IRISH STUDIES
LÉANN NA hÉIREANN
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY MODERATORSHIP COURSE
IN IRISH CULTURE AND SOCIETY
FRESHMAN HANDBOOK
IRISH STUDIES
This Handbook, which covers the first two years of study, provides you with essential information
about your Irish Studies course and supplements the information given in the University Calendar.
A Course-Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Course Director, Professor Ciaran Brady,
administers the Irish Studies Moderatorship, and has approved the directions given in this
Handbook. More detailed information on each individual course is provided in the relevant
Course Guide. If you are in any doubt about how the regulations affect you, please consult your
College Tutor, the Course Director or a member of staff.
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Information from the Course Director and from individual lecturers and tutors will be sent to your
college email address. It is also the quickest way to contact a member of staff. You should
check your college email daily. Please note that you should only use your TCD email address
when corresponding with us. You should also check the Irish Studies noticeboard regularly.
The main contributing Departments to the Irish Studies Moderatorship are English, History and Irish
with contributions from Drama, Genetics, Geography, History of Art, Gender Studies and Politics.
TEAM MEMBERS OF THE IRISH STUDIES PROGRAMME
Director of the Irish Studies Programme: Professor Ciaran Brady (Dept of History, Room 3116.
Email: cbrady@tcd.ie)
Deputy Directors:
Dr Brian Cliff (Dept of English, Room 4016. Email: bcliff@tcd.ie)
Dr Pádraig de Paor (Dept of Irish, Room 4059. Email depaorp@tcd.ie)
Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú (Dept of History, Room 3150. Email: m.osiochru@tcd.ie)
Executive Officer: Caoimhe ní Bhraonáin, (Room 4055 Email: nibhraoc@tcd.ie). The office will be
open Monday to Friday from 10.30 to 12.30 and from 2.30 to 4.30.
School of English
Dr Eve Patten (Dept of English, Room 4039. Email: epatten@tcd.ie)
Dr Sam Slote (Dept of English, Room 4025. Email slotes@tcd.ie)
Dr Brian Cliff (Dept of English, Room 4016. Email: bcliff@tcd.ie)
Department of History, School of Histories and Humanities
Professor Ciaran Brady (Dept of History, Room 3116. Email: cbrady@tcd.ie)
Dr Seán Duffy (Dept of History, Room 3146. Email: sduffy@tcd.ie)
Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Dept of History, Room 3117. Email: jane.ohlmeyer@tcd.ie)
Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú (Dept of History, Room 3150. Email: m.osiochru@tcd.ie)
Department of Irish, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies
Professor Damian McManus (Dept of Irish, Room 4056. Email: pmcmanus@tcd.ie)
Dr Pádraig de Paor (Dept of Irish, Room 4059. Email: depaorp@tcd.ie)
Department of Genetics
Professor Daniel Bradley (Dept of Genetics. Email: daniel.bradley@tcd.ie)
Department of Geography, School of Natural Sciences
Dr Mark Hennessy (Dept of Geography, Museum Building, Email: mark.hennessey@tcd.ie)
Department of History of Art, School of Histories and Humanities
Dr Yvonne Scott (Department of History of Art, The Provost’s Stable Building. Email: scotty@tcd.ie)
Dr Rachel Moss (Department of History of Art, The Provost’s Stable Building. Email: rmoss@tcd.ie)
1
College Tutors
You will be getting a lot of information in your first few weeks and you may find it difficult dealing
with everything. Your College Tutor is your main advisor on both academic issues and personal
matters. He or she is appointed by the College, and should not be confused with your course
tutors in Irish Studies. You can also get help with problems specifically relating to courses in Irish
Studies from the Course Director or the Deputy Directors.
Addresses
All students must complete and return to the Irish Studies Office a registration form, with a current
address, an email address, and a phone number if you have one, together with a passport-sized
photograph. Registration forms are available from the Irish Studies Office or can be downloaded
from the Irish Studies website. Any change in contact details should be reported to the Irish
Studies Office as well as to Student Records. The registration form will also include a section that
will enable you to raise any questions you might have.
Email
As noted above, if anyone in Irish Studies wishes to contact you they will use your TCD email
address. Get into the habit of checking this account regularly, even if you also use a
commercial email account such as g-mail or hotmail. Irish Studies staff will only use your TCD
address, and will sometimes need to communicate with you, for instance with information
regarding your classes.
Teaching
The College Academic Year is divided into three terms, Michaelmas (Oct-Dec), Hilary (JanMarch) and Trinity (April-May). The Michaelmas and Hilary teaching terms are each nine weeks
long and Trinity term is six weeks long. Some Freshman courses run for the whole academic year,
others for part of the year.
Teaching in the first two years is in the form of lectures for everybody at once, and tutorials and
language classes for smaller groups.
Lectures:
These last for 50 minutes, starting on the hour, and continue in some courses through all three
terms, in others for either one or two terms.
Lectures are intended to provide analysis of selected topics, and to introduce the issues covered
in the set readings for each course. There is a wide variation in the amount of information
conveyed, the depth of attempted analysis, and the style of presentation.
Tutorials:
Tutorials give you an opportunity to try out your own ideas and to enter into discussions.
All tutorials are compulsory and students are required to attend. As a rule students may be
deemed non-satisfactory if they miss more than a third of their course of study or fail to submit a
third of the required course work in any term. If by the end of either Michaelmas or Hilary terms a
student has missed more than two classes in any course of tutorials or language classes (where
classes are held once a week or more than eight classes where classes are held four times a
week) without adequate grounds, he or she will be returned as ‘non-satisfactory’ to the Senior
Lecturer, according to the regulations laid down in the Calendar, H6, 22-23.
Some of the tutorials are taught by members of the full-time academic teaching staff, some of
them by teaching assistants who are most often advanced research students with special
expertise in the taught area. You must be properly prepared for tutorials by doing all the reading
and written work assigned by the tutorial teacher. It is your responsibility to check the
noticeboard and your email for possible changes.
2
Language Classes:
All language classes are compulsory and students are required to attend. In the Freshman years
the main focus will be on the acquisition of reading, writing and speaking skills in Modern Irish.
Students will be required to submit written work each week as part of their continuous
assessment. The continuous assessment in the language will have an end-of-year weighting of
20% in both Freshman years. A further 10% of the overall weighting for Irish will be allocated to an
oral/aural exam and 10% to essays (written in English in the Freshman years) in the literature
component. Failure in the language component (in any year) cannot be compensated for by
high marks elsewhere.
Gaeltacht Period of Residence
All participating students will be expected to spend a total of two months during the course of
their degree in an Irish-speaking district (Gaeltacht). Students should contact Máire Ní Bháin
(email: mnibhain@tcd.ie) about accommodation and courses.
Timetable
The timetable of lectures, tutorials and language classes will be posted on the Irish Studies
noticeboard and students can also download their own timetable from the Student Information
System. If you have problems with the timetable, please contact the Executive Officer.
Presentation of Written Work:
All essays must be word-processed and printed out on A4 paper, with double spacing and wide
margin for comments. All quotations, and substantive information taken from other works, must
be acknowledged by means of footnotes or endnotes, giving author, title, and page number.
When citing unpublished sources, students should follow the advice of the course teacher. A
bibliography, listing the documentary sources, books, and articles used (including all those
acknowledged in footnotes/endnotes) must be appended to the essay. See also the Guidelines
for the Writing of Essays at the back of this book.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is interpreted by the University as an act of presenting the work of others as one’s own
work, without acknowledgement. It is considered as academically fraudulent and it is an
offence against University discipline. The University considers plagiarism to be a major offence
and subject to the disciplinary procedures of the University. A full University statement on
plagiarism is given in the College Calendar, pp. H16-H17, paras. 66-74.
Each year, cases of student misconduct involving plagiarism or ‘inappropriate collaboration’ are
reported. In some of these cases, students have said that they were unclear as to what
plagiarism involves. The following statement drawn up by the School of English represents our
principles on this matter:
Students are expected to express themselves and to sustain an argument in their own
prose. They should not submit written work that does not properly acknowledge
transcription or that includes excessive quotation of the work of others. If you want to
quote from a published work or from an Internet source, either because you think it makes
the point or you admire the author’s turn of phrase, you must put the passage in quotation
marks and cite the reference. If you wish to express what an author is saying in your own
words, such phrasing is acceptable but you should include reference to the author
concerned to indicate that the ideas stated are his/hers and not yours.
If you are not clear about the difference between scholarly citation, collaboration and
paraphrase, please consult one of your tutors. A charge of plagiarism is a serious College
offence and will be dealt with by the Course Director according to the procedures laid out in
the relevant section of the Calendar.
3
Examination Procedures
The onus lies on each student to establish the dates of examination by consulting the Irish Studies
noticeboard. You will not be admitted to an examination after the first half-hour. If, through
circumstances beyond your control, you arrive after the first half-hour, you should immediately
contact the Senior Tutor’s Office (House 27, College).
Marking system
This is the marking system in operation for the Moderatorship in Irish Studies
Class
I
II.1
II.2
III
F.1
F.2





Numerical Mark
70-100%
60-69%
50-59%
40-49%
30-39%
0-29%
A first-class honour (I) must show evidence of critical ability, argumentative skill, and
extensive reading.
An upper second (II.1) must show evidence of thorough reading and clear organisation.
A lower second (II.2) must show reasonable familiarity with the set texts.
A third (III) must show sustained evidence of participation in the course.
If you do not attempt to answer the set question, or if your answer is plagiarised, you will
be failed (F.1 or F.2).
Broad Curriculum
Irish Studies students are encouraged to take one of the Broad Curriculum courses on offer, and
are permitted to do so only in the Senior Freshman year. Students taking Broad Curriculum
courses must take this as one of their 5 ECTS SF option courses. The mark for the Broad Curriculum
course will be counted instead of an option mark. See the SF section of the Handbook for further
details. Details of the Broad Curriculum courses are available at www.tcd.ie/Broad_Curriculum,
and if you plan on taking a course, please contact the Irish Studies Course Director.
The requirements for obtaining academic credit
In order to obtain credit for each term, you must be enrolled for the required range of courses,
attend at least two-thirds of the hours assigned for tutorials, language classes or seminars in each
course for which you are enrolled, and complete at least two-thirds of the total volume of nonexamined written work and other exercises prescribed for each course.
Performance
Students who have failed to obtain credit for one course or more in either Michaelmas or Hilary
term, for any of the reasons listed above, may be returned as ‘non-satisfactory’ at the end of
that term. You will be informed of this decision through your College Tutor. If you believe that you
should not have been so recorded, you should state your case to your Tutor, who must submit
the prescribed form to the Course Director by the second Monday of the following term.
Students who are recorded as ‘non-satisfactory’ in both Michaelmas and Hilary terms are not
entitled to credit for the year, and may be excluded from sitting the annual examination.
Requirements to be fulfilled in order to rise with the year are set out for both the JF and SF years
on pages 8 & 14 below.
4
Failure to rise with the year
Students repeating a year, as a consequence of failure to gain academic credit, are required to
attend tutorials, submit written work, and perform all other exercise in the same way as if they
were taking the year for the first time. They may be required to take a different combination of
courses.
_________________________________________________________________
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is an academic credit system
based on the estimated student workload required to achieve the objectives of a module or
programme of study. It is designed to enable academic recognition for periods of study, to
facilitate student mobility and credit accumulation and transfer. The ECTS is the
recommended credit system for higher education in Ireland and across the European Higher
Education Area.
The ECTS weighting for a module is a measure of the student input or workload required for that
module, based on factors such as the number of contact hours, the number and length of
written or verbally presented assessment exercises, class preparation and private study time,
laboratory classes, examinations, clinical attendance, professional training placements, and so
on as appropriate. There is no intrinsic relationship between the credit volume of a module
and its level of difficulty.
The European norm for full-time study over one academic year is 60 credits. The Trinity
academic year is 40 weeks from the start of Michaelmas Term to the end of the annual
examination period 1 ECTS credit represents 20-25 hours estimated student input, so a 10-credit
module will be designed to require 200-250 hours of student input including class contact time
and assessments.
ECTS credits are awarded to a student only upon successful completion of the course year.
Progression from one year to the next is determined by the course regulations. Students who
fail a year of their course will not obtain credit for that year even if they have passed certain
component courses. Exceptions to this rule are one-year and part-year visiting students, who
are awarded credit for individual modules successfully completed.
5
JUNIOR FRESHMAN YEAR (JF)
In the JF year students take five courses, all of them compulsory. You should go to the Irish
Studies Office for reading lists and timetable information if you cannot find it on the noticeboard
or website. Please note that the office is open Monday to Friday from 10.30 to 12.30 and from
2.30 to 4.30 apart from Wednesday afternoons. All tutorials and language classes are
compulsory and JF students are required to attend. Students may be asked to make oral
presentations or hand in short pieces of written work in addition to their assessment essays.
Though these are not formally assessed, they are part of the expected exercises of the course.
Courses:
IE1001 Imagining Ireland (Course Coordinator: Dr Mark Hennessy)
This multi-disciplinary course seeks to examine how Ireland and the Irish have been represented
in visual culture, in the literary arts and in historical discourse, from earliest times to the present. It
also considers the international contexts in which the Irish story has unfolded. A preliminary set of
classes seeks answers to the questions, who are the Irish, where and how have they lived and
what languages have they spoken? Subsequent classes deal with the representation of Ireland
and its people in painting, literature and drama, focusing on the European, British and North
American contexts in which Ireland currently defines itself.
Duration: Full year
Contact hours per week: 2 hours per week
10 ECTS
HI1004 Irish History 1014-1534 (Course Coordinator: Dr Katherine Simms)
Topics and trends rather than a narrative of events are emphasised in this course. Particular
attention is given to the development of Gaelic Ireland, patterns of settlement, the economy,
the church and religion, politics and the constitution, Anglo-Irish relations, the two cultures and
assimilation, war and civil disturbance, government and society.
Duration: Full year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1 hour lectures per week and 1 x 1 hour tutorials every other week.
15 ECTS
IR1060 Language (Course Coordinator: Professor Damian McManus)
This course will introduce students to the modern written and spoken language. The emphasis will
be on mastering the grammar of the standard written language and accompanying language
laboratory classes will help develop oral skills. Written grammar exercises and oral tests will form
an important part of the evaluation of the student's progress. (Higher / Intermediate groups).
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1 hour language classes and 1 x 1 hour language lab. per week
15 ECTS
IR1081 Literature (Course Coordinator: Professor Damian McManus)
For those whose Irish language is at Intermediate Level. This course will introduce students to a
wide variety of literature in Irish from both the Early and the Modern periods. These will include
(specifics may vary from year to year) Early Irish saga, the sources of Early Irish literature, the
Fenian cycle in Early Modern Irish, Modern prose and verse, and Folklore. References will be to
English translations of the material under scrutiny.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1hour lectures per week
10 ECTS
6
IR1021 Nualitríocht (Course Coordinator: Dr. Pádraig de Paor)
For those who took Irish at Higher Level for Leaving Certificate. Déanfar staidéar ar réimse
téacsanna sa Nua-Ghaeilge. Trí Ghaeilge a bheidh na ranganna.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1 hour lectures per week
10 ECTS
EN1014 Theorising Ireland (Course Coordinator: Dr Brian Cliff)
This course will introduce students to the main conceptual movements and debates currently
animating Irish Studies. It will engage with a range of theoretical and critical positions relevant to
the study of Irish culture, including post-colonialism, revisionism, feminism and postmodernism.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 1 x 1 hour lecture per week and 1 x 1 hour tutorial.
10 ECTS
Assessment and Examination:
Assessment in the JF year will be on the basis of examinations, submitted essays as well as
continuous assessment and oral examinations for the language component.
Students are required to submit 5 essays in all:
Submission dates and length are as follows:
Michaelmas Term
Essay
1
Course
Imagining Ireland
Due Date
Monday 1st
December 2008
Time
12 noon
Length
1,500-2,000
words
Due Date
Monday 5th
January 2009
Monday 2nd
March 2009
Time
12 noon
12 noon
Length
2,000-2,500
words
2,000 words
Due Date
Monday 30th
March 2009
Monday 27th April
2009
Time
12 noon
Length
2,000 words
12 noon
2,000-2,500
words
Hilary Term
Essay
2
Course
Literature
3
Theorising Ireland
Trinity Term
Essay
4
Course
History of Ireland
5
Imagining Ireland
Essay titles:
Essay titles will be posted on the relevant page of the Irish Studies website at the start of the year
and at subsequent stages in the year.
Handing in essays
These essays must be handed in to the Irish Studies Office (Room 4055) by the due date. Essays
should not be handed to lecturing staff or tutorial teachers.
7
Extensions:
Requests for extensions must be made on the Extension Request Form. Extension Request Forms
can be collected from the Irish Studies Office or downloaded from the Irish Studies website.
Completing this form does not mean you qualify for an extension. Extensions must be discussed
first with the coordinator of the course concerned. If the coordinator is willing to grant the
extension, they will sign your Extension Request Form, which must then be countersigned by the
Director of Irish Studies. Signed forms should be returned to the Irish Studies Office.
You must provide a Medical Certificate if required.
Alternatively you may contact your College Tutor who may make representation on your behalf.
Extension applications should normally be made ahead of the submission date. If no extension is
granted, a fail mark (0) will be returned for the late-submitted essay.
Non-submission in the case of two of more essays will also cause the student to be returned NS
to the Senior Lecturer who may refuse permission to proceed to the annual examinations
(Calendar H6, paras 22-23).
You are required to keep a paper copy of all assessment work submitted.
Individual class teachers will return essays.
Examinations:
There are four written examinations and an oral examination for JF students.
1. Language - one two-hour examination and an oral examination
2. Literature – one two-hour examination
3. Theorising Ireland – one-three hour examination
4. Irish History 1014-1534 – one-three hour examination
Requirements for rising with the year
In order to rise with their year, JF students must complete all written work.
The pass mark for essays, assignments and examinations is 40%.
An average of 40% must be attained within each course for a pass to be awarded in that
course.
Failure in the Language component is NOT compensatable. In other courses students will be
allowed ONE compensation, provided the average mark attained in that course is above 30%.
Supplementals will be available in JF year for the examination element.
Summary of assessments:
Imagining Ireland: One 1,500-word essay; one 2,000/2,500-word essay.
Language: Continuous assessment; one two-hour written examination; one oral examination.
Literature: One graded essay of approximately 2,000-2,500 words and a two-hour examination.
Theorising Ireland: One 2,000-word essay and one three-hour examination.
History: One three-hour examination paper at the end of Trinity term. During the year students
are required to write one graded essay, not exceeding 2,000 words, and a number of short
ungraded exercises in preparation for each of the eight weeks in which they attend tutorial
discussion groups for this course, but only the exam results determine their assessed grade for the
year's work.
8
SENIOR FRESHMAN YEAR (SF)
In the SF year students take FOUR compulsory courses, plus options totalling up to 10 ECTS. You
should go to the Irish Studies Office for reading lists and timetable information if you cannot find
it on the noticeboard or website. Please note that the office is open Monday to Friday from
10.30 to 12.30 and from 2.30 to 4.30, apart from Wednesday afternoons.
All tutorials and language classes are compulsory and SF students are required to attend.
Students may be asked to make oral presentations or hand in short pieces of written work in
addition to their assessment essays. Though these are not formally assessed, they are part of the
expected exercises of the course.
Courses:
IE2001 Imagining Ireland II (Course Coordinator: Dr Mark Hennessy)
This multi-disciplinary course will take up and develop some of the themes introduced in
Imagining Ireland I. It will be taught in a similar format and will include classes contributed to by
specialists in Irish History, Irish Art History, Anglo-Irish literature, literature in Irish, Irish Geography,
and Gender Studies, as well as contemporary social and cultural themes.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 hours per week
10 ECTS
HI2010 Ireland and the Wider World 1500-1800 Part A (Course Coordinator: Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú)
This course examines political, religious, social and cultural developments in Ireland during the
early modern period within a narrative and thematic framework, starting with Tudor political
reform and continuing through to the Act of Union in 1800. The course is divided chronologically
into two parts. In Part A, which runs from 1500 to 1650, the principal issues dealt with include the
impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; the wars and rebellions of the sixteenth
century and the demise of Gaelic Ireland; 'colonization' and 'civilization' of Ireland by the English
and the Scots; Confederate Ireland and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Duration: October 2008 to January 2009
Contact hours per week: 3 hours per week
10 ECTS
HI2011 Ireland and the Wider World 1500-1800 Part B (Course Coordinator: Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú)
This course examines political, religious, social and cultural developments in Ireland during the
early modern period within a narrative and thematic framework, starting with Tudor political
reform and continuing through to the Act of Union in 1800. The course is divided chronologically
into two parts. In Part B which runs from 1650 to 1800 emphasis is given to the importance of the
social, economic and cultural consequences of the Cromwellian and Restoration land
settlements; the War of the Three Kings; the 'Protestant Ascendancy' and the Penal Era; the
impact of the American and French revolutions; the rebellion of the United Irishmen; the
formation of 'Irish' and 'British' national identities; and women in Irish society.
Duration: January 2009 to May 2009
Contact hours per week: 3 hours per week
10 ECTS
9
IR2009 Irish Language (Course Coordinator: Professor Damian McManus)
This course will build on the beginners’ Language course of the Junior Freshman year taking the
student from the equivalent of Junior Certificate level to that of Leaving Certificate. Again the
emphasis will be on developing and perfecting written and oral skills in both grammar and
language laboratory classes and students will be introduced to some modern literary texts in the
original language. All participating students who have not already spent a period of residence
in the Gaeltacht during their JF year should do so during their SF year.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1 hours language class and 1 x 1 hour language lab per week
10 ECTS
IR2027 Irish Language (Course Coordinator: Professor Damian McManus)
This course will build on the higher level Language course of the Junior Freshman year. Again the
emphasis will be on developing and perfecting written and oral skills in both grammar and
language laboratory classes. All participating students who have not already spent a period of
residence in the Gaeltacht during their JF year should do so during their SF year.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 x 1 hours language class and 1 x 1 hour language lab per week
10 ECTS
EN2030 Irish Writing in English, 1590-1800 (Course Coordinator: Dr Brian Cliff)
This course will provide a survey of key texts relating to Ireland and written in English during a
transformative period in Irish History. It will cover a range of writers from the sixteenth to the
eighteenth centuries, including Edmund Spenser, Jonathan Swift, Edmund Burke, Laurence
Sterne and Maria Edgeworth.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 1 hr lecture per week and 1 hr tutorial
10 ECTS
Students will also choose options totaling 10 ECTS. Options include:
EN1001 Critical and Cultural Theory (Course Coordinator: Dr Sam Slote)
This course will offer students an introduction to the elements of critical theory, the varieties of
criticism, and the relation of literary study to the more general field of cultural practices.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 1 hr lecture per week and 1 hr tutorial
10 ECTS
IR2005 Early Irish Literature (Course Coordinator: Professor Damian McManus)
This course will focus on Early Irish saga, in particular on sovereignty figures, including both the
king and the sovereignty goddess and her many manifestations in the literature. Irish utopian
imagery and interaction between this world and the Otherworld, the latter in particular as a
source for royal authority, will be examined. Material for this course will be read in English.
Duration: 18 weeks
Contact hours per week: 1 hour per week
5 ECTS
10
IR2053 Modern Irish Literature (Course Coordinator: Dr Pádraig de Paor )
The main focus here will be twentieth-century Irish literature, read in translation. The choice of
material will depend on the new lecturer to be appointed in Modern Irish but will include
selections from autobiography, the novel and the short story as well as the poetry of the period.
This course will be conducted through the medium of English.
Duration: 18 weeks
Contact hours per week: 1 hour per week
5 ECTS
IR2052 Nualitríocht (Course Coordinator: Dr Pádraig de Paor)
Díreofar isteach ar Chré na Cille le Máirtín Ó Cadhain mar théacs lárnach. Trí Ghaeilge a bheidh
an cúrsa seo á mhúineadh.
Duration: October to December
Contact hours per week: 2 hours per week
5 ECTS
IE2050 The history of Irish cartography: An introduction (Course Coordinator: Dr Mark Hennessy)
This courses traces the history of Irish cartography from the sixteenth century through to the work
of the Ordnance Survey in the nineteenth century. The following are the principal topics
covered – Plantation mapping in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; John Speed's
Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain; William Petty's Down Survey and related Cromwellian land
surveys; Landlord maps of the eighteenth century; The Ordnance survey in nineteenth century
Ireland. The focus throughout the course is on the relationship between cartography,
colonization and power in early modern and modern Ireland.
Duration: October to December
Contact hours per week: 2 hours per week
5 ECTS
LI1010 Language, Mind and Society (Course Coordinator: Professor David Singleton)
This course sets out to inform students about some of the major issues in the language sphere
that are widely debated in society - issues such as the role of age in language acquisition, the
likely fate of the Irish language, the nature of signed languages, and language change. It also
seeks to provide a general overview of how linguistic analysis proceeds in a number of different
domains of linguistics - namely, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics phonetics and
phonology.
Duration: All year
Contact hours per week: 2 hours per week
5 ECTS
Students may also take a course from the Broad Curriculum (5 ECTS), but students electing to do
so may not combine this with one of the 10 ECTS options
Students will be asked to choose their options for the SF year in the April of their JF year.
11
Assessment and Examination:
Assessment
Assessment in the SF year will be on the basis of examinations, submitted essays as well as
continuous assessment and oral examinations for the language component.
Students are required to submit 6 essays and continuous assessment assignments for the four
compulsory courses.
Submission dates for compulsory course essays:
Michaelmas Term
Essay
1
2
Course
History: Ireland and
the Wider World
Part A
Imagining Ireland II
Due Date
Monday 17th
November 2008
Time
12 noon
Length
2,000-2,500
words
Friday 5th
December 2008
12 noon
2,000-2,500
words
Due Date
Monday 19th
January 2009
Time
12 noon
Length
2,000-2,500
words
Monday 2nd
February 2009
Monday 2nd
March 2009
12 noon
2,000-2,500
words
2,000-2,500
words
Due Date
Friday 24th April
2009
Time
12 noon
Hilary Term
Essay
3
4
5
Course
History: Ireland and
the Wider World
Part A
Irish Writing in
English
History: Ireland and
the Wider World
Part B
12 noon
Trinity Term
Essay
6
Course
Imagining Ireland II
Length
2,000-2,500
words
*The Compulsory Course in Irish Language will be assessed by continuous assessment.
Submission dates for optional course essays:
Hilary Term
Essay
1
Course
Nualitríocht
Due Date
Friday 9th January
Time
12 noon
Length
2,000-2,500
words
Due Date
Friday 3rd April
2009
Friday 24th April
2009
Time
12 noon
Length
2,000-2,500
words
2,000-2,500
words
Trinity Term
Essay
2
3
Course
Modern Irish
Literature
Early Irish Literature
12 noon
*The Optional Course in Irish Cartography will be assessed by continuous assessment.
12
Essay titles:
Essay titles will be posted on the relevant page of the Irish Studies website at the start of the year
(2008-09).
Handing in essays
These essays must be handed in to the Irish Studies Office (Room 4055) by the due date. Essays
should not be handed to lecturing staff or tutorial teachers.
Extensions:
Requests for extensions must be made on the Extension Request Form. Extension Request Forms
can be collected from the Irish Studies Office or downloaded from the Irish Studies website.
Completing this form does not mean you qualify for an extension. Extensions must be discussed
first with the coordinator of the course concerned. If the coordinator is willing to grant the
extension, they will sign your Extension Request Form, which must then be countersigned by the
Director of Irish Studies. Signed forms should be returned to the Irish Studies Office.
You must provide a Medical Certificate if required.
Alternatively you may contact your College Tutor who may make representation on your behalf.
Extension applications should normally be made ahead of the submission date. If no extension is
granted, a fail mark (0) will be returned for the late-submitted essay.
Non-submission in the case of two of more essays will also cause the student to be returned NS
to the Senior Lecturer who may refuse permission to proceed to the annual examinations
(Calendar H6, paras 22-23).
You are required to keep a paper copy of all assessment work submitted. Individual class
teachers will return essays.
Examinations:
There are 3 written examinations and an oral examination for the compulsory SF courses.
1. Ireland and the wider world, 1500-1800 – PART B: One two-hour examination.
2. Language: One two-hour examination and an oral examination.
3. Irish Writing in English, 1590-1800: One three-hour examination.
ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATION OF OPTIONAL COURSES WILL VARY.
Summary of assessments - compulsory courses:
Ireland and the wider world: 1500 –1800 PART A: Two essays of up to 2,500 words.
Ireland and the wider world: 1500 –1800 PART B: One essay of up to 2,500 words.
Imagining Ireland II: Two pieces of assessed work.
Language: Continuous assessment; one written examination; oral examination.
Irish Writing in English, 1590-1800: One essay of up to 2,500 words and one three-hour
examination.
Summary of assessments - optional courses
Critical and Cultural Theory: One essay of up to 2,500 words and one three-hour examination.
Early Irish Literature: One graded essay of approximately 2,000-2,500 words each.
Modern Irish Literature: One graded essay of approximately 2,000-2,500 words each.
History of Irish Cartography: Two pieces of assessed work.
Introduction to Language Study: One two-hour examination.
13
Requirements for rising with the year
In order to rise with their year, SF students must complete all written work. The pass mark for
essays, assignments and examinations is 40%.
An average of 40% must be attained within each course for a pass to be awarded in that
course.
Failure in the Language component is NOT compensatable. In other courses students will be
allowed ONE compensation provided the average mark attained in that course is above 30%.
Supplementals will be available in SF year for the examination element.
A minimum of 60% pass in Irish at SF level is required to move into Modern Irish options in the
Sophister years.
14
STYLE SHEET
Presentation is only one aspect of good essay writing. However, poor or inconsistent
presentation is a distraction to whoever is marking your essay and can result in a lack
of clarity and loss of marks. What follows are simple guidelines about presentation.
You should keep them in mind when you are writing your essay.
1.
General Information
The titles of books, plays and edited collections (collections of poems, short stories,
articles, essays) should be italicised or underlined. You must be consistent if you
choose to italicise or underline titles. Do not do both in the same essay.
The titles of individual poems, essays, articles and short stories should be placed in
double quotation marks.
All spelling should be correct and care should be taken with your use of punctuation
and grammar. Pay particular attention to your use of the apostrophe.
Check all of your quotations for accuracy and make sure that all of your sources are
provided.
Type your essay if at all possible. Leave ample margins for comments by the marker,
use a font size of 12 and double-space your essay.
2.
Quotations
If you are quoting a small amount from a text, simply include the quotation in your
essay using double quotation marks.
For longer quotations you should indent each line on the left hand side of the
quotation – as you would if you were starting a new paragraph. When you indent a
long quotation from a text, do not use quotation marks.
When you are quoting a long passage, you may choose to omit part of the quotation
because it is not directly relevant to your argument. You can do this by using an
ellipsis. This is marked by three consecutive dots (…) and is inserted in place of the
words or the lines that you want to omit.
3.
Acknowledging Quotations
The proper acknowledgment of sources for quotations is a vital aspect of good essay
writing. Failure to acknowledge a source amounts to more than mere laziness. It
could open you to a charge of plagiarism, which is a serious academic offence.
Further information about plagiarism is provided on page 3 of this Handbook.
4.
Style Guides
There are several different ways of annotating sources, and a number of style guides
are available for you to follow. MLA (http://www.mla.org/) and the Chicago Manual
of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/) are two styles that are particularly
i
recommended. You are welcome to follow either of these styles, or any of a number
of other styles that are also available. Whichever style you choose, though, you must
be consistent and clear in your use.
5.
Footnotes, Endnotes, Parenthetical Citations
Some style guides recommend the use of footnotes or endnotes; others recommend
parenthetical citations. If you choose to use footnotes or endnotes, the simplest thing
to do is to number each quotation consecutively. Insert a footnote or an endnote at
the end of every sentence where you quote from an author or a text. (This will be
done automatically if you click on “Insert” then “footnotes” if you are using a Word
programme.) A numbered note will appear at the bottom of the page (a footnote)
or at the end of the essay (an endnote) where you will be prompted to fill in the
details of the source of the quotation. These details will vary, depending on the style
guide you are using, but you should always include, at the very least, the surname of
the author and the title of the text you are quoting from and the page number of
that quotation. For example: Beckett, Malone Dies, 87. Further details about the book,
including the full name of the author, the full title of the text, publisher, place and
year of publication, should appear in the bibliography at the end of your essay.
Some style guides (such as MLA) use parenthetical citations rather than footnotes or
endnotes. Parenthetical citations simply mean that once you quote from a text, you
include the author’s surname followed by a space and the relevant page numbers in
brackets in the main body of your essay. This should be placed at the end of the
sentence. For example: (Beckett 87). Your citation should be supplemented by an
entry in the Works Cited or Bibliography section at the end of your essay. This entry
should provide further details about the book, including the full name of the author,
the full title of the text, publisher, place and year of publication. If you have quoted
from more than one text in the same sentence, simply place the names of the
authors in order in brackets at the end of the sentence, and separate them by use of
a semi-colon. For example: (Beckett 87; Yeats 23).
One of the principal reasons for footnotes, endnotes or parenthetical citations is to
allow the marker to check the quotations in the sources that you have used.
6.
Works Cited, Bibliography
The bibliography should include all of the texts that you have quoted in your essay. It
should also include all of the texts that you have consulted in the preparation of your
essay. (You may want to distinguish in your bibliography between “Works Cited” and
“Other Works Consulted”.) You should list all of these texts, by author’s surname, in
alphabetical order. There are several ways of presenting a bibliography. What follows
is taken from the MLA style guide. Once again, you are welcome to follow this or
another style so long as you are consistent and clear.
Citing a book
If you are citing a book you should include the following information in order:
Surname of author; First Name; Title of Book or Title of Book; Place of Publication; Year
of Publication.
If the book is an edited collection of essays, your citation should read:
Surname of author; First Name; ed.; Title of Book or Title of Book; Place of Publication:
Year of Publication.
ii
If the book has more than one author, your citation should read:
Surname of first author; First Name and First Name and Surname of second author;
eds.; Title of Book or Title of Book; Place of Publication; Year of Publication.
If the book was translated, your citation should read:
Surname of original author; First Name; Title of Book or Title of Book; Trans. Translator’s
Name; Place of Publication; Year of Publication.
Citing an essay in a book
If you are citing an essay from a book you should include the following information:
Surname of author, First Name; “Title of Essay”; Title of Book or Title of Book; Ed. Editor’s
Name; Place of Publication; Year of Publication; Page Refs.
Citing an essay in a journal
If you are citing an essay from a journal you should include the following:
Surname of author; First Name; “Title of Essay”; Title of Journal or Title of Journal;
Volume; Issue; (Year); page refs.
Citing material from a website
If you are citing material from a website you should give the full address of that
website in the bibliography so that the marker can locate the same material. You
should also give the date that you last accessed that material.
iii