Q300 - BA Hons English

• Are you interested in language and literature, but perhaps also other areas of English you might not have encountered so far?
• Do you like going to the theatre as well as sitting at home with a book?
• Are you interested in analysing a staged performance, as well as reading the play?
• Would you like to know how to read a medieval manuscript, or discover why Chaucer is described as the 'father of English literature'?
• Did you see Beowulf, and wonder what Anglo-Saxon culture was really like; or watch Robin Hood and ask yourself why Friar Tuck is played by a black actor?
• Are you interested in studying the widest ranging degree course in the country, and developing an expertise in every aspect of English, from its origins to the present day?
  
  If you've answered 'yes' to any of these questions, you may want to opt for a degree in English Studies. 

 

First Year

In first year, the course aims to introduce you to the range of disciplines within English. You will take five compulsory modules within the School, plus a choice of subsidiary modules.  Your core modules will be in each of the following areas:

• EnglishLiterature, 1500 to the present
• Medieval Language and Literature
• English Language and Applied Linguistics 
• Drama and Performance
• Academic Community

Taught by Personal Tutors in small tutorial groups, the Academic Community module aims to help you with the transition from school or college to university. You will be introduced to key issues of being a university student in general and the discipline of English in particular. It will also develop your skills of self-reflective writing, presenting and developing an argument, and handling sources and evidence appropriately.

 

Second Year

You will take the following core modules:

• Modern English Literature
• Medieval Language and Literature
• English Language and Applied Linguistics 

• Alongside these you will have a choice of drama and performance and literary period options to explore how and why literature can be read in terms of an historical 'age' or 'epoch'.

 

Final Year

During your final year you will have the opportunity to specialise in three out of the four areas of English, choosing from a wide range of options. All final year modules give you the chance to study in smaller groups with an expert in the field. You also have the opportunity of writing a dissertation in order to focus in more depth on a subject that particularly interests you.

 

Project Dissertations

In 2011/12 the School launched new project-based dissertations - that provide students with the opportunity to pursue projects on specific topics relating to language and literacy and to drama and performance.  These topics build on the School’s engagement with local theatres and literacy projects and aim to encourage students to think about applied research in an English context from fresh angles of approach. 

 

For specific details of the compulsory and optional modules in each year, please see the Prospectus.

 

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