Flexibility, and the possibility of tailoring supervision and instruction to individual needs, are the Department's priorities. Instruction is given in scholarly methods and information technology, as well as over the range of subjects embraced in the Department as a whole, and in the particular field of the candidate's interest. The University Library's extensive collections of manuscripts and printed books provide a rich background for research, augmented by many special holdings in College libraries. In addition to following the classes and seminars in scholarly methods and information technology specified for the course, candidates for the M.Phil. The course commences at the beginning of full Michaelmas term, usually the second week in October.
Candidates meet their appointed M.Phil.
The written exercises are intended to test the student's acquisition or improvement of particular scholarly skills during the previous two terms. Although the final preparation of the thesis will be done during Easter term, it is expected that most of the groundwork will have been completed during Michaelmas and Lent terms. The thesis is submitted by mid-June. The formal teaching of the course consists of two series of seminars, plus the individual meetings which each graduate student arranges with his or her supervisor. In the Michaelmas term there is a weekly seminar on 'Scholarly Methods', in which students are introduced to the resources available for studying the various fields embraced in the Department's work, and the possibilities for using them.