Yes PG means postgraduate.

Most people start by doing a Master's (MA) in a period / area they're interested in. The content of MA courses vary, but a good MA will usually have a number of taught seminar modules over two terms, for which you'd be handing in extended essays to be assessed. In your last term, you'd be expected to produce a longer dissertation (around 10,000 words) based on your own independent research into a topic of your choice.

Some people do an MRes instead of an MA. This is usually entirely based on your own independent research, and you'd simply write a much longer dissertation to be assessed. It could be a good option if you had a really clear idea about what you were interested in working on.

Look on the bright side - at least it means you're on the right track, and not writing daft nonesense :) If a good academic is replicating your ideas, then they must be good! Chin up.

I know this sounds a bit funny, but I don't think you necessarily know what you're interested in before you start the PhD. It really is a journey of discovery, and you might well end up completely enthused by something you thought you weren't so interested in, and bored to death by something you were gung-ho about.

It depends on how well you want to do. If you want to get a merit / distinction (which I would advise trying to do if you're thinking about an academic career), you will have to work hard & cut back on socialising. I got a distinction for every single piece of work on my Master's course (though I am a humanities student), and that meant I usually ended up going to the pub later and for less time, as wel as passing on a lot of social stuff. If you're just there for the ride, you can probably spend much more time socialising. However, I'm sure there's a happy meidum inbetween those two things!

Strong tea, bananas & cheese on toast for me when I'm writing ...

Using key events related to the project ... Uh, like a kind of leap-frog off them through the PhD.

I'm not quite sure I get the question, though, so this may not be helpful ...

I should clarify: I was going at it more from the angle "why do we ask, which came first and not which came second ... " Hmmm ....

Perhaps the question is not so much "which came first?" but "why do we care which came first?"

Go and ask for advice from your university careers service. That's what they're there for ...

If you'd be prepared to commute, there's a good philosophy MA, which involves lots of writing assignments, at Leeds:

http://www.philosophy.leeds.ac.uk/PostgraduateInfo/ma_in_philosophy.htm

There's also one at York:

http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/phil/gsp/ma_philosophy.html

Both York and Leeds are just about do-able from Manchester (Leeds just under an hour, York just under an hour and a half). All depends, though, on your willingness to commute to find the best course, I guess ...

My honest opinion is that, if you are serious about considering a PhD, the MRes is a far better option. To be blunt, using exams to partially assess a humanities Master's is simply dumbing down, and really not a good option.

Is there any particular reason why the area you've chosen will be cheaper? Are you just thinking of cheaper rent / living costs, or is it work related? It really might be a good idea to broaden your search as you'll only get one chance to do this. I myself worked & saved up for a couple of years so that I could go where the best course for me was. I don't regret taking the time out to get it exactly right at all.

Good luck, in any case!

I do see what you mean, and agree that writing research papers is a better option if you're looking to do a PhD. I am a bit puzzled, in fact, about the lack of writing and emaphsis on exams in the Liverpool MA. To be honest, I think any good humanities MA would be more focused on getting their students to write research papers than sitting through an exam (which is a crap test of research skills).

Have you considered other Philosophy MAs / MRes'?

How is the MA assessed? Do you have to write papers throughout for that, too? Or just the dissertation?

How is the MA assessed? Do you have to write papers throughout for that, too? Or just the dissertation?

Just thought I'd add that humanities PhDs tend to get written in 10,000-12,000 words chucks as that is the average length of a chapter (research & write a chapter, hand it in, discuss it, rewrite it and so on). In this way, writing to a 10,000 word limit might actually be better preparation for doing a PhD ...