Contemporary Global Issues: Approaches in Social Science, History and Philosophy

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 3
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: a portfolio of notes or reflections on each session (150 words each) (10%), two 400-word critical analysis pieces (40%) and a 1500-word essay (50%)

This module introduces you to ways of understanding the contemporary global issues affecting the world, drawing on the disciplines of Social Sciences, Geography, Applied Linguistics, History, Classics, Archaeology, Philosophy or Psychosocial Studies. By exploring global issues from different disciplinary perspectives, the module encourages you to further understand the disciplinary approaches introduced in the previous module and develop core academic skills in preparation for taking a BA/BSc programme in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy. The module is organised into three learning units, each focusing on a contemporary global social issue. Based on lectures and selected texts from different disciplines, the module will enable you to further explore perspectives and approaches that arise from the dialogue between two or more disciplines. It will also serve as an introduction to academic reasoning and critical thinking, helping you to understand how academic arguments are constructed and how to develop your own arguments and use academic writing skills appropriate to the disciplines.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand and reflect critically on contemporary global issues
• differentiate different disciplinary approaches
• demonstrate basic skills on academic reasoning
• practise independent learning skills, particularly in relation to accessing further information about topics of interest and developing your knowledge of, and thinking about, these.