English (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)

About the course

The English degree at DMU offers an exciting combination of traditional and innovative modules, from Chaucer and Shakespeare, to contemporary literature and film adaptations.

Reasons to study an English BA (Hons) degree course at DMU

• World-leading research ranked 9th in the entire UK

• Overall score of 4.5 out of 5 in the National Student Satisfaction Survey (2011), including high scores for Teaching Quality, Academic Support and Student Development

• Theatre visits; opportunities to meet visiting writers; a student English Society

As well as regular film showings of literary adaptations and theatre visits, you have the opportunity to meet writers such as screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Little Dorrit), poets Jackie Kay, Simon Armitage and Andrew Motion, and novelist Louis de Bernière, one of our honorary graduates. There is also a student English society which organises events such as poetry readings.

Joint Honours combinations allow you to pursue complementary paths of study in two disciplines, developing common threads and enhancing specific skills through shared learning.

You are given considerable guidance in the early stages of the course (including the services of our Academic Guidance team) and are gradually encouraged to become more independent in your research and learning.

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Key facts

UCAS course code:

English and

• Creative Writing: WQ83
• Drama Studies: QWJ4
• Education Studies: QX33
• English Language: Q390
• Film Studies: WQ63
• History: QV31
• Journalism: PQ53
• Media: PQ33

Duration: Three years full-time/six years part-time

Institution code: D26

Entry and admission criteria

2013

• Normally 260 points with a minimum of 160 points from 2 full A levels and including grade C or above in English Language or Literature
• National Diploma DMM and a grade C or above in A level English Language or Literature
• Five GCSEs at grade A*–C including English Language or Literature at grade C or above. We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English at grade C or above
• International Baccalaureate: 28+ Points

Interview required: No

Additional course specific requirements

BA (Hons) English and Journalism (PQ53)
We would expect to see an interest in journalism and current affairs.

International Students

If English is not your first language, an IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent when you start the course is essential. English language tuition| is available at DMU both before and during the course if required.

Teaching and assessment

This course is taught by a team of internationally-renowned scholars and uses varied teaching methods, including lectures, seminars, workshops, and one-to-one tutorials, as we seek to foster high level skills in reading, writing and reasoning, ready for your entry into the world of work. Students normally have eight to ten hours of contact time per week, with each course usually consisting of one lecture and one seminar per week or one two-hour workshop.

Assessment includes essays, presentations, journals, examinations, anthologies, and creative work. The range of assessment methods means that you will develop a broad spectrum of communication skills alongside an ability to think critically, independently, flexibly and imaginatively. Students are in addition kept up-to-date through Blackboard, our interactive teaching resource. We also have an open door Academic Guidance Centre.

Course modules

Year one modules|

• Introduction to the Novel
• Poetry and Society

Year two modules|

• History of English: Medieval to Augustan Literature (compulsory)
• Romantic and Victorian Literature
• Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature
• Ways of Reading
• Rewriting Film and Literature

Year three modules|

• Dissertation (compulsory)*
• British Drama 1956 to the Present
• Contemporary Poetry
• Modernism and Modernity
• Postcolonialism
• Shakespeare and Marlowe
• Studies in Literature and Film
• The Working Class in Literature and Film
• Writing the Self

Joint honours degree students will study choose available modules from 50% of one subject and 50% of another.

*As a Joint Honours student you can choose to do your dissertation in English or your other subject.

Academic expertise

There are 14 full-time members of staff|, including young scholars and established researchers, who form distinctive research clusters in the following areas:

• Women’s Writing; Literature on Screen
• Textual Studies (electronic publishing, history of the book, bibliographical studies); Early Modern Literature and Culture
• Modernism
• Romanticism
• 19th Century Literature and Society
• Critical Theory and the History of Criticism

Four major international journals are edited within the department:

• Adaptation (OUP)
• Journal of Browning Studies (Browning Society)
• Literature and History (Manchester University Press)
• Shakespeare (Routledge)

A major series of undergraduate guides to literature is co-edited within the department:

• Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature (Edinburgh University Press)

A number of staff publications have had an international impact upon the academic community and have helped to shape English in new and distinctive ways.

Joint degree options

• Creative Writing (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• Journalism (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• Education Studies Joint Honours
• English Language (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• Drama Studies (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• Film Studies (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• History (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)
• Media (Joint Honours) BA (Hons)

Graduate careers

English graduates are highly employable, with 84 per cent of recent graduates finding employment or going on to further study within six months of their degree (2009). Our graduates go into a wide range of careers including banking, charity work, the civil service, library services, marketing, the media, public relations, publishing, primary and secondary teaching, and postgraduate study.

Fees and funding

2013 entry

UK/EU Fees: £9000
International Fees: TBC

Learn more about fees and funding information 2013|

Scholarships

Learn more about our Undergraduate scholarships and awards| information.