This is a one-year research course, primarily for students who intend to go on to do a PhD in Arabic. Students can take a modern or a classical option. Applicants must already have good reading skills in Arabic, though a student can choose to enhance his or her skills in reading and interpreting texts specific to a particular topic. Some instruction in Arabic can be provided in the first term of study, but it will be consolidatory in aim. Those applicants whose native language is Arabic must have an excellent command of the English language (evidenced by the appropriate English-language test scores). The aim of the course is to prepare graduate students for independent academic research. By the end of the year, students wishing to study for a PhD degree will be able to formulate a viable programme of doctoral research and will possess all the required skills to complete it within three years of study, the time allotted for PhD degrees at UK universities. During the year, MPhil students can attend various training courses offered by the Department in subjects such as codicology, text reading, and other skills. They are also encouraged to attend fourth-year undergraduate lectures and language courses where relevant. They must attend graduate work-in-progress seminars where they have an opportunity to present their own work to their peers for feedback in a supportive environment. At the end of the MPhil programme, students will be expected to have: acquired the ability to read, interpret and translate primary sources in Modern and/or Classical Arabic; acquired a good knowledge of the general scholarship on Modern and/or Pre-Modern Middle Eastern culture(s); acquired an in-depth knowledge of the secondary literature relevant to the subject of their dissertation; developed the ability to formulate original research questions and produce a well-constructed, argument to answer them, in the form of an independent piece of research based on the use of primary and secondary sources and acquired the skills to use library and internet resources independently.