This course aims to give graduate students an opportunity to develop their analytical, research and writing skills in preparation for further academic research or entry to professions requiring such skills. During the year, MPhil students attend various training courses offered by the Department in codicology, text reading, and other skills. They are also encouraged to attend fourth-year undergraduate lectures and language courses where relevant. They may 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. Students who take the MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies by Research (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) are expected to work closely with their supervisor throughout the year on a 25,000 word dissertation which is submitted by mid-August. 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 Pre Modern Arabic or Persian; acquired a good knowledge of the general scholarship on Arabic and/or Persian 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.