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Discourse Analysis (519X8)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

On this module, you’ll explore modern research methods to study discourse and its implications in politics and international relations.

You’ll examine how researchers have used discourse to study meaning, ideology and power in modern politics, including:

• content analysis
• discourse analytical approaches based on archaeology and genealogy
• discursive institutionalism.

You’ll understand the principles and techniques of these approaches, instead of just the theory behind them. You’ll decide whether, why and how you can use them for your own research projects.

You’ll also:

• study how large texts can be collated, managed and analysed
• produce a hands-on project and present findings, using:
• the Nexus database
• Nvivo – a qualitative analysis software.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 15 hours of contact time and about 135 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.