MA in Biography

Program Overview

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View full details in the curriculum handbook

View modules

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Sep 2023 (Full-time)

Module	Type	Credits	Level

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Sep 2023 (Part-time)

Module	Type	Credits	Level

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Jan 2024 (Full-time)

Module	Type	Credits	Level
Free Choice - 15 units	Core	15.00	5

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Jan 2024 (Part-time)

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Course outline

This cutting-edge programme is unique to Buckingham. A course with wide appeal, it is aimed at anyone who has an interest in biography or in researching and writing a biography for themselves. The varied mix of backgrounds and interests that students bring to the course, the experience and commitment of the programme director and the friendly small-group setting allow a lively, enjoyable and intellectually rigorous exchange of ideas. Graduates have gone on to publish their own books, and to win prizes. Some have embarked on further research for the PhD in Biography.

When it was founded in 1996, the Biography MA was the first of its kind. Since then Life Writing has become part of the postgraduate menu, but the Buckingham course has kept its distinctive edge. Unlike most Life Writing degrees, it is not linked to Creative Writing, and there is a strong emphasis on research and historical biography. The programme is consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors.

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Course structure

Students have a choice between following the taught MA or opting for the MA by Research

. The taught MA gives an opportunity to produce written term papers on a variety of topics as well as a dissertation of up to 20,000 words. Students accepted for the MA by Research are required to produce written work which includes an extended dissertation of up to 40,000 words. All students produce coursework for the Research  Methods module: an annotated bibliography and a short biography, with supporting material, produced according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography format.

Guest seminars on the course are led by leading biographers, critics, publishers and agents. Teachers and speakers on the course have included Andrew Motion, Kathryn Hughes, Frances Wilson, Frances Spalding, Caroline Dawnay, Andrew Lownie, Miranda Seymour, Anne Wroe, Angela Thirlwell, David Lough and Ophelia Field.

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Research support

One of the distinctive features of the programme is the value attached to the supervision which is provided for students working on dissertations. One-on-one supervisions are held every two or three weeks during a term. While the dissertation must be the candidate’s independent work, it is the supervisor who offers advice on refining the topic (if necessary), on primary sources, on secondary reading, on research techniques and on writing the dissertation. Regular group discussions between research students at all degree levels (MA and PhD) allow the exchange of research experiences and mutual support.

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Programme director

Professor Jane Ridley

founded the Buckingham Biography MA in 1996. She is an Oxford-trained historian and biographer, and her publications include

Queen Victoria

in the Penguin Monarchs Series (2015);

The Young Disraeli

(1995);

The Architect and his Wife: A Life of Edwin Lutyens

(2002), which won the Duff Cooper Prize; and

Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

(2012), for which she was awarded a research fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust. She has contributed widely to the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

, and she is a regular reviewer for publications such as the

Spectator

, the

Literary Review

and the

Times Literary Supplement

.

Watch a lecture

by Professor Ridley on “The Thrills and Spills of Writing Biography”, given to the Swan and Pen Literary Society in June 2013.

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Modules available on this course

All students on the MA Programme – both taught and research – are required to attend the weekly seminars, as are PhD students in their first year. These classes are one of the most distinctive and valuable elements of the MA and take place as follows:

The modules on Biography and Autobiography are designed to combine the study of classic biographies and memoirs with contemporary writing. In addition, the Research Methods module provides an invaluable and innovative training, especially devised for biographers.

Autobiography

Dissertation

Research Methods

Special Paper in Biography

Teaching takes place on Tuesdays at 11.30 – 3.00 over three nine-week terms. In the Autumn term we will be studying Autobiography and Memoir, and Research Methods. If face-to face teaching at 51 Gower Street is not possible, these modules will be given via MA Teams. Teaching online has worked well since April, and the student reaction has been positive.

Humanities Research Admissions on +44 (0)1280 827514

Email: humanitiespg-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk

Program Outline

Teaching & Assessment

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Quality teaching

We offer high quality, traditional Oxbridge-style teaching, which leads to our degrees being recognised around the world. The standards of degrees and awards are safeguarded by distinguished external examiners – senior academic staff from other universities in the UK – who approve and moderate assessed work.

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Teaching methods

Candidates spend a considerable part of their studies undertaking supervised research, at the end of which they submit a thesis embodying the results of that research. This thesis must demonstrate familiarity with, and an understanding of the subject, its principal sources and authorities. It should display critical discrimination and a sense of proportion in evaluating evidence and the judgements of others. The subject should be dealt with in a competent and scholarly manner.

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Location

Teaching takes place at the University’s London premises:

51 Gower Street

Bloomsbury

London

WC1E 6HJ

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Timetable

The course offers entry points in September and January and runs for a calendar year if taken full-time. Teaching takes place on one day a week over three terms running from September to December, January to March and April to June; the term from July to September is devoted to independent research. The programme may be followed part-time over 2 years. In the first year part-time students follow the taught courses and the second year is normally devoted to the dissertation. Suitably qualified students with a major research topic in mind may be accepted for the higher degrees of PhD (three years full-time/six years part-time).