English

Programme Structure & Content

First & Second Year

In the first year we offer a course called Reading Writing, providing an introduction to the critical study of literature and language, and to concepts of authorship, readership and literary form. We follow this with Controversial Classics, a new course about modern literary classics that have provoked strong cultural reactions. Students of English can also take Essentials of Language, an optional linguistics course. Second year courses include Reading Shakespeare, Revolution to Revolution: Literature 1640-1789, and additional language and linguistics options.

Third & Fourth Year (Honours)

At Honours level there are over 60 courses on offer, ranging from medieval and Renaissance literature to Romanticism, Victorianism and Modernism, contemporary Scottish and Irish writing, American literature, and aspects of European literature in translation. Language options include studies of dialect, language and identity in Britain and the rest of the world.

Third year courses are broad-based, covering periods or themes, and are taught through lectures and seminars. Fourth year courses promote deeper understanding and more focussed discussion, and are taught in seminar groups of up to 15 students. The Honours programme concludes with a supervised dissertation on a topic of your choice.

Teaching & Assessment

For each course, you will typically be studying one literary text per week. You will be encouraged to read relevant critical and contextual material on the texts you are studying, and also be introduced to some important theoretical approaches to literature. From first through third year you will follow a programme of lectures supported with a weekly small group tutorial or seminar. You will produce essays and other forms of course-work that will count towards your assessment and in most courses you will also have an end-of-course examination. In tutorials and seminars you will participate in group projects and have the opportunity to give individual presentations on some courses, these will also be assessed along with your performance in class. Overall you follow a structured programme in first and second year with a wide range of choice available to you when you reach Honours level, enabling you to chose for yourself the areas you wish to study.