Master of Science by Coursework in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology

Differences from 2021/22 to 2022/23

  • 1. The course shall be under the supervision of the Teaching Committee of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. 

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  • 2. Candidates mustwill be required to follow a course of instruction in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, including training in research, for at least three terms, and will, when entering for the examination, be required to produce a certificate from their supervisor to this effect.

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  • 3. Candidates will be required to present themselves for written and (if requested bycomplete the examiners)following oralfour examinationscore and to submit a dissertation in a prescribed form on an approved topic as defined in (6) and (7) below.

    courses: 
  • 3. The written examination will consist of four papers, one in each of the subjects listed in the Schedule.

    • 4.(a) ForPractical Quantitative Methods (Paper 1,) candidatesassessed will be required to completeby a take-home examination paper (provided by the course convener not later than the Friday of eighth week of Michaelmas Term), which mustto be submitted by thenoon on Thursday of week 0 of Hilary Termterm.

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    • (b) anonymouslyPrinciples viaof theEvolution Universityand approvedBehaviour online(Paper assessment2) platform, accompaniedassessed by confirmationtwo thatessays itof isno themore candidate'sthan own2,500 workwords each, to be submitted by noon on Monday of week 4 of Trinity term.

       
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    • (c) Evolution and Human Behaviour (Paper 3) assessed by two essays of no more than 2,500 words each, to be submitted by noon on Thursday of week 5 of Trinity term.
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    • (d) Mind and Culture (Paper 4) assessed by two essays of no more than 2,500 words each, to be submitted by noon on Monday of week 7 of Trinity term.
  • 5. For each of Papers 2, 3 and 4, candidates will be required to sit an examination.

     
  • 64. Candidates will be required to submitcomplete a dissertation of no more than 15,000 words in length, onand aan topicabstract agreedof withup theirto supervisors250 words. The proposed title of the dissertation, together with a paragraph describing its scope and the supervisor’s written endorsement,abstract must be submitted to the Chair of Examiners by Thursday of the fifth week of Trinity Term. The dissertation must be submitted via the University approved online assessment platform not later than noon on the last Wednesday in August.

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  • 5. All assessments must be submitted using the University approved online submission system. Technical information on the requirements for online submissions is provided in the yearCourse inHandbook.
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  • 6. whichCandidates may be requested to attend on oral examination on any of the examination is taken. The dissertation must be anonymous, accompanied by confirmation that it is the candidate’s own work, and submitted in electronic file format. The dissertation shall be provided with an abstract of up to 250 words, to be placed immediately after the title page. The word count shall be stated on the title page of the thesis.

  • 7. The four papers will be taken to constitute Part I of the degree and the dissertation to constitute Part II. At the close of the written examinations, the examiners will issue a list of those who have satisfied them in Part I.

  • 8. The oral examination, if held, may be on any or all of the candidate’s assessed essays, and/or the dissertation.

  • 9.  In order to pass the degree, a student must pass all its assessed components. Where one or more components are failed, the student will be given the opportunity to re-sit or re-submit them once, as the case may be. Any subsequent award of the degree on successful completion of all the assessed components may be delayed by up to three terms, i.e. until the Examination Board next meets.

Schedule

  • Paper 1. Quantitative Methods in the Human Sciences

    • (a) Hypothesis testing

    • (b) Statistical analysis

    • (c) Research design

  • Paper 2. Principles of Evolution and Behaviour

    • (a) Primate and hominin phylogeny and evolution

    • (b) Primate and hominin physiology

    • (c) Primate and human diet and subsistence

    • (d) Reconstructing past behaviour from primatology and archaeology

  • Paper 3. Evolution and Human Behaviour

    • (a) History of evolutionary approaches to human behaviour

    • (b) Human evolutionary psychology

    • (c) Human behavioural ecology

    • (d) Cultural evolutionary processes

  • Paper 4. Mind and Culture

    • (a) Cognitive and evolutionary explanations in anthropology

    • (b) Pan-human cognition: developmental and evolutionary perspectives

    • (c) Cognitive origins of culture

    • (d) Communication and transmission of culture.