English and History

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but you’ll take fewer optional and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects.

Core modules in your first year will introduce you to texts across poetry, prose and drama and allow you to develop important skills such as historical methods and research. You’ll also have the chance to choose from discovery modules across a wide variety of subjects – an opportunity open to you throughout your degree.

You’ll build on this knowledge over the next two years. You’ll choose from core English modules spanning from the medieval period to today, and study at least one history module in the modern period and one from earlier times. You’ll then pursue your interests across optional modules in both subjects, from the Crusades to twentieth-century Africa and from folklore to disability and sexuality in contemporary literature.

Throughout the degree you’ll develop valuable interpretative and analytical skills, as well as becoming a confident researcher. You’ll demonstrate these qualities in your final year, when you undertake an independently researched dissertation on a topic of your choice.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Studying and Researching English 5 credits
• Historiography and Historical Skills 20 credits
• Primary Sources for the Historian: An Introduction to Documentary study 20 credits
• Studying in a Digital Age (Arts) 5 credits
• Foundations of English Studies

Optional modules

• Prose: Reading and Interpretation 20 credits
• Poetry: Reading and Interpretation 20 credits
• Drama: Reading and Interpretation 20 credits

Year 2

Optional modules

• Literature of the Romantic Period 20 credits
• Renaissance Literature 20 credits
• Jewish Communities in Medieval Europe 20 credits
• Communist Eastern Europe, 1945-89 20 credits
• The Global Caribbean, 1756-1848 20 credits

Year 3

Optional modules

• Postcolonial Literature 20 credits
• Refugee Narratives 20 credits
• The Harlem Renaissance: Black Culture and Politics 1919-1940 40 credits
• White Africans: Intimacy, Race and Power 40 credits
• 'Parasites' and 'Cockroaches': Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide in the Modern World 20 credits

For more information on typical modules, read English and History BA in the course catalogue

Broadening your academic horizons

At Leeds we want you to benefit from the depth and breadth of the University's expertise, to prepare you for success in an ever-changing and challenging world. This course gives you the opportunity to broaden your learning by studying discovery modules. Find out more on the Broadening webpages.

Learning and teaching

Our tutors in the Schools of English and History are leading researchers, and their teaching is informed by their work. We use a variety of teaching methods so you can benefit from their expertise, including lectures, seminars and tutorials. However, we also put a lot of emphasis on independent study, since this allows you to develop your research and critical skills.

Assessment

We use different means of assessment to develop your skills, including exams and essays. Extended projects may also be assessed components in some modules. We offer plenty of support, including the chance to attend extra classes on issues such as exam technique, public speaking and structuring an essay if you need them.