About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: Q300
- Applications: UCAS
- Level: Undergraduate
- Tariff points: 320
- Department: Arts
- Campus: St Matthias
- Duration: Three years full-time
- Delivery: Part-time, full-time
- Study Abroad: Yes
- Programme leader: Dr Sarah Robertson
Introduction
Why Study English Literature at UWE?
English at UWE offers a wide and distinctive range of stimulating modules. Covering poetry, fiction and drama, you can study areas including Shakespeare, Children's Literature, Gothic Studies, Romanticism, Victorian fiction and poetry, American Literature, Travel Writing and Contemporary Literature. There is scope for creating individual pathways through the curriculum. We offer exciting and innovative assessment choices, from essays and exams, to creative writing, creating and editing an anthology, book reviewing, presentations, and group work. Third year students complete an English Independent Project that allows students to choose from a variety of projects, all tailored around academic and employability skills, including the Dissertation, Research-Based Creative Writing, Module Design and Editing and Anthologising.
Our 600 English students are part of a research-active environment and a vibrant community, led by passionate and supportive staff with a commitment to delivering high quality teaching. Our staff are active researchers and publish cutting edge research which informs our teaching. 30% of the research has been judged to be world-ranking or internationally excellent (RAE 2008). The 95 per cent retention rate and the 'Excellent' rating from the QAA testify to the quality of the programme and students flourish as a result. For example, our students have won prestigious national prizes for the best student essays in the country. Some go on to postgraduate study with us or at other universities.
Here at UWE, students in English form a vibrant and active community, with links to a lively and diverse cultural scene beyond the walls of the university. Bristol is a stimulating and creative city which hosts an abundance of festivals and events such as the Festival of Ideas, the Poetry festival, Bristol Shakespeare Festival, a storytelling festival and Mayfest - an annual festival of contemporary theatre.
English in action
Journal production
UWE student newspaper
Find out how you could get involved with UWE's student newspaper.
Work Experience
Student's view
It was a pleasure to study under so many highly respected academics, all of whom seem capable of encouraging each and every student to perform to the best of his or her abilities. Sean
Structure
Content
Level one
Literature, Creativity and Critique (double module)
The first semester of this module is designed to immediately develop students as both creative and critical thinkers and writers. It familiarises them on a deep level with the main literary genres and periods, providing them with a penetrating critical vocabulary, while also asking them to consider the kinds of responses literature elicits in us and what we might do with these responses. The second semester of this module heightens students' awareness of the ways in which literature engages in crucial issues and debates that are political, historical, philosophical and current in our contemporary culture. Students are asked to consider the role of literature as a force for protest and reform, as a repository of vital ideas and values and as a form of art that offers access to truths (rather than facts).
Once Upon a Time: Stories, Children and Literature
This module reflects the intimate relationship between childhood and literature. Often stories and narratives invoke the child's perspective or the child's memory and much literature has been written especially for children. In this module, all of these aspects of childhood and literature are considered from the eighteenth century to the present day. Students are also asked to write memoirs of their childhood in a creative medium.
Beyond the Horizon: Spaces and Places in Literature
This module introduces students to literature from beyond the shores of Britain, covering Irish, American, Indian, African and Caribbean writing. By taking students beyond British shores, the module also looks at literature that invokes travel, exploration and utopia and so related topics such as 'race', exile and immigration emerge. Students are asked to edit their own anthologies of writing that explores exciting and unexpected spaces and places.
Level two
- Reading Forms/Forms of Reading (core)
- Shakespeare's World of Words
- Romanticism Unbound
- Exploring the Eighteenth Century
- British Writing 1900-1950
- Victorian Frictions
- Reading America: Cultural and Literary Legacies of the United States, 1830 - 1970
Level three
- English Independent Project (core)
- Options: Dissertation
- Creative Writing
- English and Current Affairs
- Newspaper Eighteenth Century Journal
- Module Design
- Criticism and Review:
- Editing and Anthologising
- Children's Fantasy Fiction Since 1900
- Fiction in Britain since 1970
- Gender, Sexuality and Writing
- Literature and Culture in Britain 1885-1914
- Contemporary American Narrative
- Gothic Literature
- Moving Words: Travel Writing and Modernity
- Minds, Medicine and Madness
Hear what our students think about their time at UWE.
Why Study English At UWE?
Teaching and learning
We use a variety of traditional and non-traditional methods of teaching: from formal lectures, seminars, and workshops, to one-to-one tutorials. There is also a wide variety of types of assessment: from essays, examinations and dissertations, to bibliographical exercises, research logs, synopses of academic journal articles and oral presentations. It is of significant benefit to the quality of the Department's teaching that seminar numbers are kept to a maximum of fifteen students. In addition each student who comes to us will be allocated their own personal academic tutor (PAT) who they can turn to for individual advice and support concerning any aspect of their course. They will be expected to meet with this tutor three times a year but the tutor will be available through an open-door policy to meet the student whenever s/he is needed. The department also runs the Graduate Development Programme (GDP) which gives the student the opportunity to reflect on his/her own learning, become a more confident and independent student and provides a wealth of transferable skills that will be key in the work place.
There is also a panel of student advisers who offer students academic or personal support, in addition to the university-wide Centre for Student Affairs which provides a range of methods of help, including counselling and careers guidance. Notably, students can access careers advice and support from induction week to three years after they graduate.
Find out more about our academic staff, their teaching expertise and research interests.
Special Features
Placements
We offer you the chance to study abroad in your second year at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Study facilities
Our Library, as you would expect, is very well-stocked with all the books you need. Now, however, you also have access to a wide range of databases that include primary and secondary, critical material such as: LITERATURE ONLINE; EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COLLECTIONS; PROJECT MUSE, OED online etc. You will use both books and databases regularly and so will become competent researchers with skills in data retrieval.
Computing facilities, online learning and support
St Matthias Campus has several general-purpose computer labs, and there are also more at the main Frenchay Campus. Students have free access to email and the Internet, as well as all of the library services. When you have your username and password, you can access a variety of services at home, so you don't need to be on campus to do your research, for example. UWE Blackboard, our virtual learning environment, supports all modules. Material on Blackboard for courses will typically include module information, seminar worksheets, lecture handouts and other supporting material, assignment information, useful websites and chapters from books and journal articles relevant to the texts studied on the modules. This means that you have a variety of resources available to you online, in addition to all that the library can offer. Your email, courses on Blackboard and a variety of other materials can all be accessed via the myuwe portal, making life much easier for you.
Careers/further study
In the course of studying English at UWE, you will acquire not only an appreciation and critical understanding of the subject area, but a number of the transferable skills valued by employers. Recent graduates have gone on to careers in teaching, IT, the law, broadcasting, the tourism industry, and many more.
English as a degree course continues to be highly regarded: it is the only non-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subject that consistently registers in the top 10 degrees and so is well-recognised by employers for producing well-rounded, open-minded graduates with key transferable skills and a broad knowledge base that enables them to enter a variety of rewarding careers.
Work experience
The opportunity for students to reflect upon work experience forms one of the exciting new options of the third year English Independent Project, a course that enhances and consolidates both the academic and employability skills developed throughout the degree. In addition, there are opportunities on some third year courses for students to acquire skills relating to textual editing and digitisation for the internet. These courses provide students with career-based skills, not only for publishing houses, but also in marketing, the media and in advertising. English students can also get involved with Student Union media and write for the UWE student newspaper, The Western Eye. Students will be given the chance to gain work experience in the Heritage industry as part of The Mapping Literary Bristol Project which is run from the English Department.
On graduation, English students have the opportunity to apply for an internship working on an academic journal run by a member of the teaching team. This will give students valuable and unique work experience in the publishing industry and related fields.
Graduate destinations
Find out what our graduates are doing six months after graduating- includes examples of careers, employers and further study. Download a PDF from graduate destinations.
Creating employable students
UWE places strong emphasis on employability and skills development at every level. Through work placements, volunteering, study abroad and UWE initiatives which nurture talent and encourage innovation, students gain valuable real world experience and graduate with diverse career opportunities and a competitive place in the job market.
See great graduate prospects for further information.
Be inspired
Read about Sean's ambition to make a living as a writer.
Read about Victoria's experience of getting a job with well-known publisher Random House.
Useful links
UWE - careers in journalism and writing
Prospects - careers in publishing
The UWE careers service provides guidance and support throughout your studies in addition to useful resources, CV checks, career coaching and details of current job vacancies.
Entry
Typical offers
- Tariff points: 320
- GCSE: English Language at grade C or above required.
- Specific subjects: English
- Relevant subjects: Arts, Social Science
- Access: Achievement of the Access to HE Diploma; achievement of level 2 credits in English Language.
Advice on typical offers
In addition to the 'typical offer' given here, please read the general information about entry requirements.
The department values variety among its students, is committed to widening access and welcomes applications from people from all backgrounds, including non-standard and mature applicants.
How to apply
Please see the general information about
applications.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011