 7
Contacting staff in the School ........................................................................................................................ 8
Contacting you ................................................................................................................................................. 9
Email etiquette in the School ......................................................................................................................... 9
Your Queen Mary ID card ............................................................................................................................ 10
2. UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES ......................................................................... 10
2.1 PLANNING YOUR DEGREE ................................................................................................................. 11
Queen Mary Academic Credit Framework (“QMACF”) ........................................................................... 11
Registration and choosing modules ........................................................................................................... 12
Levels .............................................................................................................................................................. 12
Transfers between modules and programmes of study .......................................................................... 13
Programme Regulations ............................................................................................................................... 13
Catalan ............................................................................................................................................................ 14
Comparative Literature ................................................................................................................................. 14
European Studies .......................................................................................................................................... 14
Film Studies .................................................................................................................................................... 15
French ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
German ........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Hispanic Studies ............................................................................................................................................ 17
Linguistics ....................................................................................................................................................... 17
Portuguese ..................................................................................................................................................... 18
Russian ........................................................................................................................................................... 18
2.2 THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE ........................................................................................................... 19
Attendance ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
Private study ................................................................................................................................................... 20
Teaching ......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Preparation for classes ................................................................................................................................. 20
Taking notes ................................................................................................................................................... 21
Feedback ........................................................................................................................................................ 21
Deadlines ........................................................................................................................................................ 21
Time management ........................................................................................................................................ 21
Disability .......................................................................................................................................................... 22
Advice and support for disabled or dyslexic students ............................................................................. 22
Writing essays ................................................................................................................................................ 23
Help with academic study and English language skills ........................................................................... 30
SLLF Writing Support Centre ...................................................................................................................... 31
Module evaluation by students .................................................................................................................... 31
Programme evaluation by final year students ........................................................................................... 31
3. ADVISERS AND THE ADVISING SYSTEM ..................................................... 31
4. DEALING WITH PROBLEMS ........................................................................... 33
4.1 ADVICE AND COUNSELLING SERVICE .......................................................................................... 33
4.2 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES ................................................................................................... 35
Extenuating circumstances during Semesters One and Two ................................................................ 36
Extenuating circumstances during the Examination Term ..................................................................... 37
4.3 PERSONAL HARASSMENT ................................................................................................................. 38
4.4 DEBT ......................................................................................................................................................... 38
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4.5 SCHOOL COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE ............................................................................................. 38
5. ASSESSMENT, EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREE CLASSIFICATION ............ 40
5.1 ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 40
Assessment methods ................................................................................................................................... 40
Language of assessment ............................................................................................................................. 40
Written examinations .................................................................................................................................... 40
Coursework .................................................................................................................................................... 41
Handing in coursework ................................................................................................................................. 41
Plagiarism ....................................................................................................................................................... 42
5.2 EXAMINATIONS PROCESS ................................................................................................................. 43
Progression .................................................................................................................................................... 43
Re-sitting modules ......................................................................................................................................... 43
First sitting modules ...................................................................................................................................... 45
Retaking an academic year (First Take) .................................................................................................... 45
Marking and examining ................................................................................................................................ 45
5.3 DEGREE CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................................................. 46
Award of degree ............................................................................................................................................ 46
Classification .................................................................................................................................................. 46
Degree titles ................................................................................................................................................... 47
5.4 MARKING CRITERIA AND SUBJECT BENCHMARKS ................................................................. 47
Marking scheme for undergraduate work .................................................................................................. 47
Level benchmarks for modules on literature/culture ................................................................................ 48
Level benchmarks for modules in linguistics ............................................................................................. 49
Level benchmarks for modules in film studies .......................................................................................... 50
Stage benchmarks for language modules ................................................................................................. 51
Marking criteria for undergraduate work .................................................................................................... 52
Criteria for marking modules on literature/ culture, linguistics and film ................................................ 52
Criteria for marking language modules ...................................................................................................... 55
Language pathways followed by students in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film .......... 56
6. YEAR ABROAD AND YEAR ABROAD ASSESSMENT .................................. 58
6.1 YEAR ABROAD FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS ................................................................................ 59
6.2 YEAR ABROAD ASSESSMENT .......................................................................................................... 60
6.3 VACATION COURSES .......................................................................................................................... 60
7. ASSOCIATE AND ERASMUS STUDENTS ...................................................... 61
8. STUDENT / STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE ..................................................... 61
Terms of reference ........................................................................................................................................ 62
Membership .................................................................................................................................................... 62
Election of student members ....................................................................................................................... 62
9. LIBRARIES AND BOOKSHOPS ...................................................................... 62
10. IT, AUDIO-VISUAL AND LANGUAGE LEARNING FACILITIES ................... 64
10.1 IT SERVICES ......................................................................................................................................... 64
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10.2 AUDIO-VISUAL FACILITIES .............................................................................................................. 64
10.3 LANGUAGE LEARNING FACILITIES .............................................................................................. 64
11. POSTGRADUATE STUDIES .......................................................................... 64
12. CAREERS ....................................................................................................... 65
13. QUEEN MARY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES .................................................... 65
14. PRIZES ............................................................................................................ 65
15. STUDENT SOCIETIES .................................................................................... 66
16. THE ARTS ONE BUILDING ............................................................................ 66
17. DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION ................................................................. 66
17.1 DEPARTMENT OF FILM STUDIES ................................................................................................... 66
17.2 DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH .............................................................................................................. 66
17.3 DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN ............................................................................................................. 67
17.4 DEPARTMENT OF IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES .............................................. 67
17.5 DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS ..................................................................................................... 68
17.6 DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN ............................................................................................................ 68
18. STAFF CONTACT DETAILS .......................................................................... 70
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, LINGUISTICS AND FILM ......................................................................... 70
DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND CULTURE .................................................. 70
DEPARTMENT OF FILM STUDIES ........................................................................................................... 71
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH ...................................................................................................................... 71
DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN ..................................................................................................................... 71
DEPARTMENT OF IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ........................................................ 72
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS ............................................................................................................. 72
DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN ..................................................................................................................... 73
19. USEFUL COLLEGE TELEPHONE NUMBERS .............................................. 73
20. TERM DATES 2012-13 ................................................................................... 73
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1. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. We hope that this year will
prove a rewarding and enjoyable academic experience. This Handbook aims to give you the
information you need in order to get the most out of your studies in the School. Please read
it carefully, and keep it so that you can refer to it throughout the year. This is in your own
interest. The book is intended to help you, but you are also expected to be aware of
its contents. Teaching and administrative staff will be operating according to the
procedures described here, and it will not be allowable to claim that you were
unaware of the regulations, penalties, and so forth, that are set out in these pages. If
you find any of the information in this book unclear, please do not hesitate to ask for
guidance from any member of staff.
You will also need the School’s Directory of Modules which gives details of all modules on
offer in the current session. This information is also available on the School website at
www.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate. A full listing of all the modules offered across the College is
also available on the College website at www.qmul.ac.uk/modules.
Queen Mary now uses its student records system, MySIS, to give students and staff online
access to information about module registration, enrolment, assessment etc. This system
allows you access to your own information and promises a much more efficient
management of your records. Information on accessing and using MySIS will have been
sent to you by the Academic Registry as part of the instructions for enrolling for this
academic year.
One very general comment before we go into detail. Members of staff of the School are here
to help and guide you. All students have a personal Adviser. If you cannot see your Adviser,
you may speak to another member of staff. There is a Senior Tutor for each year of study.
If you have queries or problems, we will listen to them attentively and consider them
seriously. Do not keep silent about difficulties that affect your ability to study effectively: the
longer they go on, the worse they can get, and the less we may be able to do about them.
About the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
The School’s aims, with regard to the undergraduate programmes of study we provide, or to
which we contribute, are:
• to maintain a high quality, stimulating and congenial learning environment for all
students of Catalan, Comparative Literature, European Studies, Film Studies,
French, German, Hispanic Studies, Linguistics, Portuguese, and Russian;
• provide an intellectually challenging academic culture informed by innovative
research and scholarship of national and international standing, and by proven
excellence in teaching and research, with some of our departments belonging to the
foremost research units in the UK;
• to make students aware of, and allow them to benefit from, appropriate
interdisciplinary programmes and activities within the School, the Faculty of Arts, and
the Humanities and Social Sciences Sector of the College;
• to ensure that the content of degree programmes and courses in all subjects reflects
new and cutting edge research within the discipline, and the particular research
expertise of members of staff;
• to provide language students with the highest possible degree of linguistic
competence and confidence in written and spoken foreign language production;
• to enable students at undergraduate and postgraduate level to develop appropriate
skills of critical thinking and judgement, and to undertake independent research;
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• to enable students to develop as independent, reflective learners who accept
responsibility for the management of their own learning and intellectual development;
• to assist students in the acquisition of a range of cognitive and transferable skills
relevant to their intellectual, professional and personal development;
• to engage in a continuous process of curriculum innovation and development,
sensitive to changes within the disciplines and the non-academic world;
• to support student learning through provision of appropriate teaching materials,
including e-materials, through the delivery of the curriculum, and through appropriate
structures of pastoral care;
• to draw on the wide range of resources that our London context provides for all
disciplines taught in the School;
• to connect students, as appropriate, with our world-wide networks of research and
exchange programmes by offering a host of events and contacts with affiliates from
other (academic and non-academic) institutions, visiting academics, authors,
filmmakers etc..
The School is responsible for delivering degree programmes in Modern Languages,
Comparative Literature, Film Studies and Linguistics. You are first and foremost a student of
the School (as far as your study of these subjects is concerned), and only secondly of a
department or departments within it. The members of the teaching staff are divided into
various groups depending on the subjects they teach. In particular, there are a number of
departments corresponding to the languages taught in the School: French, German, Iberian
and Latin American Studies, and Russian; there are also the departments of Comparative
Literature and Culture, of Linguistics, and of Film Studies. But members of staff co-operate
across departments, so that members of the language departments, for example, contribute
to modules in Comparative Literature. Overall responsibility for the School rests with the
Head of School, who works in conjunction with the Chairs of the departments and other
senior officers of the School.
The School has an excellent record in research and teaching, as shown by its consistently
high performance in the RAE, with strong evidence of national, international and world-class
recognition in all its disciplines. In the RAE 2008, the School’s scores for 3* and 4* were:
French 55%, German 40%, Iberian and Latin American Studies 60%, Linguistics 80% and
Russian 40%. The department of Film Studies will make its own submissions to REF in
2013, when we expect to be graded equally highly. These independent assessments show,
we believe, that the School is well on the way to achieving its aims.
Contacting staff in the School
All academic staff set aside office hours during term-time when they are available without
appointment to see students. These hours are displayed on their office doors. You should,
where possible, use these hours to see Module Organisers with queries about your
modules, or your Adviser about any matter you wish to discuss. If you cannot see a member
of staff during his or her office hours, it is often easiest to contact staff by email to arrange
an alternative time. Email addresses, as well as telephone numbers and office locations for
all staff are listed at the back of this book, and on the website.
The School’s administrative office is room 1.08, on the first floor of the Arts One Building.
The office is open daily from 10 am to 4 pm during term-time.
There is a School postbox in the Gallery Area on the first floor of the Arts One Building
which is emptied at least once daily, the last time at 4 pm. You should use this to post any
messages for members of staff, as well as to submit any required or assessed coursework.
Do NOT put work or any other messages under office doors as they may go missing. The
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postbox is kept locked, so your work or message is safe once it has been posted in there,
and will be delivered straight to the staff pigeonholes which are in a secure room.
Contacting you
When you enrol for your first year, you will be registered with the College’s IT Services, and
receive a username (with password). As well as allowing you to make full use of IT facilities,
the internet and College intranet, and giving you access to our Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE) platform, QMPlus, this will give you access to your College email address. This is vital
as this is the email address we will use to contact you throughout your studies. Please note
that you can forward messages automatically from your College account to any other email
address if you prefer (such as hotmail etc.). You should consult the Arts Computing or IT
Services staff for advice on this.
We may contact you in one of a number of ways: either individually or as part of a group; via
your College email; via the noticeboards or QMPlus pages relevant to your subject area, or
a particular module; via the School’s LCD screens; via the student pigeonholes. On
occasion, we may need to write to you at either your home or term-time address. You must
ensure that you keep your personal details up to date on MySIS. You must check your
email regularly, and the noticeboards, screens and pigeonholes every time you are in
College – we will expect that you have received any information passed on in these ways,
so it is your responsibility to make sure that you do.
Any mail that is sent to you at the College, or messages from staff, will be placed in the
student pigeonholes, located in the Gallery area on the first floor of the Arts One Building.
You can also use these pigeonholes to leave notes for fellow students. Do not leave
coursework or messages there for staff: you should use the postbox described above.
Each module offered in the School will have a QMPlus page which the module organiser will
use to make material relevant to that module available for you to download. You must be
properly registered for the module to access the page. You can log into QMPlus at
http://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/
The School has two LCD screens which show identical information. One is located outside
the main administration office, Arts One 108, and the other in the Gallery Area on the first
floor of the Arts One Building. These screens will be used to display general information
about the School, such as forthcoming events, and also for urgent messages.
There is a noticeboard for each department. The noticeboard for Film Studies is located
outside the Hitchcock Cinema (Arts One G19). The noticeboards for Comparative Literature
and Culture, French, German, Iberian and Latin American Studies, Linguistics, and Russian
are located in the Gallery Area on the first floor.
Email etiquette in the School
The School has implemented the following guidelines for email use which apply to staff AND
students in the School:
• All email communications must take place using the College email system (staff must
use their named College email addresses and students must use their College email
addresses).
• Staff must activate the signature function on their email and include further contact
details (phone number, office and office hours).
• Students must be sure to include their full name and student id number in every
message and a clear description of any query.
• Staff and students must check their email every working day (please note Saturday,
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Sunday and bank holidays are not working days) during the teaching and
examination terms.
• Staff and students will reply to emails within three working days of receipt during the
teaching and examination terms.
• If the query is a complex one that can’t be dealt with within three days then staff and
students must acknowledge receipt of the email and give an estimated time in which
a response will be likely.
• If absent from College for longer than three days staff and students should set an
‘autoreply’ message and where appropriate give contact details for someone who
can deal with queries on their behalf.
• Emails should not be used to find out information that is readily available in the
student handbook and/or university web pages (you must search first, email second).
• Emails should be written in a suitable and polite register and should not use slang or
informal abbreviations.
• Involved and complicated queries are often best dealt with face to face in office
hours and a member of staff may suggest that you come to see them rather than
respond by email.
Your Queen Mary ID card
You will receive a photo-ID card upon enrolment. This card is very important, and must be
carried at all times on campus. If you do not produce this card upon request and satisfy staff
that it is your card through comparison of your face and the photograph, you may be
removed from the building, or from campus.
The card shows your Student Number. You must take your card into all examinations, and
display it on your table for inspection. You will also need to copy the Student Number onto
your paper.
The card also serves as your library card, and as an access card for certain buildings. Many
buildings have security points at which you must show your card, and others require you to
scan your card to release the doors. Students in the School have card access to the rear
and side doors of the Arts One Building from 8 am – 6 pm Monday to Friday.
It is vital that you keep your card safe and with you at all times on campus. If you lose your
card, or if your card is stolen, you should contact the Registry, who will be able to help you.
A fee may be charged to replace lost ID Cards.
2. UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
At Queen Mary, you can study towards a wide variety of degrees. You may also have a lot
of choice within particular subjects. There are core and compulsory theoretical modules
which must be taken in all of our degrees, and in any language degree there is an obligatory
core of language studies. The remainder of the curriculum is made up of optional modules in
film, cultural studies, literature, and linguistics. This structure is called ‘modular’. If you find
that your academic interests change, you can sometimes change your programme in the
course of your studies, provided that you meet the core requirements of the new
programme.
We would encourage you to use your choices to extend your range of knowledge and skills.
Do not be afraid of subjects you may not have studied at school, and do not think that a
language-based module is aimed simply at improving your language skills. To study
literature or film at university is to learn to read books or watch films with care, to think about
the picture of the world they give, the reactions they provoke, the ideas they convey or
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challenge, the way in which they throw light on a society’s culture and history. It also means
learning what is specific to the medium: to understand the various visual ‘languages’
employed in cinema or the various forms of writing that can be found in novels, plays,
philosophical works, and so on. To study linguistics is to understand how language in
general, and particular languages, actually work, as distinct from using them in practice: how
languages have changed and are changing over time, how the study of language gives an
insight into culture, society, the workings of the human mind. These subjects can all be
difficult, but they are not mysterious, and all of them will help you develop your skills of
analysis and self-expression in ways that will benefit your career, even if you work in a
completely different area.
In making your choice of modules, you have to take account of the requirements of the
degree programme you are registered for, and of academic coherence (i.e. the different
subjects you study should have some kind of relation to one another). You have an Adviser
to help you make appropriate choices.
You are expected to attend all classes, and to pursue your studies outside class during term
and vacations. If you have to take a paid job, remember that you are still registered as a fulltime
student, and must give your studies precedence.
The above is a broad introduction, to give you a general idea of what is involved in your
degree. But you will need more precise information, which is given below.
2.1 PLANNING YOUR DEGREE
Queen Mary Academic Credit Framework (“QMACF”)
The College operates under its Academic Credit Framework, which is in line with national
norms. The QMACF ensures that your degree is easily recognisable worldwide by
reference to the National Qualifications Framework, as set out by the UK’s Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority.
In the College’s terminology your overall degree (e.g. Film Studies; French and Linguistics;
Hispanic Studies with Business Management) is called a ‘programme of study’. A specific
element of study (e.g. French Feminist Theories; Spanish Cinema;) is a ‘module’. Each
module is run by a ‘Module Organiser’, who is the member of staff responsible for all
aspects of the module. In many cases, this will also be the sole teacher of the module, but
some modules may involve more than one teacher. The Module Organiser is named in the
Directory of Modules, and is the person to approach in case of any queries about the
module.
Each module has a weight or ‘credit’ value attached to it, which is a multiple of 15. Students
choose combinations of modules up to the required value of 120 credits per year. There is a
programme specification for each programme of study which will inform you of the
requirements you must meet in order to qualify for a degree in a particular subject. These
are on the website at http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/programme_regulations.html
Of the modules available, most are valued at 15 credits. These generally run for one
semester and require a quarter of your time for that semester. (Note that only a part of this
time will be spent in classes; most of it will be spent on self-directed study.) Some modules
are valued at 30 credits. Generally, these last all year and require a quarter of your time
during each semester.
During their compulsory period abroad, language students are required to complete a Year
Abroad Assessment, which may be a single project, or a Learning Log, or be formed from
the results of the examinations at their host university (see § 6 YEAR ABROAD AND YEAR
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ABROAD ASSESSMENT). The Year Abroad Assessment is valued at 120 credits. If you
split the year abroad between two different placements, you will submit two 60 credit
Semester Abroad Assessments.
As well as a credit value, modules also have a level assigned to them, which indicates their
difficulty, and you are required to progress up the scale to BA honours level during the
course of your studies. There are requirements as to how many modules you can take at the
lower levels as well as a minimum number you must take at the level of the award (level 6).
Registration and choosing modules
Students will be able to pre-register during the summer for modules in the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film in the following session. Most other Schools also allow preregistration,
although only to students enrolled on their own programmes of study. Many
modules are heavily subscribed and you may be disappointed if you do not take advantage
of pre-registration. Please note that your core modules count towards your 120 credits per
year. Native speakers of any language they are studying should check with their Adviser
about alternative requirements (see Required pathways through the School’s degree
programmes).
Your Adviser is there to help you decide which modules to choose each year, and must
approve your choices to ensure that you follow a coherent programme throughout your
studies at Queen Mary. You should also take care to balance your workload; try to avoid too
many modules in the same semester, or too many with a high element of assessed
coursework.
Students in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film are not permitted to take more
than one introductory language at the same time. Students wishing to take Language Centre
modules should also note what is said below concerning levels.
Levels
All undergraduate modules in the School are assigned a level, either 4, 5, or 6. These levels
are consistent with the National Qualifications Framework, which classifies A-level standard
work as level 3. The level of a module indicates the difficulty and is determined by the
learning outcomes; essentially what you will be expected to have achieved by the end of the
module. Full details of these are given in §5.2 EXAMINATIONS PROCESS. The academic
levels are as follows:
Level 3: Pre-university or foundation level
Level 4: Certificate level
Level 5: Intermediate level
Level 6: Honours level
Level 7: Masters level
Occasionally, modules may be assigned a dual level, either 4/5 or 5/6, in which case
separate learning outcomes are given for each level; there is a separate module code, and
different assessment may apply.
A few of the College’s modules are defined as level 3, which means they are at or below the
standard for admission to an Honours degree programme, and although these modules do
count towards your 120 credit load for the year, they do not count towards the number of
credits required for progression, or towards the minimum credits required for the award of
your degree (see § 5.3 DEGREE CLASSIFICATION).
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It is usual for students to progress from one level to the next as they progress through each
year of their degree. However, it may be appropriate for you to take some modules from a
level lower or, in exceptional cases, a level higher than your year of study may indicate.
FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
You take 120 credits at level 4 in your first year.
SECOND YEAR STUDENTS
1. You must take at least 90 credits at level 5 in your second year.
2. Up to 30 credits may be at level 4 with your adviser’s agreement, and module
organiser’s consent. You may not take more than 150 credits in total at level 4 during
your entire degree.
3. Up to 30 credits may be at level 6 with your adviser’s agreement, and module
organiser’s consent (sought on a case-by-case basis), and if the appropriate level 5 prerequisite
has been met.
FINAL YEAR STUDENTS
1. You must take at least 90 overall credits at level 6 in your final year. This includes any
core modules.
2. In order for a subject to be named in your degree title, as well as meeting the minimum
credit and core module requirements of the programme, you must take at least 15
credits in that subject at level 6 in your final year.
3. You may take up to 30 credits at level 5 with your adviser’s agreement, and module
organiser’s consent.
4. You may not take any modules at level 4 in your final year.
Transfers between modules and programmes of study
If you wish to change a module or your programme of study you should first discuss any
proposed transfer with your Adviser. No module or programme changes can be made
without approval. You must consider carefully the academic coherence of your chosen
modules, as well as their suitability to your own personal interests and to the level at which
you are studying.
If you have registered for a module, and after attending one or two sessions realise that you
are not really suited to it, you may withdraw, but you must get your Adviser’s permission.
You will need to come to the School Main Office to make an amendment to your registration.
You will be expected to substitute another module, since all students must be registered for
modules to the value of 120 credits per year. You may not withdraw from a module, or
join a new module, however, after the end of the second week of teaching. If you
withdraw from a module, you must remember to let the Module Organiser know, or you may
find yourself being chased up for non-attendance. It is essential that you formally change
your registration; it is not enough simply to stop attending one module and start attending
another.
Transfers between programmes of study require the permission of any department or
School concerned. Within the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, the transfer must
first be agreed by the UCAS selector for the programme you wish to join, including
transfers to the single honours programme of a subject you are already taking as a joint
honours student. You may need to repeat all or part of a year of study in order to meet the
requirements of your new programme. If the change is agreed, then you must complete a
‘Change of programme’ form which is available from the School Main Office.
Programme Regulations
The programme regulations lay out the requirements you need to meet to qualify for a
degree in your chosen programme of study. Apart from the core and compulsory theory and
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language modules, there are few prescribed sequences of modules. However, there are
overall specifications to ensure not only that you take sufficient modules in your chosen
subject overall, but that you progress in the course of your studies until you are taking
predominantly honours level modules. It is vital that you are familiar with these
requirements as these will affect the pathway choices you are able to make.
Some modules are core, which means you must take and achieve a pass in order to
continue your studies; some are compulsory, which means you must take them but a fail
mark will not necessary prevent you from progressing, as long as you gain sufficient credits
overall to progress; some requirements differ according to your circumstances, eg there may
be different requirements for native speakers of the language studied.
The full requirements for each of our programmes are set out on the School’s website at:
http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/programme_regulations.html. The core and
compulsory modules are summarised below but you will see from the full requirements that
you will need to take more than just these modules to qualify for your degree. Please note
that more than one set of regulations may apply to you.
Catalan
The following modules are required for students of Catalan within the programme Hispanic
Studies and Catalan Language:
First Year For joint honours students
CAT110 Introductory Catalan (core)
Second Year For joint students
CAT512 Catalan II Intensive (core)
Final Year: For joint honours students
CAT601 Catalan III (core)
Comparative Literature
The following modules are required for single and joint honours students of Comparative
Literature:
First Year For joint and single honours students
COM/100 The Scene of Teaching (compulsory)
COM/101 Introduction to Literature: Texts and Contexts (compulsory)
COM/102 Introduction to Comparison (compulsory)
Second Year For joint and single honours students
COM/200 The Scene of Reading (compulsory)
Final Year: For joint and single honours students
COM/300 The Scene of Writing (compulsory)
European Studies
The following modules are required for students of European Studies:
First Year SML/002 European Culture and Society (compulsory)
Other modules chosen must have a recognisable European element to count towards a
degree title including ‘European Studies’. The modules overleaf will be accepted by the
School. Please note that inclusion in this list does not imply any guarantee of a place being
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available - you will need to find out from the relevant School their procedures for registering,
and must meet the relevant pre-requisite.
Modules within the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film:
Only content modules offered by departments outside your core language(s) will be counted
towards a ‘European Studies’ title. However, non-European related options, such as those
on Latin American literature, culture and film do NOT count.
All other School of Languages, Linguistics and Film modules are otherwise eligible. The
following modules from Schools outside the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film are
also eligible to count towards a title of ‘European Studies’.
Level 5
ESH219 Representing London: The Eighteenth Century
ESH243 Architexts
ESH249 Art Histories: An Introduction To The Visual Arts In London
GEG5110 Society, Culture And Space
HST5211 English Society, 1580 - 1720
HST5300 The Age Of Impressionism: Art In France And Britain 1860 - 1900
HST5304 Britain And Europe 1945-1963
HST5306 Challenging Europe's Political And Social Order: The 1848 Revolution
HST5309 Early Modern Art In The Twentieth Century, 1900 - 1950
HST5324 A Century Of Extremes: Germany, 1890-1990
HST5326 From Napoleon To Berlusconi: Italy, 1796 - 1996
HST5327 From The Tsars To The Bolsheviks: Russia 1801 - 1921
LAW5105 Law Of The European Union
POL243 British Politics
Level 6
ESH304 Renaissance Visual Culture
HST6303 Protest And Revolution In Germany: 1789 - 1989
LAW6002 European Comparative Law
POL330 European Integration And The European Union As A Political System
POL333 French Politics
POL351 European Politics: National Identity And Ethnicity
Film Studies
The following modules are required for students of Film Studies:
First Year For joint and single honours students
FLM/100 Introduction to Film (core)
FLM/004 Auteurism: The European Tradition (compulsory)
FLM/105 Stars (compulsory)
Second Year For joint and single honours students
FLM/003 What is Cinema? Theoretical Approaches (core)
Final Year no core or compulsory modules
Students of Film studies should also refer to the additional document: Information for
students of Film Studies which will be distributed at the start of term briefing meetings.
Each module in Film Studies is owned by either the Department of History (modules
coded HST/) or the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film (modules coded CAT/, FLM/,
FRE/, GER/, HSP/, POR/, RUS/) and is run subject to the regulations and procedures of that
15

parent department. It is therefore essential that, in addition to this Handbook, you
obtain a copy of the Undergraduate Handbook for the School of History, regardless of
which subject you are combining with Film Studies. There may be variations, for
example, in the way in which you are required to submit coursework, or how you may expect
to get it back after marking. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of the
correct procedure to follow for each module.
French
The following modules are required for students of French.
First Year For joint and single honours students
FRE/411 French I (core)
FRE/468 French Foundations (compulsory)
Second Year For joint and single honours students
FRE/239 French II (core)
Final Year For joint and single honours students
FRE/452 French III (core)
German
The following modules are required for students of German:
Post A-Level
First Year: GER/051 German I (core)
GER/117 Foundations of German Studies (compulsory)
Second Year: GER/212 German II (core)
Final Year: GER/061 German III (core)
Native speakers of German
First Year: GER/401 German I N (core)
GER/117 Foundations of German Studies (compulsory)
Second Year: GER/215 German II N (core)
Final Year: GER/061N German III N (core)
Ab Initio
First Year GER/100 Introductory German (core)
SML/002 European Culture and Society (compulsory)
Second Year GER/203 German II Intensive (core)
Final Year GER/061 German III (core)
Post-GCSE
First Year GER/103 German I Intensive (core)
SML/002 European Culture and Society (compulsory)
Second Year GER212 German II (core)
Final Year: GER061 German III (core)
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Hispanic Studies
Students taking Spanish as a foreign language must take the following language modules
depending on whether they have passed an A-Level or equivalent examination in Spanish.
(In some cases, it may be appropriate for a student without A-Level to follow the post A-
Level modules, but this should be discussed with the Spanish Language Coordinator.)
Post A-Level or equivalent
First Year HSP/176 Spanish I (core)
HSP/141 Introduction to Hispanic Studies (compulsory)
Second Year HSP/233 Spanish II (core)
Final Year HSP/646 Spanish III (core)
Ab initio (which may include GCSE level Spanish)
First Year HSP/179 Introductory Spanish (core)
HSP/141 Introduction to Hispanic Studies (compulsory)
Second Year HSP/271 Spanish II Intensive* (core)
Final Year HSP/646 Spanish III (core)
*Only students who have obtained a C (50% or above) in Introductory Spanish will normally
be allowed to register for Spanish II Intensive.
Students for whom Spanish is their native language should consult their Adviser over the
alternative requirements which apply. The classification of ‘native speaker’ normally implies
that you have been educated to university entrance level in a Spanish-speaking country.
The Department rules on all such classifications and its decision is final.
All students must take the compulsory content module for Hispanic Studies, which is
HSP/141 Introduction to Hispanic Studies (30 credits).
In addition, Single Honours students must take HSP/101 Key Concepts for the Study of
Latin American Cultural History. Post A-Level students take this in their first year and others
take it in their second year.
Single Honours students must also take one Catalan or Portuguese module, either language
or culture, during the first year (this requirement does not apply to students of other
programmes involving Hispanic Studies).
Linguistics
The following modules are required:
A Language and Linguistics
First Year Foundations of Linguistics (compulsory)
Second Year No core or compulsory modules
Final Year No core or compulsory modules
English Language and Linguistics
Year 1:
Compulsory Module Foundations of Linguistics
Compulsory Module Practicum in Linguistic Analysis
Compulsory Module Sounds of English
Compulsory Module Language in the UK
Compulsory Module Languages of the World
Compulsory Module Introduction to Phonology
Compulsory Module Introduction to English Syntax
Compulsory Module English in Use
17

Year 2:
Compulsory Module Aspects of Meaning
Compulsory Module Explaining Grammatical Structure
Compulsory Module Sociolinguistic Variation and Change
Compulsory Module History of English
Final Year:
Compulsory Module Research Methods in Linguistics
Compulsory Module Linguistics Research Project
English Literature and Linguistics
First Year Foundations of Linguistics (compulsory)
Second Year No core or compulsory modules
Final Year No core or compulsory modules
Portuguese
The following modules are required for students of Portuguese within the programme
Hispanic Studies and Portuguese:
First Year For joint honours students
POR110 Introductory Portuguese (core)
Second Year For joint students
POR512 Portuguese II Intensive (core)
Final Year: For joint honours students
POR603 Portuguese III (core)
Russian
You will begin your studies registered for a four-year degree; this means one of two things:
(1) You are a Russian beginner and must successfully complete a ‘Preliminary Year’
before embarking on full degree programme.
(2) You are registered for a degree in two foreign languages, in which case, if you are not
a Russian beginner, the fourth year is your year abroad in a French-, German-, or
Spanish-speaking country. (So if you are a Russian beginner, your degree will last a
total of five years if you spend a year abroad.) Circumstances allowing, unless you are
a native speaker of Russian, some or all of a year abroad may be spent in Russia or
the FSU.
If you are a beginner in Russian and are registered for a degree in Russian or Russian and
another subject or subjects, your first year will normally be devoted entirely to a preliminary
qualifying module in Russian, though you may keep up any other language for which you
are registered by attending modules without assessment.
To qualify for the main degree you are required to pass the preliminary year with at least a
grade C.
The following modules are required for students of Russian:
Post A-Level or after the preliminary year
Year 1 RUS/060 Russian I (core)
RUS/070 Landmarks in Russian Literature (compulsory)
Year 2 RUS/211 Russian II (core)
Final Year RUS/084 Russian III (core)
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Native speakers of Russian
Year 1 RUS/060N Russian I N (core)
RUS/070 Landmarks in Russian Literature (compulsory)
Year 2 RUS/212 Russian II N (core)
Final Year RUS/084N Russian III N (core)
2.2 THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Attendance
All students are expected to attend 100% of classes unless a very good reason is
given. The teaching which you receive and the discussions you take part in during classes
are a vital part of the learning process at Queen Mary. You will not be able to keep up with a
module for which you are missing classes by reading for it at other times. This is an
essential complement to class attendance, but not a substitute for it. Copying another
student’s notes will also not give you the deeper understanding of the issues discussed
which you gain from taking part in those discussions.
Of course, there are legitimate excuses for absence: illness, religious obligations,
bereavement, would be examples. But you do need to keep us informed of any reasons
(medical or personal) that will prevent you from attending a class or classes. You should
inform the teacher before the class that you are unable to attend, and give reasons. You
may be asked to submit a medical certificate or similar document to cover absences of more
than five days, or a series of shorter absences.
We are well aware that many students have to find employment to finance their university
studies. However, employment commitments will not be regarded as a sufficient excuse for
absence. If you have to work, you must harmonise your academic timetable with your work
commitments.
If your attendance is regarded as unsatisfactory, we may ultimately take steps to bar you,
that is de-register you, from that module. A student barred from a module is not permitted to
replace it with a new module: it remains on your transcript, and although you will receive any
marks for work submitted up to the point of your deregistration, it will inevitably be a fail
mark overall. If, as a result of de-registration, you are registered for fewer credits than you
require to progress to your next year of study, your enrolment is at risk of termination: that
is, you may be unable to continue as a student of the College.
We will always try to help students who are experiencing genuine problems, but we cannot
do so if you do not keep us informed of them. Of course, you may not want to discuss
personal matters with all of your teachers, but you must make sure that your Adviser is
aware of what is happening so that he or she can offer a generalised explanation on your
behalf. Even if your attendance is jeopardised by genuine problems, it is unreasonable to
delay informing us of these until you have already been deregistered from a module for nonattendance.
By that time, it may be too late to reinstate you.
Students must have permission from the Head of School to be absent from College during
term-time for anything other than medical or urgent personal reasons, and must provide a
valid reason for absence for such permission to be given.
With very few exceptions, all classes are timetabled for a full hour or multiples of an hour. By
a College-wide agreement, they actually run from five minutes past the hour until five
minutes to the next hour, to allow everybody to get from one venue to another. It is
extremely disruptive to teaching if students (or teachers) arrive late. If you do not arrive by
19

quarter past the hour at which the class starts, you may not be permitted to enter the room,
and you will be recorded as absent from that class.
Private study
You must be aware that as well as attending all classes, you will need to set aside at least
five hours per week per module for private study in order to keep up with the modules you
are taking. This requires a great deal of motivation and organisation. You might spend this
time researching in the library, reading and making notes and working on preparation for
assignments, or it might suit you better to work at home.
Teaching
Teaching is carried out principally in lectures and seminars. For seminars and language
classes, groups are usually kept small, but lectures may be larger. Typically, you will have
one lecture and one seminar each week for each module that you take. There will normally
also be a film screening each week for any film-related modules. Language classes may
sometimes take place in the language or computer laboratories.
Lectures
Lectures are used to give an overview of the topic. You may not be expected to contribute,
but to listen and take notes while the lecturer speaks to you, although you may have the
opportunity to ask questions, or be asked questions, at the end. Lecturers may speak or
read from notes, write on the board or use a variety of presentation aids (overhead
projectors, slides, film extracts) to illustrate their points. You may find for some modules that
a number of different lecturers are involved, teaching for only one or two weeks on topics on
which they are specialists.
Use the information given in the lecture as a basis for further reading and also aim to
consolidate and build on what you have heard to get a clear picture. You may find it helpful
to discuss the lecture with other students and compare notes. This will help you to be
prepared to contribute in seminars on the same topic.
Seminars
A seminar group will normally consist of the teacher and a group of not more than 25
students. It will typically concentrate on a topic from a previous lecture and investigate it in
more depth. The seminar may take the form of traditional classroom teaching where the
lecturer leads by delivering information and then asks the students to work in groups on set
tasks. It may take the form of a large discussion. In any event, as a student you will be
expected to take an active part and will grow in confidence as you find that you are able to
contribute.
Preparation for classes
The module outline which you receive at the start of each module will give you information
about the topic for each week, and you will normally be given suggestions for prior reading.
You may find that preparatory reading or viewing for a lecture does not make the topic ‘gel’
completely, but you will find that it will help you to make sense of the lecture and the lecture
will help you make sense of the reading.
It is important to prepare for seminars by reading through lecture notes, and making sure
that you have done any background reading which has been set. If you don’t, you may find
that you are at a loss and embarrassed during the seminar. You may be wasting your time,
and that of the other students attending. It is, of course, unfair to expect others to do the
work for you.
20

Taking notes
Learning to take clear notes is a valuable skill. You should aim to take down key ideas,
rather than attempt to write down everything that is said. Listen for clues as to when a key
point is being made or when a lecturer is moving on to the next heading. Use a spidergraph
system, or write your notes as headings or sub-headings and leave plenty of space to fill in
other details later. It is better to keep listening rather than frantically write. If you absorb what
you hear, your headings will act as memory joggers and you can write further notes in your
own words later. Go through your notes as soon as possible after the class and try to fill in
any details and clarify any abbreviated bits.
Make sure that you label your notes, and any handouts, with the date and name of module
and teacher. This will enable you to make use of the information when you are preparing to
write essays.
The English Language and Study Skills section of the Language Centre (Room 1.24 on the
first floor of the Bancroft Building) offers a number of free courses in study skills where you
can learn strategies for taking good notes, and other ways to get the most out of your
studies.
Feedback
Questions and discussion in class, the essays you write, etc, and your teachers’ comments
on them all stimulate and help you clarify your ideas, and also show the effectiveness of the
teaching/learning process. You are encouraged to discuss your essays individually with your
teachers, who will usually set aside times to do this when any work is returned. You should
discuss your general progress with your Adviser each semester.
Coursework will be returned and feedback offered within four term-time weeks of the
submission date.
Deadlines
Deadlines for handing in coursework will be put in writing in a module handout, on QMPlus,
and sometimes also on the noticeboards. They must be treated as absolute, and it is your
responsibility to make sure you know what the deadline is for each piece of coursework, as
you will be penalised if you miss it. Do note that a deadline is only the last date on which a
piece of work can be submitted, not the first, and you would be well-advised not to leave
work to the last minute. If you have extenuating circumstances, you may be able to ask for
an extension to the deadline (see § 4 DEALING WITH PROBLEMS). Late work handed in
up to two weeks after the deadline without an agreed extension will receive a maximum
mark of a bare pass (40%). Work handed in more than two weeks late without an agreed
extension will receive a mark of zero. Failure to submit coursework may also lead to deregistration
from a module.
Time management
To be sure of meeting deadlines, it is vital that you plan ahead. The freedom of choice you
have under the modular system makes it impossible for Module Organisers to prevent
deadlines for different modules from coinciding. Stagger your essay writing and get some
essays out of the way well before the common deadline so you have time to think properly
about the later ones. Remember too that a lot of students will be looking for the same library
books at the same time. Poor time management is NOT considered an extenuating
circumstance, and it can seriously jeopardise your final mark.
There are some things that you can do to lessen the panic of running out of time for
assignments.
• Use a year planner to highlight the actual dates of your deadlines in each semester.
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• Mark down on the same planner all your personal commitments that may prevent you
from working on your assignments, e.g. family birthdays, weekends away, commitments
with children and busy periods at work if you have a job.
• Next you should share out your own assignment deadlines and tasks into the spaces.
This will give you time for working on essays through the semester. This DOES mean
that you will be researching and writing notes before you have a lecture on the topic. It
will encourage you to be thinking about, and working on, assignments continuously and
you will have a bank of research and notes ready for adding to, and be prepared for the
final write-up.
Help yourself by being organised. Try to visit the library on the same days as your teaching
sessions. Keep a diary with a list of everything that you hope to achieve in that day. If you
need to meet certain people, teachers or other students, arrange to see them at times close
to your classes. In other words, capitalize on the time when you are in College to make the
best and fullest use of your time. Wherever possible, make your efforts more productive by
working with a study partner and attacking the library together, sharing lecture notes and
brainstorming ideas.
Find out what works for you and those around you regarding your working patterns. The
same pattern does not suit everyone. Some people find it useful to stick to a work-style 9-5
pattern. Others prefer to be (or have to be) much more flexible.
Prepare your family and friends by making sure that they understand the commitment you
are going to be making. Make your time planner visible to all so that they are aware of the
periods when you will be most in need of their support. As you progress you will probably
find that you can get tasks done in less time, but don’t forget to schedule time for
unforeseen events and for time off to relax. You will find some weeks will be more
productive than others during the term.
Disability
It is in your own interest to let your adviser know if you have a disability, including dyslexia.
The College has a statutory duty to make reasonable adjustments for you according to that
disability, but we have to rely on you to make it known to us in the first instance. Examples
of such adjustments may be allowing you to record lectures, special exam arrangements,
provision of module material in alternative formats, e.g. large print, alternative forms of
assessment, or other campus academic support. The College’s Disability and Dyslexia
Service, based on the second floor of the Bancroft Building, can provide a great deal of
assistance, from advice to support workers, if required.
You are advised to consult with the Disability and Dyslexia Service (www.dds.qmul.ac.uk,
email: dds@qmul.ac.uk; tel: 020 7882 2756) as early as possible in the academic year, to
ensure all appropriate support has been considered and can be put into place early on.
Please note that in some modules there are in-class tests during the semester for which
special arrangements may need to be made, and you would be well advised to ensure that
we are aware of your requirements in good time, as allowances cannot be made
retrospectively.
Advice and support for disabled or dyslexic students
The Disability and Dyslexia Service provides advice and support for students with sensory,
mobility and physical disabilities; dyslexia and specific learning difficulties; mental health
issues and long term medical conditions. They offer comprehensive advice and support with
your related study needs, such as arranging non-medical helper support (including readers,
note-takers and campus support workers), exam and study arrangements, dyslexia
screening, special equipment, funding sources for special equipment or assistance and
Disabled Students’ Allowances.
22

Writing essays
The School is active in the College’s ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ programme, and some of its
modules are designed to be writing intensive, that is, to provide serious instruction on essaywriting
as an integral part of the module; you are encouraged to take at least one of these
modules during your studies here. Essays are the main type of work that you will be
producing throughout your undergraduate career. It is essential that you develop the skills of
writing essays of university standard as quickly as possible. The process is not an instant
one, and students come to university with different skills and approaches; moreover,
lecturers have different ideas about essay writing as well. The following notes are intended
as general help and orientation. They should be treated as ancillary to the guidance and
feedback that you will get from your teachers throughout your studies in the School. The
English Language and Study Skills section of the Language Centre (Room 1.24 on the first
floor of the Bancroft Building) offers a number of free courses on academic writing, which
you may find useful if you wish to improve your writing skills.
The purpose of essay-writing
Perhaps the first point you should be aware of is that at university level literature, linguistics,
film, and cultural studies are not disciplines which look for black-and-white, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
answers to problems. It is accepted that problems will produce many interpretations, and
disputes among experts are a sign of a healthy interest in the subject.
Essay-writing requires you to organise your thoughts on a given topic, and to put forward
your own argument in response to a particular question. It also gives you valuable
experience in expressing your ideas in a clear, logical and structured way —a skill which
obviously has countless applications beyond undergraduate studies.
A further benefit from writing essays is that practice is gained which can be drawn upon in
examinations, and the essays you write during term-time can be very useful revision aids
(although, obviously, you may not answer on the same topic in an exam as you have
already written for assessed coursework). Moreover, it is through the comments you receive
on your essay (either written or oral) that you can gauge your own progress, discovering
which areas are your particular strengths, and ones to which you may need to give more
attention.
Analysing the question
Essays are written as responses to specific questions, rather than just general discussions
of a topic. This is quite different from the system in many countries of continental Europe.
Both in coursework essays and in examinations, relevance to the question is one of the
most important criteria on which essays are judged.
The first and most crucial step before embarking on writing, therefore, is careful thought
about the question and analysis of it. What are you being asked to do? Essay questions
can be of different types. Some are survey questions (‘Discuss the role of women in the
Spanish Golden Age plays you have studied’); some focus on change over a period of time
and ask you to assess questions of causation (‘Account for the development of the passive
in French’); some invite you to engage in a debate on an issue which has generated critical
controversy and on which you are expected to come down on one side or other (‘Do you
agree that classicism is an outmoded concept?’); some may ask you to concentrate on
aspects of form (‘Discuss the use of colour in the films of Claude Chabrol’); and many
expect you to combine these approaches.
It is essential, therefore, before beginning to write, to clarify in your mind what the question
is asking. Make absolutely sure that you understand the question. If you do not, then ask
your teacher, or choose another question.
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Planning the essay
Perhaps the most difficult part of writing an essay is beginning it. Looking at a blank sheet of
paper can be very daunting. To get over this initial hurdle, it is sometimes helpful to
‘brainstorm’, jotting down any thoughts that occur to you, in any order.
The next step is to decide your strategy for answering the question. Planning and structuring
your answer are essential; poorly planned essays are unlikely to be very coherent. Decide
what the main points are that you need to make. Ask yourself in what order they should be
considered. What emphasis does each point deserve within your essay? You need to
ensure that your answer is full (that no part of the question has been ignored), balanced
(that each component or point is given due weight) and appropriately illustrated.
There are no simple universal rules about how to decide on structure because it will depend
so heavily on the specific question asked. Some general principles, however, are worth
bearing in mind:
• Essays need to be clearly shaped and signposted. It is useful to think in terms of an
introduction which engages the interest of the reader, picks up on the title (or at least an
important aspect of it), and tells the reader how you are going to handle the topic.
Equally important is a concluding paragraph, in which you summarise and draw together
what you have said. Those are the easy parts to define (though not necessarily to
write!). What comes in between needs to be just as structured and clear in purpose and
function.
• A statement at the beginning of your essay (often in the introduction) should clarify the
direction and aim of your argument. The argument (most of the rest of your essay) is the
setting down of the various specific aspects you have decided to discuss.
• Arguments need to be developed. Where your essay is of the ‘survey’ type, the different
aspects should be the subject of different paragraphs or series of paragraphs which are
presented in a sensible and effective order. It should be clear to the reader where the
argument is going. In essays of the critical type, planning and laying out the argument
can be more complicated and need more thought, but the basic principle is the same;
the reader should always know where the argument is going and why you are making
the points that you are.
• Avoid ‘telling the story’ in literary essays. Concise reference to plot in a way that
immediately relates to a specific point you are making in your essay can enhance your
argument; but you must take care to avoid lapsing into telling the story for its own sake.
Essays which follow this route very quickly become diffuse and aimless and lose sight of
the argument. It is more effective in argument to allude to the events of the plot than to
spell them out.
You should adhere closely to the word-limit that has been set for your essay. The questions
set are designed to be answerable within the limit and essays which are more than about
10% longer than the limit will be penalised. On the other hand, an essay which is
substantially shorter than the limit will also be penalised, as it is unlikely to cover the topic in
sufficient depth.
Style
Clarity and succinctness are the most important qualities to aim for, and that applies to the
detail as much as the overall approach. Written work should be formal (avoiding the
colloquial) without being pompous or verbose. Here are some suggestions:
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Words and phrases: Try to cut out the superfluous. Why say ‘conduct an investigation of’
when ‘investigate’ will do, and is easier on the reader?
Sentences: Always go for a clear and unambiguous structure, and remember that a
sentence must contain a main clause. Here are some examples of common non-sentences
found in essays: ‘For example, his mother.’; ‘For example, when the mother dies.’. If you are
juggling with more than two sub-clauses, the chances are that it would be better to break the
concepts you are trying to express into more than one sentence. A variety of sentence
length is an effective way of holding the reader’s attention, but not if the sentences become
convoluted in the process.
A key to effective communication is the punctuation of sentences. This can both clarify what
you are saying and make it easier to read. Two of the most common traps:
• Do not run sentences together with commas when they are really separate sentences.
Do not write ‘The mother is portrayed cruelly, her ugliness is heavily stressed’.
• Do use commas in pairs to delimit phrases or subordinate clauses; e.g., ‘The message
of the novel, in spite of the seemingly happy ending, is a pessimistic one’.
Paragraphs: Paragraphs are elements or building blocks of an argument; each paragraph
should show its logical links with the next. Paragraphing is a way of giving shape to a text by
breaking sequences of sentences, but it is always better if these breaks correspond to
coherent units, or at least have a clear purpose. Starting a new paragraph should indicate
that you are moving your argument along into new terrain. Many people do not take
advantage of this device. Some write in long paragraphs of uninterrupted strings of
sentences, in which it is easy to lose the point; others break the sequences so frequently
that paragraphs can contain little more than a sentence or two, in which case the argument
is lost in a sense of fragmentation. The best way to improve your paragraphing is to learn
from examples; look at the books which seem to you to present the argument most
effectively, study the paragraphing and try to emulate it.
Spelling
A great number of students have problems with spelling. This is not said to depress you (on
the contrary, it may come as a relief to know that the problem is so common), but because
a) it is a fact, b) it matters, and c) if you are one of those many who has difficulties with
spelling, now is the moment to do something about it.
• Take note of the corrections made by your teachers on essays. One practical suggestion
is that you keep a list of the words that you identify as those with which you have
difficulty, especially those which you use frequently. If you word-process, you could keep
this list in alphabetical order and build it up as you go along.
• As you are word-processing your essay, use a spell checker. It won’t cure the problem in
itself; apart from anything else, a spell checker may ensure that words are spelt correctly
but not that they are the words you wanted to use. But it will improve your end-product,
and, if you take note of the corrections it suggests (as above), in time it can help you to
improve your own spelling. You may also find it useful to keep a good dictionary at your
side as you write.
• One of the commonest mistakes nowadays concerns the use of apostrophes. In the
case of nouns, the apostrophe is used to convey possession, not plural. Thus you
should write the committee’s decision (= ‘the decision of the committee’), but not the
three king’s (which has no meaning). Unfortunately, the same is not true of pronouns; its
means ‘of it’, while it’s means ‘it is’ (and should not be used in essays anyway, as it is
too informal).
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Some people who have substantial difficulties with spelling are dyslexic. If you suspect that
your writing problems may come into this category, you should contact the Disability and
Dyslexia Service (dds@qmul.ac.uk) to arrange a diagnosis.
Documenting your essay
We do not expect your essay to consist purely of your own ideas and opinions. It will
naturally include some material that you have acquired from lectures or seminars. But there
are other sources on which you can draw: books, articles in journals, and websites. In
general, you should be guided by your teacher’s recommendations for reading. He or she
may have deliberately left a book off a reading list because it is too rudimentary or too
difficult, or because its conclusions are not accepted among scholars. You should be very
careful about using material from websites, because this has often not gone through the
quality controls required in academic books or journals. But never keep silent about a
source because you do not know whether the teacher will approve of it or not. If consulting
an unreliable source leads you into error, you will lose marks for the error anyway, and to
mention the source at least gives you some excuse.
The rule is that, whatever sources you use, you must acknowledge them. Not to do so
is dishonest since it is seeking credit for someone else’s work (see Plagiarism under §
5.1 ASSESSMENT). To acknowledge a source means: (i) to list it in a bibliography; (ii) to
give references in the text of your essay itself. Both are essential. The form these
acknowledgements take is largely a matter of convention. Other departments may require
you to do things slightly differently. But when submitting essays to the School of Languages,
Linguistics and Film, please make sure you keep to the following guidelines.
The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film prefers the so-called ‘Author-date’ (or
‘Harvard’) system. This means that, rather than having to add a footnote or endnote every
time you need to document the source of an idea, you simply add a bracket in the text giving
the surname of the author, the date of the publication referred to, a colon, and the relevant
page numbers. Thus, if you found a particular point on page 330 of an article by Charles A.
Ferguson, published in 1950, you should, after making that point in your essay, add a brief
reference in the form (Ferguson 1950: 330). To enable your reader to make sense of these
references, you will then need to include at the end of your essay a bibliography giving the
full details of all the material you read for that essay. These should be listed alphabetically
by author and chronologically by date (i.e. they should begin with exactly the information
included in the brackets in your text). They should contain enough information to enable the
reader to check the reference for him or herself, including the exact title and the exact place
of publication. Ferguson’s article is entitled ‘Diglossia’ and appeared in the 15th issue of a
journal called Word. In a bibliography therefore it would appear as: Ferguson, Charles A
(1950), ‘Diglossia’, Word, 15: 325-40.
Notes: Besides the bibliography, you may also want to add information to your essay other
than in the text. This is best done through notes, with a number superscripted in the text
referring to the note which then appears either at the bottom of the page (‘footnotes’) or after
the end of the essay itself (‘endnotes’). However, notes should always be kept to a
minimum, and in many essays are quite unnecessary.
Writing a bibliography
Remember: All essays must have a bibliography attached at the end; failure to provide
one will have a serious effect on your mark. This list should include all the reading you
have done in the preparation of your essay, even if you haven’t used it directly. If you are
writing about a particular text or texts, do not forget to include details of the edition(s) you
have used. Do not include in this list anything you have not read.
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Within the School we recommend that in your bibliography you should adopt the following
conventions:
Books. Give, in this order:
i) the surname of the author, followed by a comma;
ii) the author’s first name (or initials only, if the title-page has only initials);
iii) the date of publication (in parentheses) followed by a comma;
iv) the title (in italics if you can when word processing, or if not, underlined);
v) the place of publication (followed by a colon), and the name of the publisher
(both in parentheses). E.g.:
Garman, Michael (1990), Psycholinguistics (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press).
Films. Give, in this order:
i) the surname of the director, followed by a comma;
ii) the director’s first name (or initials only, if that is how the director is known);
iii) the date of release (in parentheses) followed by a comma;
iv) the title (in italics if you can when word processing, or if not, underlined). E.g.
Jordan, Neil (1992), The Crying Game.
Articles in periodicals. Give, in this order:
i) the surname of the author, followed by a comma;
ii) the author’s first name (or initials only, if that is what the author gives);
iii) the year (in parentheses) followed by a comma;
iv) the title of the article in single quotation marks, followed by a comma;
v) the name of the journal (in italics if you can when word processing, or if not,
underlined) followed by a comma;
vi) the volume number, followed by a colon;
vii) the first and last pages of the article. E.g.:
Ferguson, Charles A (1950), ‘Diglossia’, Word, 15: 325-40.
Articles in collective volumes. Give, in this order:
i) the surname of the author, followed by a comma;
ii) the author’s first name (or initials only, if that is what the author gives);
iii) the date of publication (in parentheses) followed by a comma;
iv) the title in single quotation marks, followed by a comma then the word in;
v) the title of the book in which the article appears (underlined or in italics),
followed by a comma;
vi) the abbreviation ed., followed by the first name (or initials) and surname of the
editor(s) of the volume;
vii) the place of publication (followed by a colon), and the name of the publisher
(both in parentheses);
viii) the abbreviation pp., followed by the first and last page numbers of the article.
E.g.:
Crystal, David (1980), ‘Neglected Grammatical Factors in Conversational
English’, in Studies in English Linguistics: For Randolph Quirk, ed. Sidney
Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leach, & Jan Svartvik (London: Longman) pp. 150-187.
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Electronic Media (e.g. the Internet). As for print media, except:
i) if it is not clear which medium you are referring to, say so immediately after the
title, in square brackets;
ii) if it is not possible to establish when something was posted, write n.d. instead of
the date;
iii) on a new line, give the complete address for the Internet source you are citing,
including, where appropriate, http:// (in angled brackets < >) followed by a
comma;
iv) always give the date when you found something on the Internet, in the form
accessed 20 August 2002. E.g.:
Borrow, George (1996), The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain [online text],
Project Gutenberg
, accessed 20
August 2002.
Bowmal, Paul et al. (1999), ‘Why “Polemics: Against Cultural Studies”?’, parallax
[online journal], 5 (2): 1-2
, accessed 20 August 2002.
Luther, Martin (1996), ‘Letter to the Archbishop of Mainz, 1517’ in The Works of
Martin Luther, ed. and trans. Adolph Spaeth et al. (Philadelphia: A.J. Holman
1915) Vol. 1, pp. 25-28
, accessed 20
August 2002.
Note the capitalisation of words in English titles. In other languages, other rules apply: in
Catalan, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, the normal rules of prose apply; in French,
the first noun and all preceding words are capitalised, the remainder of the title being treated
like normal prose.
Quotation from literary texts
If the essay you are writing is a literary one based on a text or texts, refer to the text(s) you
are discussing as much as possible and quote from it when you feel it is necessary or
appropriate. Wherever possible you should quote in the original language. (Note that in an
examination it is not essential to quote the text, but if you can do so accurately, then so
much the better.)
• Titles of works should always be italicised (or underlined in a handwritten essay). Many
novels or plays are named after a character within them (e.g. Don Quijote, Madame
Bovary, Tristana), and italics/underlining makes clear when you are talking about the
text, as distinct from the character.
• Use single inverted commas for sections of works, and for individual poems, essays or
chapters of books.
• Do not give the titles of foreign-language works in English. Likewise, give names of
characters as they occur in the text, not in their English forms.
• When you quote from a text, say where in a text you are quoting from. There are various
ways to do this, depending on the type of text:
Poems: give line numbers, if possible,, e.g. abbreviated to 'l.' or 'll.': e.g. l. 8, ll. 23-26.
Plays: these are usually divided into acts and/or scenes. Give the number of the act in
Roman capitals, that of the scene in Arabic: thus Act Four, Scene Two is written
'IV.2'.
Novels: these may be divided into parts or chapters or both: give the reference as 'Part
II, ch. 9' (or simply II.9, if you think that will be clear enough). Add the page
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number as well, in the edition you are using, which you will have listed in your
bibliography.
Films: give a very brief description of the point in the film at which the image, scene or
sequence occurs.
All these references may be given in brackets after the quotation. Giving references will
help the reader to check if necessary and aid your revision when the time comes.
(For clear guidance on all the subtler points of referencing, consult Chapter 15 (‘References
and Notes’) of: Ritter, R.M. (ed. & comp.) (2002), The Oxford Manual of Style (Oxford:
Oxford University Press) pp. 504-576.)
Note what is said under Planning the essay about avoiding telling the story. As the reader
knows the text, you should never do this or otherwise paraphrase the plot. The purpose of
your essay is to argue points and persuade the reader, not to tell the reader what s/he
already knows.
Use the present tense, not the past, to talk about events and characters: ‘Andromaque is a
captive...’ not ‘[...] was [...]’.
Presentation
How you present your essay matters greatly. Effective presentation should be thought of not
just as something useful for writing essays, but as a life-skill. But remember, presentation is
not a question of using fancy fonts and bindings, but about ensuring that your work is clear
to read and to mark.
Word-processing: You will normally be expected to word-process your essays in order to
submit an electronic copy through QMPlus.
• Ensure that your text is double-spaced and has margins of at least 2.5 cm. This is the
universal convention for academic writing, and it ensures that there is enough space for
your tutor’s comments and corrections.
• Ensure that the pages are numbered, and correctly stapled together.
• In word-processed text it is easy to put in any notes as footnotes, which puts them closer
to their point of reference.
• Be careful when you move text within your essay. This may lead to the need for
adjustments to surrounding paragraphs (both in the place where you moved the text
from, and in the place where you moved it to), and you should carefully re-read and
amend your essay after any such reshaping.
If your coursework is hand-written, the pages still need to be numbered, and you should
allow plenty of margin space on both sides of the page for comments and corrections. Notes
are best placed at the end of the text as this gives you flexibility while writing.
Checking: Teachers, and examiners, give much weight to the technical accuracy of the
essay. Check very carefully for spelling mistakes, wrong quotations and typing errors.
Ensure that the footnote numbers correspond with those in the text.
Assessed coursework cover-sheets: You must submit assessed coursework with a
coversheet. Make sure you have included all the information asked for, particularly the title
of the essay, and the teacher’s name. Do not include your name anywhere on the work.
Writing in examinations
Almost all of what has been said above applies equally to examination essays. Obviously
you should omit footnotes and references, and the crutch of a spell checker is no longer
there. But the main components of essay-writing are as important as ever: analyse the
question, plan the essay, write it methodically, and check grammar, spelling and accuracy.
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Unless you are a seasoned and experienced examinee, entirely comfortable with the
process, it is a good idea to build in examination practice as part of the revision process. Do
some timed essays, and timed ‘unseen’ essays (e.g. pick questions from past examination
papers which you do not look at until the moment you sit down to write your answer). The
timing of examination writing is absolutely crucial; examiners deduct marks for incomplete
last essays, and failure to answer the required number of questions has a dramatic impact
on your overall mark.
Suggestions for further reading
The following books contain detailed advice on developing your study skills:
Barrass, R, Students Must Write: A Guide to Better Writing in Coursework and Examinations
(London: Routledge, 1995). An excellent, clearly written and comprehensive guide.
Buzan, T, Use Your Head (London: BBC, 1974).
Dunleavy, Patrick, Studying for a Degree in the Humanities and Social Sciences (London:
Macmillan, 1986).
Clanchy, John, & Brigid Ballard, How to Write Essays: A Practical Guide for Students, 2nd
ed. (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1992).
Johnson, R, Writing Essays: Guidance Notes for Students (Manchester, 1991).
Jordan, R R, Academic Writing Module, Nelson Study Skills in English (London: Nelson,
1992). An excellent guide for students whose first language is not English.
Lewis, R, How to Write Essays (London: Macmillan, 1979).
Useful reference works on good written style include:
Gowers, Ernest, The Complete Plain Words (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978).
Fowler, H W, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd ed., revised Ernest Gowers
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965).
The MHRA Style Book: Notes for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses, 5th ed. (London:
Modern Humanities Research Association, 1996) gives much more detailed advice on style,
referencing, etc.
Help with academic study and English language skills
The English Language and Study Skills office (ELSS) in the Language Centre offers a range
of modules, workshop classes and individual tutoring in English language, academic
communication skills and related areas. All students are eligible to use this service, which is
free of charge. Whether you are unsure about the skills required for your degree or wish to
enhance your abilities in a particular area, you are encouraged to come and see them.
The ELSS runs workshop classes covering research skills (including note-making from
lectures and reading and how to avoid plagiarism), time management, oral presentation
skills, academic writing, grammar and punctuation, personal development planning and
examination skills. Workshops are normally between 2 and 4 hours long. Individual tutorials,
which can be on any area of English language or study skill, are for 30 minutes.
Students who have been educated in a language other than English can join longer modules
(20 hours per semester) which cover both English language and study skills. These
insessional English modules include General English, Lecture Comprehension and Seminar
Skills, Grammar and Writing, and Academic Writing. These modules are popular with
international students and can make a substantial difference to your chances of academic
success.
For information on how to join ELSS modules, contact the ELSS Administrator (First floor,
Bancroft Building; tel: 020 7882 7490; email: elss@qmul.ac.uk), or check their website:
http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/languagecentre/.
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We also recommend that you consult the Mind the Gap website which discusses how the
modules which you study here can help you develop skills and approaches that are useful
well beyond your university career: http://www.mindthegap.qmul.ac.uk
SLLF Writing Support Centre
The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film recognises how closely writing is linked to
thinking; and how important writing skills are both in the academic and professional worlds.
A large part of your assessment, for example, while you are at university is based on your
academic writing. We wish to support all our students, therefore, in developing their writing
skills throughout their university career.
The School runs a Writing Support Centre, co-ordinated by Dr Kirsteen Anderson which
offers weekly workshops to any student who would like to develop their academic writing
further. You are welcome to come along to these at any point in the year.
These sessions cater separately for first-year students who are at the beginning of their
academic writing careers; and for second- and final-year students who are developing their
writing skills further. They are informal, non-judgmental and friendly – we are all learners at
whichever stage we find ourselves.
For workshop times, please see the LCD screen outside Arts One 1.08, look for details on
staff office doors, or email Dr Anderson (k.h.r.anderson@qmul.ac.uk).
Module evaluation by students
At the end of each module, students are invited to give the Module Organiser feedback by
completing a questionnaire. The Module Organiser will give you the appropriate form near
the end of the module. Your co-operation will be valued - it is quite voluntary and
anonymous. The purpose of the questionnaires is to ensure the quality and suitability of all
modules and their teaching in the School. The major positive and negative points which
emerge are presented to the Teaching and Learning Committee for further discussion
which, where appropriate, will recommend action to the School.
Programme evaluation by final year students
In February or March each year, final year students will be contacted by MORI, an
independent market research agency, who will invite you to take part in the National Student
Survey of your overall experience of studying at Queen Mary. This research is
commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, who has a statutory
role in ensuring the quality of teaching in higher education in England is assessed, and
believes that students' views should form an important part of the assessment, and the
results of the survey are published in the late summer. Participation is voluntary and
anonymous, but your views are extremely important to the College to enable us to identify
and build on our strengths, and improve on areas of weakness.
3. ADVISERS AND THE ADVISING SYSTEM
The policy of the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film is to provide maximum support
and guidance to all students of the School throughout their time at Queen Mary. This is
achieved through an advising system, which provides ongoing support, as well as
supporting people with special needs or individual problems of a personal, medical or
financial nature. Each student has an Adviser in the School. If your degree programme
involves a subject taught outside the School, then you will also have an Adviser in the other
School. The College issues general guidelines for ‘Advice and Support of Undergraduate
Students’ which you should consult.
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There are THREE ways in which the School can support you:
1. The Module Organiser. S/he is a major point of contact. If you are having academic
problems with a module, this is the person you should approach for guidance. The
Module Organiser also monitors attendance and submission of work on a weekly
basis, and will report on non-participation.
2. The Adviser. S/he sees each Advisee at regular intervals and is responsible for the
overall profile of the student’s programme of study. This is chiefly an academic role.
Students on joint honours programmes within the School will have only one Adviser.
Students on combined honours programmes with a subject outside of the School will
have an Adviser in each School.
Advisers will organise a weekly group meeting for all their first year advisees during
the first semester so that new students can compare experiences and discuss issues
arising from your studies.
The other main function of your Adviser is a pastoral one. Advisers are interested in
your general welfare and if difficult problems of a pastoral or academic nature emerge,
may recommend you consult the Queen Mary Central Services.
3. The School’s Senior Tutor Team deals with serious problems and, in particular,
implements the College’s policies for extenuating circumstances, administering the
School’s procedures for requests for extensions to assessed coursework deadlines
during Semesters One and Two, and for claims relating to written exams during the
Examination Term. (See §4.2 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES for further details.)
There is one Senior Tutor for each year of study, with the second year Senior Tutor
also acting for visiting ERASMUS students, and the final year Senior Tutor acting for
Queen Mary students on their year abroad.
The Head of School will deal with disciplinary matters.
You must ensure that you see your Adviser at least once per semester to discuss your
progress.
During term-time, all academic staff set aside weekly ‘office hours’, which are advertised on
their office doors; you should try to use these hours if you need to see a Module Organiser
or your Adviser. Even though staff may be present at other times, they may not be able to
see you without an appointment.
You should take to your Adviser all problems involving choice of modules, timetabling and
queries about assessment and examinations. S/he will be glad to discuss any issues you
may wish to explore, from the academic to the personal. You must mention any health
problems, even if they seem trivial. (Remember that you may need a doctor’s certificate if
prolonged absence is involved.) This will enable your Adviser to ensure that any justified
absence from classes does not cause concern, and that failure to produce work is
understood by the Module Organiser. You can always expect discretion, and can request
confidentiality, from your Adviser.
The relationship that grows up between student and Adviser is a crucial one, and extends
beyond your university career, since it is usually the Adviser who writes references for
employment and indeed may be asked to do so years after you have graduated.
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If you feel the relationship is unsatisfactory, it is possible to arrange to change Advisers, or
to consult the Chair of your department, the Senior Tutor for your year of study, or the Head
of School.
You must have the permission of the relevant Senior Tutor to take part in any nontherapeutic
clinical trials.
4. DEALING WITH PROBLEMS
Although we hope that you will enjoy your time at Queen Mary, it is always possible that you
will encounter problems during the three or four years you are a student. These problems
may relate directly to your studies, such as dissatisfaction with your choice of module; or to
your life beyond College, such as family difficulties or trouble with your landlord. Often, it is
impossible to separate the different aspects of your life, and problems in one area will affect
your ability to cope in other areas.
Some problems may be easily solved by talking to your Adviser or Module Organiser (see §
3 ADVISERS AND THE ADVISING SYSTEM). In other cases, you may benefit from the
professional support offered by the College Advice and Counselling Service, the Disability
and Dyslexia Service or the Students’ Union. There are also chaplains at St. Benet’s.
The Student Health Service is situated on the ground floor of the Geography Building. You
will find other useful names, room and telephone numbers in the College’s Student Guide
which you can download here: http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/
4.1 ADVICE AND COUNSELLING SERVICE
The Advice and Counselling Service is based on the ground floor of the Geography Building
(Tel: 020 7882 8717) and offers a range of free and confidential professional services to all
Queen Mary students. It is open on weekdays throughout the year, including all vacation
periods (except bank holidays and College closure days). All sessions take place in a
confidential one-to-one setting. You will find more information about their services, opening
times, detailed information and advice, self help guidance and details of events and latest
news on their website: www.welfare.qmul.ac.uk.
What help can I get?
Welfare Advisers have specialist training to offer you professional advice on a range of
financial, practical and legal issues. Counsellors and Therapists are professionally qualified
to offer you support with emotional, personal and psychological concerns.
How can a Welfare Adviser help me?
The aim is to advise you about possible solutions and options relating to financial, practical
and legal issues, so that you can concentrate on your academic progress. Most of the
ACS’s work is about helping you with your rights and entitlements, including:
• financial support (student loans, tuition fees, grants etc)
• fee status
• fee payment problems
• planning a budget
• dealing with debt
• immigration law
• international student issues
• financial support for student parents (childcare costs etc)
• postgraduate funding
33

• welfare benefits and tax credits
• disability benefits
• funding for repeat periods of study
• interrupting your studies, re-sitting, withdrawing or transferring
• extenuating circumstances affecting
academic performance
• hardship funds and bursaries
• funding from trusts and charities
• housing rights
• council tax
and more
As well as helping you to find solutions to problems, the ACS can also give you information
and advice to help you to avoid problems before they happen. For example, they can help
you to plan a budget, and check that you are getting all the funding that you are entitled to.
This type of preventative advice can help you to make sure that practical and financial
problems don’t affect your academic progress.
The ACS will usually offer you advice and information about your rights and entitlements so
that you can pursue options or achieve solutions yourself, and can help you to achieve a
solution by advocating on your behalf, with your permission, perhaps by formally negotiating
with someone or by representing you at an appeal process. Usually this happens when your
rights and entitlements are based on a point of law or formal rules, and you need help to
challenge a decision or negotiate a compromise. The most common examples are: eligibility
for grants and loans, immigration, welfare benefits and council tax. The ACS can also speak
to other staff at Queen Mary on your behalf, for example, if you are having difficulty with
your fee payments or you want help with an application to one of the hardship funds at
Queen Mary. Often, they are able to tell students about options and solutions that they didn’t
know they were entitled to.
There might not be a solution to your problem. If this happens, the ACS will advise you
about the implications of your situation and options that you might need to consider.
Their advice to you will be based on your individual needs and priorities. This means that
you control the process and they will not impose decisions on you. Their role is to explain
your rights and any options and solutions available to you. You can then choose how to
proceed.
How can a Counsellor help me?
Being a student can present you with many personal and emotional challenges, and
sometimes these can have a negative impact on your experience of student life. Counselling
can help you to understand difficult experiences, feelings and behaviour. The ACS aims to
support you through your problems, focusing on what is troubling you. They can help you
put your feelings into words and make connections between different aspects of your life.
The opportunity to think and talk about your difficulties in a reflective way can not only bring
a sense of relief but can also help you to make meaningful changes to your life and
relationships, and help you to concentrate better on your studies.
What can a Counsellor help me with?
Counselling can be helpful for all kinds of difficulties whether you are dealing with something
quite serious that you’ve struggled with for many years, or something small which has
happened recently. Even if you do not know exactly what the problem is, but you are finding
life difficult to cope with, talking to a counsellor can be helpful. They can help you to work
out what is troubling you and think about what will be most beneficial.
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Counselling is offered on personal issues including:
• relationships
• anxiety and panic
• depression
• dilemmas and difficult decisions
• homesickness
• exam stress
• cultural issues
• procrastination
• self-harm
• bereavement
• family problems
• eating disorders
• trauma or assault
• abuse
• domestic violence
and more
What other emotional or psychological support might I be offered?
The ACS also offers cognitive behavioural therapy, ongoing weekly therapy groups and
support groups on specific issues such as anxiety, academic performance or for specific
groups of students such as postgraduates. You can discuss these options with your
Counsellor or visit the website for more details.
What if I’m not sure what help I need?
The ACS’s experienced reception staff deal with all types of enquiries from students and can
explain how they might be able to help you. There is a lot of information available in the
waiting area and on their website, which staff can direct you to. They also hold information
about other support services, both within the College and outside it.
How do I book an appointment?
Visit the ACS reception in person, or contact them by telephone or via the website. If you
are studying abroad, or find it difficult to get to the Mile End site, they are happy to provide
services to you via telephone or email where possible.
Confidentiality
The ACS will not, in normal circumstances, pass on personal information about you to
anybody outside the Service, unless you have given them your permission. For more
information about the ACS’s confidentiality policy, please visit the website.
4.2 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES
If you believe that your ability to attend or submit a particular item of assessment has been
negatively impacted by circumstances outside of your control and so as to cast doubt on the
likely validity of the assessment as a measure of your achievement, you may wish to submit
a claim for extenuating circumstances. Extenuating circumstances include illness, death of a
close relative, etc. Extenuating circumstances do not include computer problems,
misreading your exam timetable, employer commitments, planned holidays or local transport
delays. The College provides further guidance here:
http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/examinations/extenuating_circumstances/index.html
Where any form of assessment is concerned (e.g. a deadline for an assessed essay, or
performance in an examination), a formal procedure must be followed if you wish the
extenuating circumstances to be taken into account, and these are outlined below. However,
you must recognise that the School and College have limited powers to make allowances for
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the effects of extenuating circumstances. The School Board of Examiners is required by the
College regulations to measure achievement, not potential: what a student has done, not
what s/he might have been able to do if there had been no problems. Therefore the only
claims for extenuating circumstances which we are allowed to consider are those that cast
doubt upon the validity of an assessment as a measure of achievement, and are also
outside the student’s control. This excludes circumstances which have had no bearing upon
the assessment: e.g., absence from part of the teaching due to illness. You may not have
reached your full potential, but this has not affected the validity of the assessment, which
has demonstrated your level of achievement. Whilst we may be able to consider such
circumstances in relation to progression – e.g. whether you might be allowed to first-take or
re-sit the module – we may not be permitted to take them into account when considering
your overall performance.
Extenuating circumstances during Semesters One and Two
During the teaching semesters, extenuating circumstances may affect your ability to attend
classes or meet coursework deadlines.
Absence from classes
Noting what is said under Attendance in § 2.2 THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE, as a matter
of courtesy you should explain your absence to the module teacher, keep your Adviser
informed, and provide a medical certificate or similar document as necessary. However, if
you are prevented from attending a significant number of classes you may need to consider
whether you will be able to recover lost ground, and you should discuss your situation with
your Adviser.
Extensions to assessed coursework deadlines
If you are unable to meet an assessed coursework deadline owing to extenuating
circumstances you may submit a claim for extenuating circumstances to apply for an
extension. This should be at least ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE of the deadline. This applies
even if a deadline falls at the very beginning of a semester. The same applies if your
assessment is an in-class test during Semester One or Two, which is treated as coursework
by the College systems. This means that an ‘extension’, if your claim is accepted, would
take the form of a new opportunity to sit the test.
You will need to submit your claim using the School’s online form here:
http://www.admin.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/ecform. The reasons for the request must be explained by
you and all required information must be included on the form. Incomplete applications will
be rejected. If necessary, an appointment will be made for you to discuss your claim with the
Senior Tutor for your year of study. You will be required to supply supporting documentation,
e.g. a medical certificate or equivalent, as requested.
If you have missed a deadline or in-class test owing to extenuating circumstances on the
day of the deadline, you should submit your claim as soon as you can. In such cases, it is
acceptable to seek an extension after the event. However, this should normally be within
three working days of the deadline.
Extension of a deadline will ONLY be granted in cases of genuine extenuating
circumstances; it is not an automatic right. You will not be granted an extension for
foreseeable problems, such as conflicting deadlines, difficulty in obtaining books from the
Library, or having to take paid work, nor for short-term or last-minute problems such as
transport delays or IT problems. Remember that, unless an extension has been agreed, a
late essay will receive a mark of no more than 40% (a bare pass) if submitted within two
weeks, and a mark of zero if submitted more than two weeks late.
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The School’s policy is that coursework must not be allowed to interfere with your revision
time for written exams. For this reason, most deadlines are set for no later than the end of
the second semester. The latest deadline for any coursework is the first day of the
Examination Term, and no extensions will be granted beyond the end of the first week of the
Examination Term to students who have written exams to take. If you are not able to submit
your coursework by the end of the first week, you must instead follow the procedure outline
below for extenuating circumstances during the Examination Term.
Extensions to deadlines for required (e.g. non-assessed) coursework are at the discretion of
the Module Organiser.
Extenuating circumstances during the Examination Term
If you do not feel you are well enough to attend any invigilated examinations then you
should not attend, but must submit a claim for extenuating circumstances instead. You
should note that the Academic Regulations state that if you attend an examination then you
will be deemed to have declared yourself well enough to sit it and as a result any
extenuating circumstances claim will not be considered
You must fill in the online claim form at http://www.admin.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/ecform, giving the
nature of the circumstances and how they have affected you. This statement must be
corroborated by appropriate documentation (e.g. a medical certificate - self-certification is
not permissible). These documents are then considered by the Extenuating Circumstances
Committee of the School Board of Examiners so that your examination performance may be
considered in relation to your plea of extenuating circumstances. All cases of extenuating
circumstances are kept confidential until they are considered by this Extenuating
Circumstances Committee, and its proceedings are strictly confidential. Details of individual
claims will not normally be discussed at the full Examination Board meeting.
In accordance with the Academic Regulations all claims must be received no later than
three working days before the relevant extenuating circumstances committee meeting. This
means the deadline in 2012-13 will be 11 June 2013. Please note that although
accompanying documentation can be submitted late, claims without any evidence cannot be
considered. It is in your best interest to provide evidence and supporting documentation
that is as comprehensive as possible
The School will inform you of the result of your application after the Examination Boards
have met in early July. If you have missed an examination and your extenuating
circumstances have been accepted by the examination board you will likely be offered either
a first sit or in very exceptional circumstances a first-take (see § 5.2 EXAMINATIONS
PROCESS for further detail). If you have sat all your examinations and your circumstances
have been accepted by the examination board it will be likely that no action will be taken at
the moment, but the information will remain on file to be considered in the context of
classification (see § 5.3 DEGREE CLASSIFICATION for further detail).
Please note that submission of an application for extenuating circumstances does not
automatically mean that your circumstances will be accepted by the Examination Board. The
scenarios outlined above are only likely outcomes and the Board is free to use its discretion
to decide on any course of action that is permitted within the Academic Regulations.
It is not possible to make a retrospective claim for extenuating circumstances, specifically
once you know your results. Therefore claims submitted after the deadline will not be
considered by the examination board. Please refer to the full guidance notes on extenuating
circumstances from the Advice and Counselling service or online at
http://www.welfare.qmul.ac.uk/
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4.3 PERSONAL HARASSMENT
The College has a comprehensive policy on personal harassment and recognises a variety
of types of harassment which include any type of behaviour perceived as harassment on
grounds of sex, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, religion, political conviction,
disability or age. Harassment of students is a disciplinary offence and is always treated very
seriously by the College.
If you feel that a fellow student or a member of staff is treating you unkindly or unfairly you
should contact the Students’ Union for advice on making a complaint.
4.4 DEBT
Most students have to borrow money during their time at university, and have few difficulties
controlling their borrowing and their expenditure. Sometimes, however, students borrow
more than they can comfortably repay. Getting into debt can become a major problem and a
source of much anxiety. If you feel you are in debt to a degree which is causing you
difficulties you should discuss this with your Adviser, or the Advice and Counselling Service.
It is important to resolve this issue at an early stage.
The Advice and Counselling Service also offers preventative advice so that you can avoid
your finances becoming a problem in the first place, for example checking that you are
getting all the financial support you are eligible for, and helping you to plan a realistic
budget.
You are reminded that College regulations state that a student who is in debt to the College,
or the University, for tuition fees or for services fundamental to your studies, such as
outstanding library fines, shall not be entitled to receive examination results, to progress
from one year to the next, or to receive any award of the College or University. The College
reserves the right to charge an administration fee in respect of reinstating the record of any
student whose registration has previously been terminated under the College's Ordinances
for the non-payment of tuition fees.
4.5 SCHOOL COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
This Policy complements the College policy; our emphasis is on informality, with the object
of solving your problems quickly and simply. The majority of problems should be able to be
solved at the first stage, with relatively few progressing to the third stage.
The Policy seeks to embody the following principles:
• transparency – it spells out who is responsible for dealing with your complaint at each
stage of the process, and indicates what action you should take if you feel dissatisfied
with the outcome;
• speed – there are target timescales set for each stage of the process. If for any reason it
is not possible to meet the timescale, you will be informed of the reason for the delay;
• natural justice – the Policy follows the principles of natural justice, in that no person who
has any direct interest in a complaint will be involved in deciding the outcome, and you
will be guaranteed a fair hearing;
• confidentiality – your complaint will be dealt with confidentially, and only the person(s)
responsible for dealing with the complaint, and those who are parties to it, will be
informed;
• non-detriment – you will not be disadvantaged if you make a complaint in good faith;
• group action – if several of you have a problem, you can make a joint complaint;
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• a friend – you have the right to be accompanied by a friend when you make a complaint,
or at any subsequent meeting to deal with the complaint.
This Policy covers student concerns or complaints about the provision of a programme of
study or related academic or administrative service. There is a separate policy covering
‘appeals’ – i.e. requests for the review of an examination board decision relating to the
overall assessment, progression or the classification of a degree: these requests are
considered under the provisions of the Regulations covering the Review of Examination
Board Decisions.
The School aims to provide effective teaching and assistance with academic matters, with
the resources it has at its disposal. If you feel that what is provided falls short of this, there
are various avenues open to you to express your feelings on the matter. Which you choose
will depend on the type of problem you have encountered.
Types of Complaint
Complaints are of two kinds: informal and formal.
Stage 1: Informal
If the problem is relatively straightforward, it can probably be settled informally. A brief talk
with the member of staff in question may be sufficient to solve your problem. Even if it has to
be referred upwards, to the Chair of department or Head of School, it may still be possible to
deal with the matter by a face-to-face conversation. No record will normally be kept of such
a complaint and you should not feel nervous of approaching any member of staff in such a
way.
The object of this informal first stage is to resolve problems quickly and easily with a
minimum of formality. You should receive a response within a week.
1. If you find some aspect of the teaching or organisation of a module unsatisfactory, the
obvious person to talk to in the first place is the teacher concerned. If there are many
teachers involved in a module, you may wish to consult the Module Organiser, whose
name can be found in the Directory of Modules. If neither the teacher nor the Module
Organiser can satisfy you, you may take the matter to the Chair of department
concerned. If you wish to take the matter further, you may take it to the Head of School.
2. If you are dissatisfied with the assessment of coursework during the course of the year,
in the first instance you should take note of the feedback given on the piece of work, and
ask the marker or module organiser for additional clarification of how the given mark was
reached. If you still feel an error has occurred, you may wish to consult Heather Heiner,
Exams Administrator, who will investigate whether a procedural error has occurred.
3. If the problem is of an administrative nature, the first person to speak to is the
Administrator who deals with that area, and then the School Senior Administrator. If
you wish to take the matter further, you may take it to the Head of School.
In most cases, you will find it advantageous to consult your Adviser before making any
complaint. He or she may well be able, either to solve the problem there and then, or to
indicate whom you can best approach. If the problem is for some reason difficult to discuss
with your Adviser, you may instead talk to the relevant Senior Tutor and/or the Chair of
department. You may also wish to talk to your SSLC representative who can make the
approach on your behalf, particularly if more than one student is affected.
39

Outside the School, there are other sources of help and advice:
• the Students’ Union
• the Advice and Counselling Service of the College.
Stage 2: Formal
If you cannot get the problem solved satisfactorily through the informal policy, or if the
matter is relatively serious, you should make a formal complaint in writing to the Head of
School. Your complaint will be investigated, and you will receive a written response,
normally within two weeks. The School keeps a record of all formal complaints, including a
note of the substance of the complaint, and how the matter was resolved, and makes an
annual report to Senate.
Stage 3: Institutional
If you do not feel that the problem has been solved at the School level, you may bring a
complaint at institutional level by writing to the Academic Secretary, spelling out the details
of your complaint, and the steps you have already taken to get the matter resolved. The
Academic Secretary will not normally consider complaints that have not first been raised at
the School level unless the problems are particularly severe and/or urgent. She will then
investigate the complaint according to the procedures set out in the College Policy.
5. ASSESSMENT, EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREE CLASSIFICATION
5.1 ASSESSMENT
Assessment methods
There is a variety of methods of assessment in the School. Most modules are assessed by
a written examination and by coursework, which is submitted during the year and counts for
a percentage of the marks. Some modules have no written examination, but are assessed
by essays and projects. Class presentations or quizzes may also be part of the assessment.
A few modules have only a written examination. In all cases you should check the details
with the Module Organiser and be sure that you fulfil all obligations and meet all deadlines.
Failure to complete any part of the assessment (such as by not submitting a piece of
coursework, or missing a written examination) will result in a mark of 0% for that item, which
may lead to failure of the whole module.
Language of assessment
In the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, content modules in the language
departments (e.g. modules other than the core language modules) may be taught either in
English or, where appropriate, in the ‘target language’, so that a German literature module
might be conducted in German, a French culture module in French, etc.
Where a module is taught in English, all coursework must be written in English. However,
you may write in English or in the ‘target language’ in examinations.
Where a module is taught in the target language, the language of assessment will be at the
discretion of the Module Organiser, and you should consult him or her for guidance.
Written examinations
Attendance at all examinations is compulsory. You must ensure that you are properly
registered for all your modules, including those which do not have a written examination. It is
your responsibility to ensure that you are registered for the correct modules. You have a
final opportunity to make amendments at the start of Semester 2, in consultation with your
40

adviser and the School Office. Please note, however, that you cannot withdraw from a
module which has already taken place.
You must inform the Registry if there are any dates during the Examination Term when you
will not be available for religious reasons. You will have an opportunity to do this at the start
of Semester 2. You will then be able to view your individual timetable shortly before the
Easter vacation via MySIS: as well as giving you the dates, times and locations of your
written examinations, this is also your final opportunity to make sure that you are properly
registered for all of your modules. Oral and aural examinations normally take place in the
first week of the Examination Term and are timetabled by the School. You must check the
relevant noticeboard before the Easter vacation for your times.
To ensure fairness, examinations at Queen Mary are taken anonymously. You must write
your student number in place of your name on your examination scripts.
You must take care to follow the instructions on examination papers. If you do not do so,
you will be penalised. This may lead to a mark of zero for a question inappropriately
answered. In particular, you must not recycle assessed coursework in an examination
answer.
Coursework
Coursework may take many forms: essays, projects, practical worksheets, translations,
quizzes, presentations. It can be either ‘assessed’ or ‘required’, and you should be sure that
you know which applies to each piece of work.
Set work may be ‘required’, that is it will not count towards your final mark, but it is a
requirement of the module that you produce it. You will find the marks and feedback that you
receive for it useful in gauging your progress. Failure to submit such work may result in your
being de-registered from the module. If that is a compulsory or core module, such as a
language module, you may be unable to continue with your studies.
Assessed coursework can count for anything up to 100% of your final mark for a module.
Submission of all assessed coursework is compulsory and failure to do so may result in
failure of the whole module. If you hand in a piece of coursework after the deadline, without
an agreed extension, your mark for that piece of work will be pegged at 40%. Work handed
in more than two weeks late will receive a mark of zero. Please note that any mark given for
assessed coursework remains provisional until it is confirmed by the Examination Board at
the end of the academic year.
Handing in coursework
Coursework should, unless you have good reason, be word-processed, and you must
ensure that you keep a copy of each piece of work you submit, whether or not it is wordprocessed.
One ‘hard’ (paper) copy of all work must be posted into the School postbox in
the Gallery Area on the first floor of the Arts One Building by 4 pm on the day of the
deadline. Please ensure that you have attached all the pages, and marked it clearly with the
teacher’s name.
If the coursework is assessed, you must fill out and attach a coversheet and submit it by the
deadline. Please follow the instructions on the coversheet. An electronic copy of your
coursework must also be submitted to the QMPlus page for that module. Although it is the
paper copy which the module organiser will mark and return to you, this electronic
submission will provide you with proof of submission, should you need it. It also allows us to
run coursework through anti-plagiarism software. BOTH electronic and hard copy must
therefore be submitted by the deadline in order for submission to be counted as
being on time.
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A coversheet is not needed for required coursework.
Late submission will be penalised unless you have obtained permission for an extension to
the deadline. Extensions must be requested before the deadline. Permission for an
extension for assessed coursework can be granted ONLY by the relevant Senior Tutor (see
Extensions to assessed coursework deadlines under § 4.2 EXTENUATING
CIRCUMSTANCES).
If ever you have to submit coursework by post, you must send it by Special Delivery, to
arrive by the deadline, and retain the proof of postage. No work will be accepted by fax or by
e-mail. This is because work submitted in these ways is often illegible.
Plagiarism
The Queen Mary Regulations on Assessment Offences state that plagiarism is ‘presenting
someone else’s work as one’s own irrespective of intention. Close paraphrasing, copying
from the work of another person, including another student, using the ideas of another
person, without proper acknowledgement or repeating work you have previously submitted
without properly referencing yourself (known as ‘self plagiarism’) also constitute plagiarism.’
Plagiarism includes submitting the work of someone else as your own, with or without their
knowledge or consent; using Essay Mills or ghost writing (getting someone else to write your
coursework for you); and extensive copying from someone else’s work without proper
referencing. Copying from the internet without acknowledging the source is also plagiarism.
You may use brief quotes from the published or unpublished work of other persons, but you
must always show that they are quotations by putting them inside quotation marks, giving
the source and listing the work in the bibliography (see Writing essays under § 2.2 THE
LEARNING EXPERIENCE). It is also plagiarism to summarise another person’s ideas or
judgements without reference to the source.
Plagiarism is not only unethical and poor academic practice, but when discovered will result
in very serious consequences for you. It is very easy to spot plagiarised work, and you
should be aware that as well as relying on our own expertise, we also make use of antiplagiarism
software. At the very least, discovery will lead to a mark of zero for the piece of
work involved. It may lead to a mark of zero for the whole module, or to a more severe
penalty, such as the invalidation of all examinations taken that year. Avoid it at all costs.
The best way to avoid the risk of plagiarism is first of all to make sure that when you take
notes you write down full details of the source (author’s name, title of book or article, website
address, notes you have made during lectures). You then list these in your essay, as
references for particular points and as entries in the bibliography. Take care if you are
cutting and pasting information between two documents, and ensure that references are not
lost in the process. Be particularly careful with quotations and paraphrasing, and be sensible
in referencing ideas – commonly held views that are generally accepted do not always
require acknowledgment to particular sources. However, it is best to be safe to avoid
plagiarism.
To copy an author’s words without indicating that you are quoting is the most blatant form of
plagiarism. But even to put someone else’s ideas into your own words, with or without
indicating where the ideas come from, can count as plagiarism. You should use other
people’s ideas to develop your own views. This means that you will think actively about what
you are doing, and not simply amass material in an uncritical, passive way. It will help you
constantly to analyse what you are reading, deciding what material is most important for
your essay and your argument.
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5.2 EXAMINATIONS PROCESS
Progression
In every year you register for modules to the value of 120 credits. In order to qualify to
progress to the next year of study, you must satisfy the progression requirements:
First Year Students
You must pass at least 90 credits out of 120 credits taken to progress to your second year.
The following programme regulations also apply to these specific programmes:
All programmes (single and joint honours) involving a modern language (Catalan, French,
German, Hispanic Studies, Portuguese and Russian) – You must pass your first year
language module (e.g. FRE411 French I). If you fail to pass this module then you have failed
to progress to your second year, even if you have passed 90 credits overall.
All programmes (single and joint honours) involving Film Studies – you must pass FLM100
Introduction to Film Studies. If you fail to pass this module then you have failed to progress
to your second year, even if you have passed 90 credits overall.
Second Year Students
You must pass at least 180 credits out of 240 credits taken over your first and second years.
The following programme regulations also apply to these specific programmes:
All programmes (single and joint honours) involving Film Studies – You must pass the
second year core module FLM003 What is Cinema? If you fail to pass this module then you
have failed to progress to your final year, even if you have passed 180 credits overall.
All programmes (single and joint honours) involving a modern language (Catalan, French,
German, Hispanic Studies, Portuguese and Russian) – You must pass the second year core
language module (e.g. FRE239 French II) If you fail to pass this module then you have failed
to progress to the next year of study, even if you have passed 180 credits overall.
Year Abroad Students
In order to progress from your Year Abroad to your final year, you must satisfactorily
complete the Year Abroad Assessment. You must have submitted your assessment by the
required deadline and it must not be plagiarised. You do not actually have to pass the Year
Abroad Assessment to progress into final year, however a fail mark for the Year Abroad
Assessment will have negative consequences for your final year degree classification.
Re-sitting modules
If you do not pass enough credits to progress to the next year of study, you must re-sit your
failed modules at the next available opportunity. For all modules within the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film the next available opportunity is in the following academic
year, as the School does not offer late summer re-sits. Therefore if you fail to pass enough
credits to progress into your next year of study, you must re-sit out of attendance during the
following academic year. This means that you will not be enrolled as a student or attend
classes during this year, but you will re-sit coursework and examinations out of attendance.
The results for modules passed on a re-sit are pegged at a bare pass of 40%. The resit
assessment that you will be required to undertake will be the approved synoptic reassessment
for the module. This means that you will only be required to undertake part of
the original assessment again (unless the original assessment was one piece of work worth
100%). Your re-sit mark is based entirely on the newly-submitted work. The synoptic re-
43

assessment will comprise either: for modules which have an examination, the written, aural
and/or oral examination(s) only; or: for coursework-only modules, one or more pieces of
coursework which have been approved as the synoptic re-assessment for that module.
If you have failed modules that are not taught within the School of Languages, Linguistics
and Film you should be aware that some Schools in the College do offer late summer resits.
For details of Schools which offer late summer re-sits please see the Student Guide. If
you have failed a module that is taught in a School which offers late summer re-sits the next
available opportunity to re-sit this module is in the late summer and you will be automatically
registered for this examination and must ensure that you attend.
If you are eligible to progress into your next of study but have not passed all the modules
that you have taken, you will be able to re-sit those modules that you have failed alongside
the full 120 credits that you will be studying in your next year of study. However, you will not
be allowed to attend the classes again for the module(s) that you are re-sitting.
Final year students may only re-sit failed modules if they have too few credits to be eligible
to graduate. You are not eligible for late summer re-sits under any circumstances.
All students who are eligible to re-sit modules must ensure that they either opt-in or opt-out
of re-sitting these modules via MySIS. If you are in attendance (that is you have qualified to
progress to your next year of study), you will be automatically opted-in to re-sit any failed
modules that you are eligible to re-sit. If you do not wish to re-sit these modules, you must
ensure that you opt-out via the MySIS system by the deadline otherwise you will remain
registered to take the re-sit assessment for these modules. You should be aware that opting
out of re-sitting a module means that you will not have another opportunity to re-sit this
module and that the highest mark that you have thus far achieved for this module will remain
on your transcript and will be used in your degree classification calculation.
If you are out of attendance (that is you did not qualify to progress to your next year of
study) you will automatically be opted-out to re-sit your failed modules. Therefore, if you
wish to re-sit your failed modules in order to resume your studies, you must ensure that you
opt-in via the MySIS system by the deadline otherwise you will not be registered to re-sit
your modules. You will not have another opportunity to re-sit, and your registration as a
student at Queen Mary will be terminated.
The opt-in/opt-out re-sit task is available in MySIS usually from mid-October until mid-
December each year. It is your responsibility to ensure that you opt-in or opt-out of re-sitting
your failed modules by the deadline. If you have any queries regarding the task, you should
contact the Academic Registry.
You MUST re-sit your failed modules at the next available opportunity. This is either in the
following academic year (all SLLF modules) or in the late summer (modules offered in some
departments in the College). It is not possible to defer taking your re-sits (this applies even if
you have interrupted your studies) and if you do not re-sit your failed modules at the next
available opportunity, you will not be able to do so at any other time during your studies. The
only possible exception to this regulation is for students who are abroad as part of their
studies and who are not able to return to College to re-sit their failed modules (unless it is a
core module). In this situation you will not be penalised, but no other deferral of re-sits is
permitted.
Students who commenced their programme of study prior to 2011 - You have three
permitted attempts to pass a module – one original attempt (where you study for the module
for the first time) and two re-sit attempts. Therefore if you fail a module on the first attempt,
44

e-sit it at the next available opportunity but still fail to pass it, you will have one more
attempt to re-sit the module at the next available opportunity should you wish to do so.
Students who commenced their programme of study in 2011 or later - You have two
attempts to pass a module – one original attempt (where you study for the module for the
first time) and one re-sit attempt which must be taken at the next available opportunity.
If you have exhausted all your permitted attempts to pass a module but still have failed to
pass it, the mark that will remain on your transcript and that will be used in your degree
classification calculation is the highest mark you have achieved for the module, not the most
recent.
First sitting modules
Students who have not attended an examination or who have not submitted coursework and
have submitted an application for extenuating circumstances which has been accepted by
the Examination Board (see § 4.2 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES) may be offered a
first sit in that module at the discretion of the Examination Board. The timing of the first sit
will depend on your individual circumstances:
If you have met the progression requirements for your degree programme, the first sit will
take place in the following academic year. If the missing item of assessment is an
examination you will sit in the following May alongside your other examinations. If the
missing item of assessment is coursework you will be set a deadline for submission in the
following academic year. You will not attend classes in the module which you are first sitting.
If you need to pass the first sit to meet the progression requirements for your degree
programme, the first sit will take place during the summer vacation of the same academic
year. If you pass the first sits and meet the requirements for progression you will be able to
progress into the next year of your degree programme in September.
Please note that the decision regarding the timing of first sits is made by the Examination
Board not by the student. Under the College’s Academic Regulations final year students are
not permitted to take late summer first sits and therefore must wait until the following
academic year.
First sit modules are not pegged at 40E and the full range of marks will be available.
Retaking an academic year (First Take)
Students can only be permitted to re-take an academic year in very exceptional
circumstances. This is known as a “first take”. You must have applied for your extenuating
circumstances to be taken into account before the Examination Board meets (see § 4.2
EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES). If the first take is authorised, you will attend all
classes and submit the entire assessment for your modules again. You must take the same
modules in your first take year that you were registered for on the original attempt (unless
the School is not offering that module again). Results for first-taken modules are not pegged
at 40E and the full range of marks will be available.
Marking and examining
Marking and examining of work which counts towards classification (assessed coursework
or written examination) is done by teachers who have had to be formally approved as
Examiners. There are three stages in marking to ensure that a fair mark is arrived at: the
work is marked by two teachers and if, after serious discussion, there remains any
uncertainty about the appropriate mark, it is sent to an External Examiner, who has a right to
see all the students’ work for that module, who thus has an overview and whose final
45

ecommendation is normally accepted. External Examiners also see all overall fail
performances and a sample of the work by students over which there is no disagreement
internally.
5.3 DEGREE CLASSIFICATION
When you get your degree, it is a classified degree, i.e. it is a First, Upper Second, Lower
Second, Third Class Honours degree, or a Pass degree. What follows is an explanation of
how the marks you get for each of your modules are translated into your final classification.
There is important further information on examinations in the Registry Student Guide with
which you should become familiar.
Award of degree
All students must have passed at least 270 credits to be eligible for a degree. For students
registered for a 4-year degree these 270 credits passed must not include the 120 credit
Year Abroad Assessment module. Students transferring from another university into the
second year of a Queen Mary degree programme must have passed at least 180 credits.
For students who transferred into the second year of a languages degree programme that
includes the compulsory Year Abroad, these 180 credits passed must not include the 120
credit Year Abroad Assessment module. Level 3 modules do not count towards these totals.
In practice, most of you will have passed more than this.
Classification
When all the marks have been agreed, each student’s complete profile is scrutinised at a
meeting of the appropriate departmental Sub-board (Comparative Literature, Film Studies,
French, German, Iberian and Latin American Studies, Linguistics, or Russian). Where a
student has two main subjects within the School, the Chairs of both Sub-boards discuss the
case in detail and the student is then assigned for preliminary classification to one of the two
Sub-boards. Combined Honours language students (a language with a non-language
subject) are always classified by the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. The Subboards’
recommendations are then considered by the Board of Examiners in the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film, whose final recommendation is then put to the College
Degree Examination Board for approval.
The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film is the home department for all students
registered in the School except for students registered on the following degree programmes:
English Literature and Linguistics, and Film Studies and History. If you are registered on one
of these degree programmes, you will be classified by the other School. However, this will
be done in consultation with the Chair of the Board of Examiners of the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film.
Your overall performance is assessed using a calculation to determine your ‘mean’ mark,
which will give you a percentage on the scale with which you are already familiar.
Calculating your final mean
There is a College-wide classification mean for all students who began their studies in or
after 2004. This mean compulsorily includes the marks from all 360 credits (480 credits for
four-year students) taken throughout your studies. If marks for fewer than 120 credits are
recorded in any one year, the computer will make calculations by inserting marks of zero as
appropriate.
The mean for 4-year students is calculated as follows:
(year 1 average x 1) + (year 2 average x 2) + (year abroad average x 1) + (final year
average x 4) / 9
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The mean for 3-year students is calculated as follows:
(year 1 average x 1) + (year 2 average x 2 ) + (final year average x 4) / 7
Classifying your degree according to your mean
A mean mark in the middle of the range will immediately be awarded the appropriate class
of degree (e.g., 65% will be an Upper Second). However the College’s regulations allow for
a degree of flexibility. If your mean is just below a borderline, your case is examined in
detail.
Positive factors will be looked for, such as the range and level of the modules taken, and
elements of ‘higher class’ performance within your profile. This includes the number of
modules that have a higher class mark and how many of these modules are at level 6. If you
have had unspent extenuating circumstances (that is extenuating circumstances for which
you were not offered a first sit or re-take – see section 4.2 EXTENUATING
CIRCUMSTANCES) they will be brought to the attention of the Examination Board who has
the discretion to recommend a higher class of degree if it sees fit. Please note that the
presence of extenuating circumstances does not automatically mean that you will be
awarded a higher class of degree. External Examiners attend the classification meeting and
their judgement on the borderline cases, which are fully discussed, is considered very
important.
Degree titles
The Queen Mary Academic Credit Framework applies to all students who entered the
College in 2008 or later. The QMACF states that students’ degree titles are determined by
the title of their programme of study and this will only differ where there is an approved
alternative exit title for that degree programme. If your interests change in the course of your
studies, you should change programme to reflect this. You should discuss the possibility
with your Adviser as soon as possible. If you have taken modules outside of the subject
named in your degree programme these modules will be listed on your transcript but will not
be named in your degree title unless you actively change your degree programme by
submitting a change of programme form. You will only be able to do this if you fulfil all the
programme requirements for your new degree programme. You should always discuss any
changes with your Adviser.
Final Year language students who entered the College before 2012 and who meet the overall
requirements to graduate, but fail to pass the core final year language module will be
awarded the approved alternative degree exit title including ‘French Studies’, ‘German
Studies’, ‘Spanish Studies’ or ‘Russian Studies’ as appropriate. All other students must pass
all core modules before they can be classified.
5.4 MARKING CRITERIA AND SUBJECT BENCHMARKS
Marking scheme for undergraduate work
The standard (numerical) marking scheme used for all undergraduate work in the School is
as follows:
Module mark Grade
70 or above grade A
60-69.9 grade B
50-59.9 grade C
45-49.9 grade D
40-44.9 grade E
0-39.9 grade F (fail)
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Modules in the degree programmes are organised into four major areas: modules on
literature/culture, modules on linguistics, modules on film, and language modules. Nonlanguage
modules in the degree programmes are taught at three different levels, with
benchmarks for each of the levels; language modules are taught at six different stages, also
with benchmarks for each of the stages. Benchmarks tell you what you should know and do
at each level or stage. This includes knowledge and skills which are specific to the
disciplines and/or the language(s) you are studying as well as knowledge and skills which
are transferable to other spheres. Marks for undergraduate work are judged relative to the
level or stage at which the modules are taught. When marking, examiners bear in mind
these benchmarks in conjunction with the grade criteria. Benchmarks are provided below for
each of the three major areas:
Level benchmarks for modules on literature/culture
Level 4: At this level students are expected to demonstrate:
• Basic factual and conceptual knowledge of the field of study
• Command of the essential terminology
• Basic research, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Basic awareness of the complexity of the subject, and of issues and implications of
tasks set
• Awareness of the basic historical, theoretical and/or critical approaches to the
subject
• Capacity to apply this knowledge, with guidance, to the tasks set
• Capacity to analyse primary texts or other relevant cultural products and to put them
into context
• Basic awareness of the formal attributes of primary texts and cultural products
• Capacity to synthesise findings and to communicate them effectively and concisely,
and to present them in a format appropriate to the discipline
• Ability to construct a coherent argument
Level 5: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• Detailed knowledge of major discipline(s) and awareness of a variety of relevant
concepts/contexts/frameworks
• Capacity to analyse a range of texts/cultural products and to place them in their
contexts with minimum guidance
• Awareness of the complexity of the subject and of the tasks set, ability to identify key
issues and to discern the most appropriate approaches
• Ability to work within major theories/critical frameworks of discipline
• Capacity to distinguish between these theoretical/critical approaches, to compare
them and their implications
• Ability to synthesise a range of ideas and to re-think them in the light of a given task
• Capacity to challenge received opinion and to begin to develop own criteria and
judgement
• Awareness of the formal attributes of primary texts and cultural products
• Capacity to communicate findings effectively and in a format appropriate to the
discipline
• Ability to construct a coherent argument
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Level 6: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• Comprehensive and detailed knowledge of major discipline(s), and of areas of
specialisation
• Capacity to identify own strengths and learning needs, autonomy to plan and carry
out study and research tasks and to use, with minimum guidance, the full range of
resources and methodologies for the discipline available
• Capacity to analyse abstract concepts and texts or cultural products without
guidance, using a range of historical, theoretical and critical approaches appropriate
to the subject, with confidence and fluidity
• Capacity to contextualise a wide range of concepts, texts and cultural products from
a variety of perspectives
• Confidence in identifying and defining the complexity of subject(s) or problem(s) and
ability to engage with the implications and contradictions resulting from that
complexity
• Confidence in use of own criteria and judgement and in challenging of received
opinion
• Capacity to analyse comprehensively the formal attributes of primary texts and
cultural products
• Capacity to engage effectively in debate and to produce professionally presented
pieces of written work following the norms appropriate to the discipline
• Ability to construct a coherent argument
Level benchmarks for modules in linguistics
Level 4: At this level students are expected to demonstrate:
• Basic factual and conceptual knowledge of the field of study
• Command of essential terminology
• Command of the core concepts
• Ability to think systematically about language structure and language use
• Ability to apply core analytical tools
• Ability to follow linguistic argumentation
• Ability to apply linguistic argumentation to data, with appropriate guidance
• Ability to follow theoretical explanations of linguistic phenomena
• Capacity to communicate findings effectively and in a format appropriate to the
discipline
Level 5: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• Detailed knowledge of particular theoretical models for understanding language
• An understanding of how these models are situated in broader contexts relevant to
language
• Ability to tackle some of the primary literature
• Ability to apply the concepts of these theoretical models to linguistic data with
guidance
• An understanding of the link between data and theory in linguistics more generally
• Ability to collect and organise data
• Ability to construct an argument in linguistics
Level 6: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• Comprehensive and detailed knowledge of particular theoretical models for
understanding language
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• Ability to tackle more technically challenging primary literature
• Capacity to identify own strengths and learning needs, autonomy to plan and carry
out study tasks and use, with minimum guidance, the full range of resources for the
discipline available
• Ability to apply the concepts of the theoretical models to linguistic data with minimal
guidance so as to construct (partial) analyses
• Ability to collect and organise data with a full understanding of the methodological
implications of the process
Level benchmarks for modules in film studies
Level 1: At this level students are expected to demonstrate:
• A basic factual, conceptual and historical knowledge of the field of study
• Awareness of the basic terminology and key concepts
• Basic research, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to conduct a sequence, or mise-en-scene, analysis
• Capacity to place film texts into their cultural, historical and political contexts
• Ability to construct a coherent argument
• Capacity to communicate ideas effectively in a format appropriate to the discipline
• Capacity to identify own learning needs and to develop strategies for improvement
• (and for students who opt to study film production) Video production skills in the
areas of camera, sound, editing and lighting to a basic level of competence
• (and for students who opt to study film production) The ability to write and devise a
screenplay with a narrative structure using the required standard and format
Level 2: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• A cultivated and critical sense of a wide range of different theories of film resulting in a
more detailed factual, conceptual and historical knowledge of the field of study
• Confidence in the use of essential terminology and key concepts
• Strong research, analytical and problem-solving skills
• The ability to use sequence, or mise-en-scene, analysis, within a wide range of tasks
with minimum guidance
• Sophisticated understanding of the relationship between film texts and their cultural,
historical and political contexts
• Capability and confidence in communicating ideas in a format appropriate to the
discipline
• (and for students who opt to study film production) The ability to demonstrate video
production skills related to the directing of drama in terms of working with performers,
preparing a script and blocking and staging action
• (and for students who opt to study film production) The ability to write a script as an
adaptation of a prose text and the ability to write an original screenplay to a good
standard in terms of format and layout and in relation to narrative drama (incl. plot,
characterization, genre)
Level 6: At this level students are additionally expected to demonstrate:
• The development of in-depth knowledge of selected theories of film relevant to topics
covered and resulting in areas of specialization
• Strong research, analytical and problem-solving skills deployed within a wide range of
tasks with minimum guidance
• Autonomy to plan and carry out study and research tasks and to use, with minimum
guidance, the full range of resources and methodologies for the discipline
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• Capacity to construct a coherent argument that will challenge received opinion and
demonstrate marked independence of thought
• (and for students who opt to study film production) The ability to produce a complete
and coherent narrative drama combining both the skills of video production and
scriptwriting developed at levels one and two.
Stage benchmarks for language modules
Languages for which the School offers degrees (Catalan, French, German, Portuguese,
Russian and Spanish) are taught from Stage 1 to Stage 6.
Benchmarks for the six stages described below are defined in accordance with the criteria
used in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A table of
language modules indicating their respective stages and the corresponding CEFRL
nomenclature, and pathways followed by students in the various departments of the School,
can be found at the end of this section of the handbook.
Stage 1: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases
concerning needs of a concrete type
• Introduce him/herself and others and ask and answer questions about personal
details
• Interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly
• Write simple, isolated phrases and sentences, showing some control of simple
grammatical structures
Stage 2: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most
immediate relevance (e.g. personal information, likes and dislikes, shopping, local
geography, studies, employment)
• Communicate in simple, everyday situations requiring a direct exchange of
information and requests for information
• Describe in simple terms his/her background, immediate environment and matters of
immediate need
• Write a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors,
displaying greater control of grammatical structures
Stage 3: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand straightforward, factual information and the main points on familiar
matters regularly encountered in work, leisure, university, etc.
• Produce simple connected texts on topics which are familiar or of personal interest
• Describe orally and in writing, presenting these as a linear sequence of points,
experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and
explanations for opinions and plans
• Write short, simple essays on relevant topics, expressing thoughts on abstract and
cultural topics, showing sound grammatical knowledge
Stage 4: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand the main ideas of complex speech and texts, live or broadcast, on both
concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of
specialisation
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• Interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity, and give clear detailed
presentations on a range of relevant subjects, expanding and supporting ideas with
subsidiary points and relevant examples
• Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects; synthesise and evaluate
information and arguments from a number of sources and explain a viewpoint on a
topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options
• Write an essay with a relatively high degree of grammatical control which develops
an argument systematically, using a limited number of cohesive devices to produce
clear, coherent discourse
Stage 5: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand and recognise a wide range of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms
and a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning
• Express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for
expressions, and give detailed presentations on complex subjects, integrating subthemes
• Use language flexibly and effectively for social and academic purposes
• Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text showing a high degree of grammatical
accuracy, on complex subjects, underlining the relevant issues, showing controlled
use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices
Stage 6: At this stage students are expected to:
• Understand with ease virtually everything heard or read whether live or broadcast
• Summarise information from different spoken and written sources, give critical
appreciation of relevant material, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a
coherent presentation
• Exploit a comprehensive and reliable mastery of a very wide range of language to
formulate thoughts precisely and maintaining consistent grammatical control of
complex language; express him/herself spontaneously and very fluently using an
effective logical structure and differentiating finer shades of meaning, even in more
complex situations, in order to eliminate ambiguity
Marking criteria for undergraduate work
Since the criteria used in judging language modules are rather different from those used in
judging non-language work (modules on literature/culture, linguistics and film), they are
outlined in separate sections below.
Criteria for marking modules on literature/ culture, linguistics and film
Examiners bear in mind a number of different criteria when determining what mark to award.
One relates to the coverage of the particular topics or questions addressed: relevant issues
should be identified and implications addressed. You are expected to display an
understanding of relevant criticism. Argumentation is expected to be clear, consistent and
balanced, and should be supported by relevant evidence and exemplification. Depending on
the nature and difficulty of the topic, an appropriate level of originality, imagination, insight or
ingenuity in exemplification, argument, approach, problem statement or solution is expected.
From a presentational point of view, work should be neat and tidy, clearly structured, well
written, precise and directly relevant to the topic, without unnecessary digression or errors in
spelling or grammar, with proper attention to presentation of examples, citation and the form
in which bibliographical information is presented. Technical terms should be used correctly.
Conciseness is important (e.g., length restrictions should be adhered to).
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Not all of the criteria below apply equally to all kinds of assignments (essays, exercises,
transcriptions, practical projects, sequence analyses, etc.). In general, weakness in one
area may be compensated by extra strength in another. A brief outline of the qualities
expected of a piece of work in a non-language module at a given level is presented below:
Work of A-grade Standard: A piece of work will normally be awarded an A grade, and be
considered of excellent standard, if it displays the following:
1. Follows the assignment brief; is confident in handling key terms and concepts; may
also productively challenge and question key terms and concepts
2. Excellent knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; excellent
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches; the assimilation and integration of additional material
not directly covered in the module
3. A coherent line of argument throughout the assignment backed up with excellent
analysis; an ability to go beyond the arguments presented in the critical literature;
evidence of independent and/or original thinking
4. An appropriate and elegant structure that ensures excellent organisation of material
and detail
5. Excellent command of language, including accurate spelling, grammar and
punctuation; the use of a suitable scholarly register; fluency, flair and an assured use
of difficult and specialised terminology
6. Impeccable referencing and bibliography presented according to the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film’s preferred referencing system
7. Excellent presentation of work (word processed in at least 11 point font, one and a
half line spacing, pages clearly numbered, etc.).
Note – a piece of assessed work that is excellent in all these criteria should be awarded the
highest possible grade of 85%.
Work of B-grade Standard: A piece of work will normally be awarded a B-grade mark, and
be considered good, if it displays the following:
1. Follows the assignment brief; is confident in handling key terms and concepts
2. Good knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; good
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches
3. A coherent line of argument throughout the assignment backed up with good
analysis; good understanding and synthesis of the arguments presented in the
critical literature
4. An appropriate structure that ensures good organisation of material and detail
5. Good command of language, including accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation;
the use of a suitable scholarly register
6. Good referencing and bibliography presented according to the School of Languages,
Linguistics and Film’s preferred referencing system
7. Good presentation of work (word processed in at least 11 point font, one and a half
line spacing, pages clearly numbered, etc.).
Work of C-Grade Standard: A piece of work will normally be awarded a C-grade mark, and
be considered satisfactory, if it displays the following:
1. Follows the assignment brief; satisfactory handling of key terms and concepts
2. Satisfactory knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; satisfactory
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches
3. An identifiable line of argument throughout the assignment backed up with
satisfactory analysis; some problems understanding and synthesising the arguments
presented in the critical literature
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4. A functional structure that ensures satisfactory organisation of material and detail
5. Satisfactory command of language, including reasonably accurate spelling, grammar
and punctuation; the use of a suitable scholarly register
6. Satisfactory referencing and bibliography presented according to the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film’s preferred referencing system
7. Satisfactory presentation of work (word processed in at least 11 point font, one and a
half line spacing, pages clearly numbered, etc.).
Work of D-grade Standard: A piece of work will normally be awarded a D-grade mark, and
be considered weak, if it displays the following:
1. Does not always stick to the assignment task set; problems handling key terms and
concepts
2. Weak knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; weak
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches
3. Weak argument throughout the assignment not well integrated with weak analysis;
problems understanding and synthesising the arguments presented in the critical
literature
4. A weak and incoherent structure that does not ensure satisfactory organisation of
material and detail
5. Weak command of language, including inaccurate spelling, grammar and
punctuation; failure to use a suitable scholarly register
6. Inconsistent and/or incomplete referencing and bibliography; does not follow the
School of Languages, Linguistics and Film preferred referencing system
7. Weak presentation of work (not word processed, illegible font, pages not numbered,
etc.).
Work of E-grade Standard: A piece of work will normally be awarded an E-grade mark, and
be considered poor, if it displays the following:
1. Does not always stick to the assignment task set; problems handling key terms and
concepts
2. Poor knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; poor
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches
3. Poor argument throughout the assignment not well integrated with weak analysis;
problems understanding and synthesising the arguments presented in the critical
literature
4. A poor and incoherent structure that does not ensure satisfactory organisation of
material and detail
5. Poor command of language, including inaccurate spelling, grammar and punctuation;
failure to use a suitable scholarly register
6. Inconsistent and/or incomplete referencing and bibliography; does not follow the
School of Languages, Linguistics and Film preferred referencing system
7. Poor presentation of work (not word processed, illegible font, pages not numbered,
etc.).
Work of less than E-grade Standard: A piece or work will normally be awarded a fail if it
shows a number of significant shortcomings, such as the following:
1. Does not stick to the assignment task set; severe problems handling key terms and
concepts
2. Little or no knowledge/understanding of the topic of the assignment; little or no
knowledge/understanding of the wider subject area, including relevant
theoretical/critical approaches
3. No argument throughout the assignment and no analysis; no understanding or
synthesis of the arguments presented in the critical literature
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4. Non-existent structure that leads to disorganised presentation of material and detail
5. Very poor command of language, including inaccurate spelling, grammar and
punctuation; failure to use a suitable scholarly register; the marker may find it
impossible to actually read the assignment
6. No references or bibliography; does not follow the School of Languages, Linguistics
and Film preferred referencing system; may contain plagiarised material.
7. Extremely poorly presented.
Note - narrative or descriptive (rather than analytical) essays will not normally be given a
grade higher than C.
Criteria for marking language modules
Work of A-grade Standard:
Excellent command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Work of B-grade Standard:
Good command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Work of C-grade Standard:
Satisfactory command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Work of D-grade Standard:
Limited command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Work of E-grade Standard:
Poor command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Work of less than E-grade Standard:
Inadequate command of all language skills outlined at each given stage
Language work is normally assessed on the basis of quality of content and quality of
language.
Students should note that descriptive rather than analytical essays will not normally be given
a grade higher than C.
The normal mark for work which is of clear A-grade standard (with no significant
shortcomings) is 75; for work which is of clear B-grade standard it is 65; for work of clear Cgrade
standard it is 55; for work of a clear D-grade standard, 47 and for work of clear Egrade
standard, 43. Marks are correspondingly higher or lower for work which is a little
above or below average work in the relevant class. For example, work which is overall of Agrade
standard but contains a few minor shortcomings might be awarded a mark of 72. The
normal maximum mark for work which is truly exceptional in every respect is 85.
LANGUAGES TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, LINGUISTICS AND FILM
Module Code and Title Stages Corresponding CEFRL
levels for Erasmus/
Socrates students
CAT/110 Introductory Catalan Stages 1-2 A1-A2
CAT/512 Catalan II Intensive Stage 3 B1+
Catalan Year Abroad Assessment Stage 5 C1
CAT/601 Catalan III Stage 6 C1-C2
FRE/411 French I Stage 3 B1
FRE/239 French II Stage 4 B2
French Year Abroad Assessment Stage 5 C1
FRE/452 French III Stage 6 C2
FRE/407 Advanced Oral Competence
in French
Stage 6 C2
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Module Code and Title Stages Corresponding CEFRL
levels for Erasmus/
Socrates students
GER/100 Introductory German Stages 1-2 A1-A2
GER/103 German I Intensive Stage 2+ A2 up to B1
GER/051 German I Stage 3 B1
GER/203 German II Intensive Stage 3+ B1+
GER/212 German II Stage 4 B2
German Year Abroad Assessment Stage 5 C1
GER/061 German III Stage 6 C2
HSP/179 Introductory Spanish Stages 1-2 A1-A2
HSP/176 Spanish I Stage 3 B1
HSP/671 Spanish II Intensive Stage 4 B1+
HSP/233 Spanish II Stage 4 B2
Hispanic Studies Year Abroad
Assessment
Stage 5 C1
HSP/646 Spanish III Stage 6 C1-C2
HSP/611 Advanced Oral Competence Stage 6 C2
in Spanish
POR/110 Introductory Portuguese Stages 1-2 A1-A2
POR/512 Portuguese II Intensive Stage 3 B1+
Portuguese Year Abroad Assessment Stage 5 C1
POR/603 Portuguese III Stage 6 C1-C2
RUS/006 Introductory Russian Stages 1-2 A1-A2
RUS/060 Russian I Stage 3 B1
RUS/082 Russian II Stages 4-5 B2-C1
RUS/084 Russian III Stages 5-6 C1-C2
Language pathways followed by students in the School of Languages, Linguistics
and Film
French
Students in French follow the pathway outlined below.
Post ‘A’ Level and French native speaker students:
French I
French II
Year Abroad
French III
German
Students in German normally follow one of the pathways outlined below. Language tests at
the different stages help determine which pathway is most appropriate for individual
students.
Ab Initio students:
Introductory German
German II Intensive
Year Abroad
German III
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Post GCSE students:
German I Intensive
German II
Year Abroad
German III
Post A’ Level students:
German I
German II
Year Abroad
German III
Native speakers of German:
German I N
German II N
German III N
Hispanic Studies
Students in Hispanic Studies normally follow one of the pathways outlined below. Language
tests at the different stages help determine which pathway is most appropriate for individual
students.
Ab Initio students:
Introductory Spanish
Spanish II Intensive
Year Abroad
Spanish III
Students with ‘A’ Level Spanish or GCSE marks A & B:
Spanish I
Spanish II
Year Abroad
Spanish III
Native speakers with education in Spanish speaking countries until 18:
Introductory Catalan or Introductory Portuguese or Linguistics Level 4 option
Catalan II Intensive or Portuguese II Intensive or Linguistics Level 5 option
Spanish III
Russian
Students in Russian follow the pathways outlined below:
Ab initio students
Preliminary Russian
Russian I
Russian II
Russian III
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Students with ‘A’ Level Russian or equivalent
Russian I
Russian II
Russian III
Native speakers of Russian
Russian I N
Russian II N
Russian III N
6. YEAR ABROAD AND YEAR ABROAD ASSESSMENT
The Year Abroad is compulsory for all students registered on French, Hispanic Studies and
German degree programmes. These degree programmes are four years in length of which
the third year is a compulsory Year Abroad spent in one or more relevant countries.
The following programme regulations apply to students registered on Russian degree
programmes:
Russian Single Honours or Russian Joint Honours with a non-Language Subject – Ab
Initio Level
Students who start studying Russian from ab initio level will be registered on 4-year degree
programme without a Year Abroad as the first year is a preliminary year. Students may if
they wish spend a Year Abroad in a Russian speaking country, but this will involve changing
their degree programme to a 5-year degree. This is optional and not compulsory.
Russian Single Honours or Russian Joint Honours with a Non-Language Subject –
Post A-Level & Native Speakers
Post A-Level and Native Speakers of Russian will be initially registered on a 4-year degree
programme. However as the Year Abroad is not compulsory in Russian these students may
complete their degree in three years. Students who opt not to go on a Year Abroad must
complete a Change of Programme form (available from the School Office or the College
website) to change their degree programme to a 3-year degree programme.
Russian Joint Honours with a Language Subject – Ab initio Level
These students will be registered on a 4-year degree programme without a Year Abroad as
the first year is a preliminary year. These students are not required to spend a Year Abroad
in either a Russian-speaking country or in a country where the other language is spoken.
Students may if they wish opt to go on a Year Abroad but this will involve changing their
degree programme to a 5-year degree. This is optional and not compulsory.
Russian Joint Honours with a Language Subject – Post A Level & Native Speakers
These students are registered on a 4-year degree programme and are required to spend a
Year Abroad in either a Russian-speaking country or in a country where the other language
is spoken or split between two countries.
Wherever possible, arrangements are made for students who are not native speakers of
Russian and who do not on a Year Abroad to a Russian-speaking country to spend
substantial periods in Russia; but these periods do not constitute a ‘year abroad’ (see also §
16.5 DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN).
The primary objective of the year abroad is to enable you to acquire the language fluency
which can only come from being immersed in a particular language environment, developing
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passive and active language skills from hearing, reading, speaking and writing that language
as the unique means of communication.
Other objectives are:
• to provide you with the opportunity to learn about the general culture of the country or
countries which you visit
• for you to investigate aspects of that culture and engage in personal research
• to help you develop confidence and resilience through exposure to other bureaucracies
and other ways of life
• to learn invaluable transferable skills
• to give you an insight into different educational and working structures, whether as an
assistant teacher, as a student in a university, or undertaking an internship, and to
enable you to participate in and adapt to those structures
Students who study two languages are able to split their Year Abroad between two countries
if they wish to.
Most of you will spend your year abroad either as a English Language assistant on
placements arranged by the British Council, or as a university student, either under the EUfunded
ERASMUS scheme which offers exchanges with other European Union universities,
or as an independent student or on an independently arranged work placement. All students
are bound by a contract signed before or on taking up their places or positions, and you
must take care to honour it. The various certificates which students are required to produce
on their return, the reports written by the institutions or companies in which they have spent
their time, visits made by members of staff from Queen Mary to students abroad, and the
close contact maintained by Queen Mary both with the institutions responsible for its
students and with the students themselves, are all of great importance.
An initial meeting to inform you about your options is held at the end of your first year. This
is followed by a series of briefing meetings throughout your second year and backed up by
written year abroad handbooks. It is vital that you attend all of these meetings and take note
of the guidelines. If you need more information, please seek it from the following: French –
Dr Laetitia Calabrese; German – Dr Annja Neumann; Spanish – Dr Mar Encinas-Puente;
Portuguese – TBC (Instituto Camões Instructor); Russian – Mrs Anna Pilkington. You may
also refer to Mrs Heather Heiner, the Administrator responsible for the year abroad.
6.1 YEAR ABROAD FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS
The following arrangements apply to students undertaking the Year Abroad in 2012-13.
Students should be aware that funding arrangements are subject to review on a yearly basis
and the information in this section may change by the time you come to undertake your Year
Abroad.
The amount of funding that you receive will depend on your tuition fee status AND in on the
country or countries in which you will be undertaking your Year Abroad Placement.
Students who qualify for HOME fee status (this includes UK students, EU students,
students who are permanently settled in the UK or who have refugee status) AND who will
be on a study or work placement (including British Council Language Assistantship) within
the European Union and/or Switzerland for a minimum of 24 weeks (this can include split
placements) will receive:
A tuition fee waiver. No fees will be payable to Queen Mary or to your host institution
(if studying under the ERASMUS scheme) for the academic year 2012-13.
A small ERASMUS grant
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Students who qualify for HOME fee status who will be working or studying within the
European Union and/or Switzerland for less than 24 weeks will receive:
A small ERASMUS grant
You or your funding authority will be required to pay half rate tuition fees to Queen
Mary for the academic year 2012-13. If studying under the ERASMUS scheme, you
will not be required to pay any fees to your host institution.
Students who qualify for OVERSEAS fee status who will be working or studying within
the European Union and/or Switzerland will receive:
A small ERASMUS grant
You or your funding authority will be required to pay half rate tuition fees to Queen
Mary for the academic year 2012-13. If studying under the ERASMUS scheme, you
will not be required to pay any fees to your host institution.
All students who will be working or studying outside the European Union or Switzerland
(Latin America or Canada) will be required to pay half rate tuition fees to Queen Mary for
the academic year 2012-13. You will also not be eligible to receive an ERASMUS grant.
If you are going to spend the year studying independently at a university (i.e. not on an
ERASMUS study placement), then you may be liable to fees at that institution as well as
Queen Mary. In these cases, the College will reimburse your fees for studying abroad up to
a limit of half of the home tuition fee for that year. Please note that if this does not fully cover
the actual fees charged by the overseas institution, you must be prepared to meet any
higher cost yourself.
The College is not able to reimburse any fees for part-time modules undertaken by students
spending their year abroad on work placements.
6.2 YEAR ABROAD ASSESSMENT
Modes of assessment for the year abroad are detailed in the School of Languages,
Linguistics and Film Year Abroad Handbook, which is distributed to all second year students
at the beginning of the second semester. The Year Abroad Assessment is an integral and
compulsory part of the year abroad. Progression into the final year of your degree is
dependent upon successful completion of the Year Abroad Assessment, which is worth 120
credits.
There are two modes through which the year abroad is assessed by the School
(ERASMUS/other university examinations or completion of a Year Abroad Assessment). In
order to find out which modes of assessment are available to you, you must consult the
section of the Year Abroad Handbook devoted to your home department. Please remember
that your mode of assessment of the year abroad depends on the regulations of your
individual department(s).
If you are a joint language student and are splitting the year abroad between two countries,
you must complete a Semester Abroad Assessment in each country. You must consult both
Year Abroad Co-ordinators in order to formally agree your assessment.
6.3 VACATION COURSES
Limited funding is available to help subsidise students’ attendance on vacation language
courses in a language which is a substantial component of their degree. This applies where
a student is studying a language ab initio or where a student has been unable to spend a
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prolonged period in a country where the language studied is spoken (for example, when a
Combined Language student has spent a year in the ‘other’ country). Applications should
be made to the member of staff responsible for vacation modules in the relevant
Department: French: Dr Laetitia Calabrese, German: Dr Annja Neumann; Hispanic Studies:
Dr Mar Encinas-Puente; Portuguese: TBC; Russian: Mrs Anna Pilkington.
To be eligible for a vacation grant, students of Russian must regularly attend the classes
offered in the Visiting Lecturers Programme. Vacation grants are awarded on the basis of
effort and achievement.
7. ASSOCIATE AND ERASMUS STUDENTS
Associate and ERASMUS students are welcome in the School of Languages, Linguistics
and Film, which has run successful exchanges with different countries for a number of
years. Some students come for the whole academic year, others for only one semester.
ERASMUS students are assigned an Adviser to help you to register on appropriate
modules. The Advisers are: Dr Leigh Oakes for students in the French Department, Dr
Robert Gillett for students in the German Department, Professor Chris Pountain for Spanish
students in the Iberian and Latin American Studies Department and TBC for Portuguese
students in the Iberian and Latin American Studies Department. You should keep in touch
regularly with your Adviser, to inform him/her of any difficulty which may arise, and of any
change of address. Associate students should bring any queries to our Associate Student
Adviser, Dr Erez Levon (e.levon@qmul.ac.uk).
As far as possible, the Advisers will help you to choose modules which correspond to
programmes of your home universities, taking into account your own preferences. However
we cannot guarantee a place on a particular module, as they can be oversubscribed and
even home students are not always able to register for the course of their first choice.
Students must have knowledge equivalent to the pre-requisites for Queen Mary modules.
Associate and ERASMUS students are encouraged to take part in all aspects of university
life and benefit from all the opportunities offered on campus. You are bound by the same
rules as home students. You are expected to contribute fully to the modules you attend,
prepare oral presentations and submit written work as required. Any special difficulty should
be discussed with the Module Organiser.
ERASMUS students and Full-year and Spring Semester Associate students are required to
take the standard assessment for any modules they study. This means that you must
remain in attendance for any written examinations in the Examination Term. Autumn
Semester only Associate students must identify themselves to the Module Organiser at the
start of the module, and find out the mode of assessment which is appropriate to them for
each module.
8. STUDENT / STAFF LIAISON COMMITTEE
Student / Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs) are an important channel for students to air
their views, criticisms and suggestions for improvements, and a wide range of issues
regarding modules and teaching is covered each year. All reasonable suggestions are
carefully considered by the department(s) concerned. Issues raised are reported to the
School Teaching and Learning Committee, where appropriate, with other matters being
referred to the Junior Deputy Head of School. Students are encouraged to make full use of
this forum.
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Terms of reference
The SSLCs exist to consider and discuss matters relating to:
• the content and organisation of programmes of study and any proposed changes;
• the provision of academic facilities and general departmental/ School/ College facilities;
• Departmental/ School social activities;
• provision for student welfare including the operation of the personal tutor system;
• arrangements for induction and study skills provision;
• Local monitoring of academic standards through, for example, consideration of annual
programme reviews on undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, external examiners’
reports, first destination statistics and results of student evaluation questionnaires;
• election of student representatives to Faculty/ School Boards and College committees
with assistance from the Students’ Union;
• any other topics on which the SSLC wishes to express a view.
Membership
• One undergraduate student from each year (first, second and final) from each of the
following subject areas:
Comparative Literature, Film Studies, French, German, Iberian and Latin American
Studies, Linguistics, Russian
• One taught postgraduate student from each of the following:
MA in Anglo-German Cultural Relations, MA in Linguistics, MA in Film Studies.
• One research student from each subject area
• One member of staff (the departmental Teaching and Learning Committee
representative) from each of the following:
Comparative Literature and Culture, Film Studies, French, German, Iberian and Latin
American Studies, Linguistics, Russian
Each department will hold SSLC meetings of its own student and staff representatives
throughout the year.
Election of student members
The Students’ Union will be holding elections in September and October 2012. Students will
be invited to nominate themselves each year to represent their subject area and year. The
posts are held for one year; elected representatives may stand again for a second or third
year, but must be re-elected by their peers.
9. LIBRARIES AND BOOKSHOPS
The Main Library has an extensive collection of books and periodicals relating to film,
linguistics and to foreign literatures and languages, as well as collections of dictionaries and
reference books, and access to CD-ROM and on-line bibliographic databases. Make sure
you attend the scheduled introductory talk about the Library at the beginning of your first
year, to help you make efficient use of the Library’s collections and services. Mr Stuart
Jones, the Subject Librarian for the School, can be found on the 2nd floor of the Library and
can help you with enquiries during your studies. A range of printed Library guides is also
available.
Students are reminded that the Library is a place for study. It is not a social space. Please:
• Always consider the needs of other users of the Library
• Always be silent in the study areas on the upper floors
• Always confine group working to the designated group study areas
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• Always keep noise to a minimum in other areas e.g. the ground floor entrance and
circulation area and the stairs
• Never talk in anything other than a quiet voice and then only where permitted
• Never allow your mobile phone to ring in the Library
There is system of sanctions for non-compliance with the above, starting with one-day bans
and escalating to four-week bans and worse for frequent offenders. The School fully
supports these measures and we may take our own action against any student who does
not respect the study environment.
You should expect to take advantage of your location and status as a student of the
University of London during your studies. As a student at Queen Mary, you will be able to
benefit from using the other libraries of the University, and in particular, will find it useful also
to join the University of London Library at Senate House in Malet Street. You simply need to
produce your Queen Mary student card in order to obtain a reader’s ticket. This will give you
access to an even larger collection of publications than can be found in Queen Mary Library.
A reciprocal agreement between the University and its Colleges means that often
publications are available at Senate House which are not available in individual College
libraries; this is done deliberately to extend the range of books available.
Queen Mary has several corporate memberships of the British Film Institute Library, 21
Stephen Street (off Tottenham Court Road, nearest tube Tottenham Court Road, website:
http://www.bfi.org.uk). This is an invaluable study resource with a wide selection of journals
and books relating to film. Opening hours are Mon & Fri 10.30 –5.30, Tues & Thurs 10.30 –
8.00, Wed 1.00– 8.00. It is free if you use one of our cards. Cards can be borrowed the
morning you intend to go, from the Queen Mary Library issue desk.
However, you must be prepared to buy your own copies of at least the core texts for your
studies each year. You must buy the books required for close study in the modules that you
are following. Language students will also need a good dictionary and a grammar book.
Recommendations will be made by Module Organisers. Try to build up your own personal
library. Many of the required or recommended texts together with a selection of general
critical studies can be bought on campus in the Smith & Sons Bookshop, next to the
Catering Block. You may also find it convenient to order the books you require from internet
sites such as Amazon; foreign-language books may be cheaper from their French, German
etc. sites.
A very good modern languages bookshop (nearest Tube station - Oxford Circus) with a
large stock is:
Grant & Cutler
55-57 Great Marlborough Street
W1V 2AY
(Telephone: 020 7734 2012)
You could also try the bookshop near Senate House: or:
Waterstone’s University Booksellers European Bookshop
Malet Street 5 Warwick Street
London WC1 London W1R 5RA
(Telephone: 020 7636 1577) (Telephone: 020 7734 5259)
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10. IT, AUDIO-VISUAL AND LANGUAGE LEARNING FACILITIES
10.1 IT SERVICES
Computing Facilities in the Arts One Building
The Arts Computing Unit is run by Mr Joe Elwood. There are workstations and printing
facilities on the ground floor of the Arts One Building. The Arts One Building also has
extensive WiFi access in many areas. The computer network has a number of Computer
Assisted Language Learning packages (available on CD-ROM) for self-access: to use one
of these simply type CLL then [Enter] and follow the menu.
Central College Computing Facilities
It is possible to use workstations at a number of locations outside the Arts Faculty Building.
Present term time availability is below:
Lab Building Rooms Term time Term time Vacation Vacation
Weekdays Weekends Weekdays Weekends
PC Labs Queens’ W207 0800 - 1000 - 0800 – 1000 -
Midnight Midnight Midnight Midnight
PC Labs Francis 1.15a & 0900 - 0900 - Closed Closed
Bancroft 1.23 1700 1700
Learning Joseph LRC2 0800 - 1000 - Closed Closed
Resource
Centre
Priestley
1800 1800
Library Main Ground, 0900 - As advertised Library opening times
Library 103 2345
The Hive Catering First floor 0830 - 0830 - As advertised Hive
Building
2000 2000 opening times
Halls of Maurice Basement 0900 - 1200 - see Closed
Residence Hall Room 2300 2300 notices
10.2 AUDIO-VISUAL FACILITIES
The Library houses a large collection of foreign and English language DVDs and video
tapes, which may be viewed at the various viewing terminals in the Library, or may be
borrowed for a limited period of time. The collection is entered on the library catalogue.
10.3 LANGUAGE LEARNING FACILITIES
The School now runs a virtual language learning project. Material will be available on the
internet for access both in College and externally, and you will be given more information by
your language teachers about using this resource.
The Multimedia Language Resource Centre in the Bancroft Building is timetabled for classbased
sessions and may be used for self-access study when not in use for teaching. There
are satellite-viewing facilities for foreign-language television channels.
11. POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
If you are interested in the possibility of continuing your studies at postgraduate level, you
should consult your Adviser in the first instance. Further information can be obtained from
the Administrator (Postgraduate and Research), Miss Sharon Bernor, in the School Main
Office. Admissions to doctoral research are the concern of the Director of Graduate
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Studies, Professor Galin Tihanov. Applications for studentships to cover some of the costs
often have to be made early in Semester 2, so you should initiate discussions in the School
about your proposal early in your final year.
12. CAREERS
The Careers Service has a wide range of careers literature on display, and its advisers and
information officers will be glad to help you. It is located in the Queens’ Building on the
ground floor (Room WG3), extension 5065. It often runs careers development talks for
students of all years, and you are encouraged to attend these throughout your studies.
Further information can be found on their website: www.careers.qmul.ac.uk.
If you envisage making your career abroad, the year abroad can be put to especially good
use. Take advantage of it to make valuable contacts, and find out where to go and what to
do once you graduate. The School organises a personal development planning session at
the start of your final year, in conjunction with the College’s Learning Institute, to allow you
to consider the benefits you have gained from the time spent abroad.
13. QUEEN MARY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
The University of London, to which Queen Mary belongs, has an Equal Opportunities Policy,
the principles of which extend to all members of the College, staff and students alike.
14. PRIZES
The College awards prizes, normally to the value of £100, on the recommendation of
Faculties, to final year students who show outstanding academic achievement.
In addition, the School awards annual prizes to one first year and one second year student
with the best performances in each of Comparative Literature, Film Studies, French,
German, Linguistics and Russian, and also to one second year with the best performance in
Iberian and Latin American Studies. Prizes are also offered to one student with the best final
year language performance in German and Russian, and the best overall final year
performance in Comparative Literature, in Film Studies, in French and in Linguistics. In
addition, the department of Iberian and Latin American Studies offers the following funded
prizes:
The Kate Elder Prize was founded by a benefaction in memory of a former student
of the Department. It is awarded to the most distinguished academic performance by a firstyear
student studying Hispanic Studies as a main subject or in a joint degree programme.
Lynn Ingamells Prize is funded in honour of Lynn Ingamells, former deputy head of
the Department of Hispanic Studies. It is awarded to the most outstanding progression in
Spanish through the degree by a final-year student studying Hispanic Studies as a main
subject or in a joint degree programme.
The Catalan Prize is awarded to the degree student with the most outstanding
performance in Catalan Studies.
The Portuguese Prize is awarded to the final year student with the best
performance in Portuguese language across the degree.
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15. STUDENT SOCIETIES
The Students’ Union subsidises student-run societies and the School welcomes its students
setting up societies to organise events, such as parties, visits to relevant exhibitions, plays,
films etc. relating to their subject areas.
16. THE ARTS ONE BUILDING
Smoking is prohibited in the Arts One Building (and everywhere else on campus). Please
do not carry open drinks around the building; these should only be consumed on the ground
floor. Please make use of litter bins in- and outside the Building. Please do not stick posters
to the walls. These measures ensure a much more pleasant environment for us all to live
and work in, and your co-operation is much appreciated.
Please note that to avoid overloading, the lifts in the Arts One Building are for the use of
staff and those with serious medical conditions only.
Entry to the Arts One Building is via the front door on Mile End Road. You will be required to
show your student ID at the entrance. Your student ID will also give you card access via the
side and rear doors on weekdays from 8 am to 6 pm. Certain students may be given
additional temporary access at other times (e.g. film studies students working on specific
practice-based modules). Film Studies students undertaking practical modules will also
have limited access to the Arts Two Building.
In the event of an emergency, the rear and side doors of the building will automatically
unlock. In case of a fire alarm, you must make your way immediately via the nearest exit to
Assembly Point D, by the Lock-keepers’ Cottage. Do not remain by the exits to the building.
17. DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION
17.1 DEPARTMENT OF FILM STUDIES
For single-subject Film Studies students and joint-degree students of French, German,
Hispanic Studies or Russian the home department will be the School of Languages,
Linguistics and Film. Film Studies and Drama students will have an adviser in Film Studies
and another in Drama. Film Studies and History students will have a History adviser. You
should follow the programme regulations for that department for any matters concerning
your overall studies, such as changing programme, applying for extenuating circumstances
to be taken into account during the examination period, all of which will be set out in the
relevant School Handbook.
Library of special interest
British Film Institute Library, 21 Stephen Street (off Tottenham Court Road, nearest tube
Tottenham Court Road, website: http://www.bfi.org.uk). You will need a membership card to
use this Library; students who are not members can borrow one of the College’s corporate
membership cards from the Library issues desk.
17.2 DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH
Libraries of special interest
Institut Français, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT
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This is the official French government centre of language and culture in London. There are
films, plays, lectures and conferences all the year round, as well as discussion sessions
(cafés philosophiques) on Saturday mornings.
Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies
The Romance Studies section is based at Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU.
17.3 DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN
Libraries of special interest
Goethe-Institut, 50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PH
The Austrian Cultural Institute, 28 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PQ
The Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies: the Germanic Studies Library is based at
29 Russell Square, London WC1 (no borrowing is allowed, and a written recommendation
from the department is required).
• The Goethe-Institut puts on German plays, films, exhibitions, talks and more.
• The Austrian Institute also has lectures, exhibitions and chamber concerts.
• The German Information Centre (34 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8QB) gives
seminars and offers a wide range of documentary and audio-visual material.
• And the German YMCA (35 Craven Terrace, London W2 3EL) also organizes various
lectures, seminars and informal meetings.
The German department also hosts a Research Seminar, which is a forum for guest lectures
by visiting speakers, and for informal talks on work-in-progress by staff of the department
and postgraduate students. All undergraduate students are cordially invited to attend,
participate in discussions, and meet the speakers. These occasional meetings are
advertised on noticeboards.
Students are welcome to participate in the conference, seminar and lecture programme of
the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations.
17.4 DEPARTMENT OF IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Reading texts in Spanish
First year students taking Introductory Spanish may study texts in English translation, but all
other students are expected to read and study the set texts in the original Spanish. Your
participation in classes, your essays, and your exams must show evidence of first-hand
knowledge of the original; otherwise you can expect to be penalised. You may find that with
medieval and Golden Age texts you need the help of a translation, but if you do use one, it
must be in addition to the original, not instead.
Research seminars
The department runs two research seminars. Although these are primarily designed for staff
and graduate students, the subjects discussed are often relevant to undergraduate modules,
and all students are welcome to attend.
1. Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar (certain Fridays at 3 pm)
2. Departmental Research Seminar (certain Wednesdays at 5 pm)
The speakers at the first two of these seminars are usually visitors, many of them
distinguished scholars. The speakers at the departmental Research Seminar are always
staff or graduate students of the department.
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In addition, there are occasional special lectures, by distinguished visiting speakers. In
particular the department organizes two annual lectures: the History of the Spanish Theatre
Lecture and the Kate Elder Lecture. These lectures take place in the evening and are
usually followed by a reception. They are a great opportunity for students in all years to feel
part of the academic community of the department.
17.5 DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Libraries in London
Queen Mary has good library holdings in Linguistics but you can also find linguistics books
and journals in the University of London library at Senate House. Birkbeck and UCL libraries
also have excellent collections which you can use for reference if you show your Queen
Mary ID card.
Research seminars
The Linguistics Research Seminar meets 3 or 4 times each semester. These sessions are
primarily designed for research students and staff, but the subjects discussed are often
interesting for undergraduate students, and relevant to undergraduate modules. You are
very welcome to attend. Look out for emails advertising specific seminars, and check the
School website for the programme for the year. You can find out about other research
seminars and Linguistics events in London on www.londonling.ucl.ac.uk/events.htm
Other Linguistics Facilities
The Linguistics Lab and the Linguistics Recording Studio are primarily for the purposes of
research; however, they may be used by students undertaking a research project if
approved by the chair of the Linguistics Department.
17.6 DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN
Libraries
Queen Mary library has very good Russian holdings. We shall be very happy to get anyone
reading rights in SSEES (16 Taviton Street, tel. 020 7679 8701). Anyone who does not take
modules at SSEES can use the library for reference only. You will have to show your
University of London ID and have a letter of commendation from the department. To borrow
books you will need to pay an annual fee. Everyone who is registered for a module at
SSEES will automatically obtain a library ticket and will not need to pay any fee.
Visiting Lecturers
We are particularly fortunate in having regular teaching assistance and a stream of eminent
academic visitors from Russia. This is an extraordinary opportunity for you to enhance your
Russian skills, both aural and oral. The seminars cover a variety of topics ranging from
Russian literature and cultural history to translation techniques. Material covered in these
seminars will be included in the exams of the relevant modules. Eligibility for summer
vacation grants is conditional upon active participation in classes taught by visiting lecturers.
Study abroad
We very much hope that you will be able to spend at least three months in Russia at some
time during your studies, quite apart from time you may spend there during vacations.
Neither a three-month nor a five-month period abroad will add a year to your module, unless
you combine it with up to six months in a country where your other language is used.
Where only a part of an academic year is spent in Russia, special arrangements have to be
made for seeing you through your modules. If you are away in the second half of the year,
you may be assessed on the essays written in the first half of the year since you are likely to
miss the examinations; if the other way round, you will need to do serious work while away,
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for which you will be prepared. In such a year it usually makes sense if you select Russian
or Russian-related modules; we cannot recommend you choose more than one or two
modules taught in other departments as this can lead to administrative problems, and in any
case you should do so only after having carefully explored the implications with your Adviser
and the other Department’s Module Organiser. Your time in Russia should be arranged
through Anna Pilkington. A small grant is usually available to students who go abroad, and
you must make sure to notify the department by a given date if you wish to apply for such a
vacation grant. This grant will be available only to students with a good record of
attendance, especially to modules in Russian by the visiting lecturers.
Plays
The Russian department puts on a Russian-language play every year. Over the past years
our plays have enjoyed great success and popularity. Staged and directed by students (both
present and former) and staff, they are an invaluable cultural and social experience, and
also a good way to improve your Russian. Moreover, participants’ involvement can be
accredited by registering for the module ‘Russian Play’.
Lectures and seminars outside Queen Mary
• SSEES has a very active programme of lectures on a wide variety of topics (ranging
from literature and history to contemporary issues), all linked with Russia and Eastern
Europe, and given by leading academics in the field.
• LSE has weekly research seminars on Tuesdays, 5 pm. The lectures, held by
distinguished scholars, are on current affairs or historical topics connected with Russia
and Eastern Europe.
• THE PUSHKIN CLUB holds regular lectures, mainly on Russian literature and theatre,
and occasionally poetry readings. Some events are in Russian, most in English. It is now
located at 5A Bloomsbury Square and the programme of activities is available at
http://www.pushkinclub.org.uk/.
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18. STAFF CONTACT DETAILS
To call from outside College, please dial 020 7882 followed by the relevant extension
number.
The main number for the School is 020 7882 8330
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, LINGUISTICS AND FILM
Name Position Ext. Room E-mail
Professor David Adger Head of School 8289 Arts One 120 d.j.adger@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Kirsteen Anderson Writing Support Mentor
k.h.r.anderson@qmul.ac.uk
Mr Martin Barge
Technical Director of Multi-Media
Resources Centre
8055 Bancroft
Building 136B
m.i.barge@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Sharon Bernor
Administrator (Postgraduate &
Research)
8332 Arts One 108 s.j.bernor@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Colleen Cotter
Chair of School Board of
Examiners
8294 Arts One 114 c.m.cotter@qmul.ac.uk
Mrs Jill Evans School Senior Administrator 8300 Arts One 103 j.k.evans@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Omar García Director of Taught Programmes 8302 Arts One 134 o.a.garcia@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Robert Gillett Senior Deputy Head of School 8303 Arts One 206 r.m.gillett@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Birgitta Hall
Year Abroad Development
Manager
5909 Arts One 108 b.y.hall@qmul.ac.uk
Mrs Heather Heiner
Administrator (Examinations &
Year Abroad)
8292 Arts One 108 h.heiner@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Jordi Larios Final Year Senior Tutor 8314 Arts One 141B j.larios@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Falco Pfalzgraf Junior Deputy Head of School 8321 Bancroft
Building 128
f.pfalzgraf@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Julia Rollitt
Administrator (Publicity &
Admissions)
8331 Arts One 108 j.m.rollitt@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Lisa Stubbings School Clerical Assistant 8330 Arts One 108 l.stubbings@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Kiera Vaclavik Second Year Senior Tutor 8333 Arts One 138 k.e.vaclavik@qmul.ac.uk
Mr Hassan Yate School Clerical Assistant (Events) 8697 Arts One 108 h.yate@qmul.ac.uk
DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND CULTURE
Name Position
Centenary Professor of German/
Ext. Room E-mail
Professor Leonard
Olschner
Chair of Department of
Comparative Literature and
Culture
8320 Arts One 212 l.m.olschner@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Margit Dirscherl
Lecturer in German and
Comparative Literature
8304 Arts One 206 m.dirscherl@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Elaine Morley Lecturer in German 2683 Arts One 211 e.morley@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Will McMorran
Senior Lecturer in French and
Comparative Literature
8315 Arts One 115 w.s.mcmorran@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Angus Nicholls
Lecturer in German and
Comparative Literature
George Steiner Professor of
2683 Arts One 211 a.j.nicholls@qmul.ac.uk
Professor GalinTihanov Comparative Literature/ Director
of Graduate Studies
5912 Arts One 214 g.tihanov@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Kiera Vaclavik
Senior Lecturer in French/
Second Year Senior Tutor
8333 Arts One 138 k.e.vaclavik@qmul.ac.uk
70

DEPARTMENT OF FILM STUDIES
Name Position
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies/
Ext. Room E-mail
Dr Libby Saxton
Chair of Department of Film
Studies
8328 Arts One 104 e.a.saxton@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Lucy Bolton Teaching Fellow in Film Studies 8916 Arts One 141A l.c.bolton@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Jenny Chamarette Lecturer in Film Studies 5632 Arts One 130 j.chamarette@qmul.ac.uk
Mr Eugene Doyen Technical Director of Film 8297
Arts One
G23A
e.doyen@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Charles Drazin Senior Lecturer in Film Studies 2857 Arts One 123 c.b.drazin@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Janet Harbord Professor of Film Studies 5910 Arts One 119A j.p.harbord@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Sue Harris Reader in French Cinema 8305 Arts One 129A s.harris@qmul.ac.uk
Mr Louis Jackson Technical Assistant for Film 8309 Arts One G20 l.jackson@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Alasdair King Senior Lecturer in Film Studies 8311 Arts One 208 a.king@qmul.ac.uk
Ms Athena Mandis
Assistant Technical Director for
Film
8788 Arts One 135 a.mandis@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Anat Pick Lecturer in Film Studies 8290 Arts One 111 a.pick@qmul.ac.uk
Mrs Pauline Small Senior Lecturer in Film Studies 8291 Arts One 139 p.p.small@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Guy Westwell Senior Lecturer in Film Studies 8337 Arts One 143 g.r.westwell@qmul.ac.uk
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH
Name Position Ext. Room E-mail
Professor Edward
Hughes
Professor of French/Chair of
Department of French
8308 Arts One 113 e.j.hughes@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Adrian
Armstrong
Centenary Professor of French 8316 Arts One 209A a.armstrong@qmul.ac.uk
Mrs Julie Betancourt
Ricci
French Language Instructor 8334 Arts One 140A j.betancourtricci@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Laetitia Calabrese French Language Co-ordinator 2861 Arts One 142 l.calabrese@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Anaïs Croce French Language Assistant 2859 Arts One 140A a.croce@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Shirley Jordan Professor of French 8310 Arts One 101 s.a.jordan@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Anna Kemp Lecturer in French 8288 Arts One 209B a.kemp@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Will McMorran
Senior Lecturer in French and
Comparative Literature
8315 Arts One 115 w.s.mcmorran@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Leigh Oakes Reader in French 8319 Arts One 105 l.oakes@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Estelle Paranque French Language Instructor 8318 Arts One 140A e.paranque@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Kiera Vaclavik
Senior Lecturer in French/
Second Year Senior Tutor
8333 Arts One 138 k.e.vaclavik@qmul.ac.uk
DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN
Name Position
Senior Lecturer in German/ Chair
Ext. Room E-mail
Dr Robert Gillett
of Department of German/Senior
Deputy Head of School
8303 Arts One 206 r.m.gillett@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Martina Deny DAAD Lektorin (German) 8301 Arts One 202 m.deny@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Margit Dirscherl
Lecturer in German and
Comparative Literature
8304 Arts One 206 m.dirscherl@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Rüdiger
Görner
Professor of German 8304 Arts One 206 r.goerner@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Astrid Köhler Reader in German 8312 Arts One 205 a.kohler@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Elaine Morley Lecturer in German 2683 Arts One 211 e.morley@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Annja Neumann
German Language Studies Coordinator
8339 Arts One 201 a.neumann@qmul.ac.uk
Ms Marcela Pozarkova Austrian Lektorin 8917 Arts One 202 m.pozarkova@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Katerina Somers
Lecturer in German Linguistics
and Medieval German
5741 Arts One 204 k.somers@qmul.ac.uk
71

DEPARTMENT OF IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Name Position
Professor of Spanish Linguistics/
Ext. Room E-mail
Professor Chris Pountain Chair of Department of Iberian
and Latin American Studies
8323 Arts One 124 c.j.pountain@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Elena Carrera
Senior Lecturer in Hispanic
Studies
8429 Arts One 127 e.carrera@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Patricia D’Allemand
Senior Lecturer in Hispanic
Studies
8296 Arts One 122 p.e.dallemand@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Mar Encinas-Puente
Spanish Language Studies Coordinator
8326 Arts One 129B m.encinas-
Professor of Hispanic Studies and
puente@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Omar García
Comparative Poetics/ Director of
Taught Programmes/Deputy
Dean of Taught Programmes
8302 Arts One 134 o.a.garcia@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Jordi Larios
Senior Lecturer in Catalan/ Final
Year Senior Tutor
8314 Arts One 141B j.larios@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Parvati Nair
Professor of Hispanic, Cultural
and Migration Studies
8317 Arts One 118 p.nair@qmul.ac.uk
Miss Paula Novillo Spanish Language Instructor 8336 Arts One 140B p.novillo@qmul.ac.uk
Mr Guilherme Perdigão
Murta
Brazilian Leitor 8295 Arts One 140C g.perdigao@qmul.ac.uk
Ms Ester Pou Catalan Language Assistant 8324 Arts One 140C e.pou@qmul.ac.uk
Ms Xelo Sanmateu
Spanish Senior Language
Instructor
8327 Arts One 140B c.sanmateu@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Rosa Vidal-Doval Lecturer in Hispanic Studies
Professor of Brazilian and
8430 Arts One 126 r.vidal@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Else Vieira Comparative Latin American
Studies
8335 Arts One 133 e.vieira@qmul.ac.uk
tbc Lecturer in Hispanic Linguistics 5738 Arts One 119B
tbc Instituto Camoes Instructor 7373 Arts One 140C
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Name Position Ext. Room E-mail
Professor Hagit Borer
Professor of Linguistics/ Chair of
Department of Linguistics
5740 Arts One 112 h.borer@qmul.ac.uk
Professor David Adger
Head of School/ Professor of
Linguistics
8289 Arts One 120 d.j.adger@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Jenny
Cheshire
Professor of Linguistics
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics/
8293 Arts One 109A j.l.cheshire@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Colleen Cotter Chair of School Board of
Examiners
8294 Arts One 114 c.m.cotter@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Esther de Leeuw Lecturer in Linguistics 5911 Arts One 109 e.deleeuw@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Paul Elbourne Reader in Semantics 8298 Arts One 117B p.d.elbourne@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Daniel Harbour
Reader in the Cognitive Science
ofLanguage
5739 Arts One 121 d.harbour@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Erez Levon Lecturer in Linguistics 8435 Arts One 117A e.levon@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Devyani Sharma Senior Lecturer in Linguistics 8338 Arts One 117C d.sharma@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Linnaea Stockall
Lecturer in Experimental
Linguistics
5742 Arts One 110 l.stockall@qmul.ac.uk
72

DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN
Name Position Ext. Room E-mail
Dr Jeremy Hicks
Senior Lecturer in Russian/ Chair
of Department of Russian
8306 Arts One 243 j.g.hicks@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Olga Makarova
Teaching and Research Fellow in
Russian
8313 Arts One 245 o.makarova@qmul.ac.uk
Mrs Anna Pilkington Lecturer in Russian 8322 Arts One 244 a.pilkington@qmul.ac.uk
Professor Andreas
Schönle
Professor of Russian/ Director of
Research
8329 Arts One 242 a.schonle@qmul.ac.uk
19. USEFUL COLLEGE TELEPHONE NUMBERS
You can dial direct to the following offices by dialling 020 7882 followed by the extension
number. If you cannot find the number you require, call the College main switchboard on
020 7882 5555.
Registry (Student Enquiry Centre) 5005
Registry (Associate Students) 5074
Fees Office 7752
Student Advice & Counselling 8717
Disability and Dyslexia Service 2756
Accommodation Office 5522
Library 3300
IT Services Help Desk 8888
Students’ Union 5390
Careers Service 5065
Health Centre 3176
Chaplaincy 3179
20. TERM DATES 2012-13
SEMESTER ONE: Monday 17 September – Friday 14 December
Welcome Week Monday 17 – Friday 21 September
Teaching Starts Monday 24 September
Reading Week Monday 5 November – Friday 9 November
Teaching resumes Monday 12 November
Teaching Ends Friday 14 December
CHRISTMAS VACATION: Monday 17 December – Friday 4 January
SEMESTER TWO: Monday 7 January – Thursday 28 March
Teaching Starts Monday 7 January
Reading Week Monday 18 February – Friday 22 February
Teaching resumes Monday 25 February
Teaching Ends Thursday 28 March
EASTER VACATION: Friday 29 March – Friday 19 April
[Good Friday: Friday 29 March
Easter Monday: Monday 1 April]
REVISION WEEK: Monday 22 April – Friday 26 April
EXAMINATION TERM: Monday 29 April – Friday 7 June
73