Astudiaethau Crefyddol ac Archaeoleg (BA)

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Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, and one-to-one tutorials. You will also undertake independent study and research, with guidance from tutors. Lectures provide an overview of the key concepts and frameworks for a topic, equipping students to carry out independent research for the seminars and to develop their own ideas.

Seminars provide an opportunity for you to explore the ideas outlined in the lecture in a small group environment. Seminars would usually consist of about 15 students and the seminar leader (a member of the teaching team). Seminars may take various formats, including plenary group discussion, small group work and student-led presentations. Seminars offer a rewarding opportunity to engage critically with the key ideas and reading of a topic, and to explore areas of particular interest with an expert in the field.

Archaeological skills are taught through practicals and participation in fieldwork projects, including excavation, surveys, post-excavation programmes and curatorial projects in museums.

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You will be assigned a Personal Tutor with whom to discuss and reflect upon academic progress and personal development planning.  As well as having regular feedback from your personal tutor in, you will have a reading week each semester for guided study and a chance to catch up on assessed work, reading and revision. These weeks are also used by staff to visit students on their year abroad.

You will have access through the Learning Central website to relevant multimedia material, presentations, lecture handouts, bibliographies, further links, electronic exercises and discussion circles.

The University offers a range of services including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service, and excellent libraries and resource centres.

Feedback

You will receive written feedback and/or tutorials on all your coursework assessments, and oral feedback on assessed presentations and seminar work. You will also receive oral and written feedback from your supervisor on preparatory work and drafts for the Independent Study and Dissertation. Individual written feedback is provided for exams. Dedicated workshops and individual advice enables you to produce their best work, and written feedback on coursework and exams feeds forward into future work.

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Assessment is largely by written examinations and coursework essays. You will also write longer essays, critical reviews of scholarly articles, and a dissertation.  You will receive close academic support from the academic staff in all your work.  In certain courses, you will give oral presentations as part of your assessment. The marking criteria for this work measure the extent to which you have achieved the learning outcomes for the Programme.

Coursework and examinations are used not only for assessment purposes but also as a means of developing your capacities to gather, organise, evaluate and deploy relevant information and ideas from a variety of sources in reasoned arguments

Progression is built into assessment, in that you do smaller guided tasks in Year one, as well as formative essays in Years Two and Three. Progression is also evident in the growing emphasis on types of lengthier, independent written work, e.g. written portfolios as 100% assessment model. Final Year modules also demand deeper engagement with independent methods of working, together with greater demands on handling critically a larger number of bibliographical tasks and items.

The format of the assessed work for the second-year Archaeology Independent Study is chosen by you; possible formats include an extended essay, a piece of creative writing, sample pages from a book or magazine, a teachers’ pack, a film, or a reconstruction drawing or model. The final-year dissertation is up to 10,000 words in length.

Dulliau asesu (2017/18 data)

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You will acquire and develop a range of essential transferable and discipline-specific skills, including:

• intellectual skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, assimilating and summarising complex information and ideas, analysing and evaluating evidence, critiquing interpretations or arguments, coping with uncertain or incomplete data, constructing arguments based on evidence, and presenting them effectively in writing and in debate
• employability skills such as effective communication through written reports and oral presentations, contributing to group discussions, working independently and in teams, using IT resources effectively, and time management
• enterprise skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, initiative, and independent thinking;
• research skills (developed especially in the Dissertation module): defining a project, formulating research questions, locating relevant information, and presenting the results in an oral presentation and an extended written report
• discipline-specific skills in Religious Studies:
• analysing historical problems, locating and using appropriate evidence and bibliographic resources, handling literary and archaeological material, analysing images, reading inscriptions, papyri and coins, and understanding the scholarly conventions used in relation to these types of evidence; exploration of different religious traditions; critical analysis of concepts, theories and methods of Religious Studies (History of Religions, Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology)
• language skills: the programme offers an opportunity for students to study Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Sanskrit at beginner’s and intermediate level, and to read texts in the original languages
• Discipline specific skills in Archaeology:
• Organised and efficient working practices – individually as well as in a team.
• Utilisation of information from a variety of resources, including libraries and the internet.
• Employment of Information Technology e.g. spatial technologies (including GIS), visualization, data management, archaeological prospecting, modelling, social media, digital film and audio.
• Rigorous and professional practices: able to take initiatives and accept significant responsibility within organisations.
• Evidence based critical thinking.

Archaeology students may enhance their communications skills by working with schools, museums, businesses and community groups as part of our innovative public engagement activities.