Greek and or Latin Languages and Literature MPhil

The MPhil in Greek and/or Latin Literature is a 21-month taught graduate course that can be used as a route to the DPhil, if then followed by two years of doctoral study. Applicants for the MPhil wishing to enter doctoral programmes elsewhere after their master's degree at Oxford are also welcomed.

The majority of students take the shorter MSt, which the faculty recommends as the default master's choice in Greek and/or Latin languages and literature. However, the MPhil is often taken by two groups of students and designed with them in mind: those who feel that they would benefit from two more years of taught education in Classics before embarking on a doctorate; and those who have a clear idea of the topic that they hope to research eventually for their doctorate, and who wish to start extensive work on this topic already in their master's dissertation.

Nearly all students take the course as preparation for a research degree, and for such students it might offer, for instance, linguistic training; the opportunity to become acquainted with an ancillary discipline such as papyrology; engagement with a particular author's texts at a deeper level; and/or textual criticism of Greek and/or Latin; or, reception studies. The MPhil also offers, through an obligatory dissertation, the first steps in actual research and the extended presentation of a scholarly argument.

All MPhil students have the opportunity to attend a wide range of lectures, seminars and talks by visiting speakers. In their first year, they also attend a class on research techniques in Classical literature, extending over two terms: this includes in the first term units on topics such as the history of classical scholarship and on research resources, as well as on various aspects of literary theory. In the second term considerable attention is paid to presentational skills, as students deliver papers of their own to the group.