English, BA (Hons)

This innovative degree modernizes the study of literature, equipping graduates with analytical, creative, and professional skills while fostering a critical understanding of English writing across history and globally. Students explore texts from Shakespeare to social media, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to comic books, and produce their own creative and professional works. They engage in debates on literary scholarship, write across various forms and media, and develop employability through placements in fields like publishing, journalism, and the arts.The curriculum includes core modules in the first year on close reading, critical theory, and historical contexts, followed by advanced options in genres, digital storytelling, and professional experience. Assessment features essays, creative portfolios, group projects, and presentations, with weighting of 10% in year one, 30% in year two, and 60% in year three.

Develop a confident grounding in the study of literature, creative writing, and employability skills in your first year with our range of core modules. Encounter literature from the Middle Ages to the present day as you explore texts from Britain and beyond, delving into a global history of writing in English.

• Close Reading: Analysis and Interpretation (15 credits)

• Critical Reading: Theory and Practice (15 credits)

• Controversy and Conflict: Literature in Historical Context from the Middle Ages to 1660 (15 credits)

• Revolution and Reform: Literature in Historical Context from 1660 to the Present Day (15 credits)

• Storytelling (15 credits)

• Working with Words (15 credits)

• Empire and its Discontents: Race, Nation, Decolonisation (15 credits)

• The Creative World: English in the Twenty-First Century (15 credits)

Deepen your knowledge and critical understanding of the study of literature with a range of modules covering different authors, genres, and ideas. Choose from a range of topical and innovative literary, creative, and practical modules that include embedded opportunities to gain professional experience of relevant industries. Discover a variety of exciting electives from Journalism and Music, or build your work experience with a micro-placement module.

• Shakespeare: Authorship and Dramatic Texts (15 credits)

• Publishing in the Digital Age (15 credits)

• Creative Writing Workshop (15 credits)

• Writing Women (15 credits)

• Shakespeare: Adaptation, Appropriation, Circulation (15 credits)

• Romanticism (15 credits)

• Literary London (15 credits)

• London After Empire: City and Society (15 credits)

• Digital Storytelling: Research, Writing, Design (15 credits)

• Concerning Futures: Writing Alternative Worlds (15 credits)

• Novel Times: Writing Modernity (15 credits)

• Humanitarian Reporting (15 credits)

• Sports Reporting (15 credits)

• Visual Journalism (15 credits)

• Writing about Music (15 credits)

• Popular Music Now! (15 credits)

• Micro-Placement (15 credits)

• Career Development and Work Placement (15 credits)

Choose from a broad selection of modules on the cutting edge of literary scholarship, from global urban narratives to literatures of conflict and visual storytelling. Apply your learning in areas such as journalism, publishing, and teaching. Deep-dive into what interests you by completing at least one 30-credit Major Project module.

• Major Project: Dissertation (30 credits)

• Major Project: Professional Portfolio (30 credits)

• Major Project: Creative Writing (30 credits)

• Literary Journalism (15 credits)

• Crossing the Margins: Contemporary Voices in Creative -Writing (15 credits)

• Print and Digital Innovation: Making Content for the World of Books (15 credits)

• Teaching English (15 credits)

• Writing the Global City (15 credits)

• Visual Storytelling (15 credits)

• Women on the Edge (15 credits)

• Literatures of Conflict (15 credits)

• Breaking Conventions: Popular Genre Fiction (15 credits)

• Reporting Conflict (15 credits)

• Music, Sound and the Environment (15 credits)

• Romantic Aesthetics (15 credits)

• Micro-Placement (15 credits)

• Industry Projects (15 credits)

- Year Placement: Integrated Professional Training (15 credits)