Programme Overview
This degree introduces a diverse and academically rigorous programme, providing a thorough knowledge of English Literature from Early and Middle English to the present day. It also allows students to develop their own research interests through a range of modules, seminar discussions and group projects in which ideas can be shared and developed. This degree is wide-ranging and very innovative. In the first year, all students follow a common curriculum covering the three main branches of contemporary English studies: English Language, English Literature and Creative Writing. The second and third year specialises in English Literature while taking modules from other areas.
This degree is for those who wish to:
- Foster a knowledge of particular literary texts, their traditions, genres and contexts, from a range of literary periods from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present
- Promote an understanding of those texts and the cultural pressures and values that influence them
- Explore the nature of literary history and its relation to critical history
- Receive opportunities for the practice of sophisticated textual analysis, relevant to a range of careers and professions
- Realise their own potential and develop capacity for self-directed learning
- Receive a framework for academic progression in the discipline of English Studies
Structure of the Programme
Your studies will include lectures, seminars and group work, as well as independent study. Throughout your studies our academics will be on hand to provide you with one-to-one support when you need it. Your progress will be assessed mainly through coursework, such as written assignments and presentations, with the opportunity to carry out a more extended piece in your third year. The best work will be published in Codex - the School of Culture's online undergraduate academic journal. You can also gain valuable work experience through our own publishing house, Spectral Visions Press, which publishes the work of our students. The skills and experience you gain through participation in activities outside the lecture theatre can be recognised and rewarded through the Sunderland Professional Award (SuPA); which is developed in partnership with employers to enhance your future employment prospects. Your academic experience will be influenced by and benefit from the research specialisms of our English team. Our academics integrate their research into the modules to continually enhance and refresh your understanding of the subject.
1st Year
- The Writer’s Craft: Developing your skills
- Order from Chaos: Narrative and Poetry
- Stages and Pages: Drama and Criticism
- Language in the 21st Century
- Describing Modern English
- The Writer’s Journey: Monomyth
2nd Year
- Questioning Literature: History and Theory
- Refocusing Literature: Applying Literary Theory to Texts
- Exploring the City and the World in Eighteenth-Century Literature
- Literature of the Victorian Age
- Literature from the Inferno to Paradise: The Renaissance
- Romanticism
3rd Year
- The Art of the US Story 1960-2016
- In Our Times: Contemporary British and Irish Novels in the Late Twenty-First Century
- Monster, Madness, and Murder: Gothic Literature
- "The Play’s the Thing": Shakespeare’s Dramatic Genres
- English Literature Advanced Study
Career Opportunities
BA (Hons) English is an extremely well-respected degree. Your highly developed skills in communication, research and analysis will make you a perfect fit for a wide range of organisations, including graduate training schemes. Studying English will equip students with transferable skills that can be used in a wide range of contexts. They will be able to understand and analyse complex ideas and to present their ideas clearly and logically. This will give them a sound basis for a career in areas such as the civil service, teaching and research, journalism, editorial work with major publishers, social work training and advertising.
