BA (Hons) English (Full Time)

Immerse yourself in English Literature from Beowulf to the Booker Prize on this cutting-edge, career-focused course.

Taught by our internationally-respected team of experts, our English degree is an inspiring exploration of the global history and influence of English. There’s also a sharp focus on developing your skills in creative writing, presentation and debate.

Blending creative practice with critical awareness, it equips our graduates with a passion for English literature and the knowledge, skills and experience that employers crave.

Key elements include:

• Three discrete strands: critical/theoretical, practical/creative and employability
• Study trips to support learning, to places such as Venice, Istanbul and Marrakech, and to Jane Austen’s House Museum, Chawton House Library, The British Library and the Globe Theatre
• Opportunity to study abroad for an academic year at one of our European Erasmus partnership universities, on both single or joint honours courses
• Option to study a foreign language - Mandarin, French, Spanish, Italian, German
• Strong student support, with easy access to staff
• A variety of teaching, learning and assessment styles
• Option to take Preparing to Teach English as a Foreign Language course
• Opportunity to supplement learning with a work experience placement.

National Student Survey ratings for overall student satisfaction are high for this course (95% in 2011; amongst the top 18 English degree courses in the UK for student satisfaction in 2012). We also have some excellent student feedback about the inspiring nature of the course and the quality of the teaching.

Industrial focus

Our students are encouraged to develop reflective, analytical and critical skills, and to gain relevant work experience that will enhance their CVs. We have strong links with Solent Creatives, Solent’s in-house creative agency, enabling our students to gain practical work experience on one-off assignments and live creative briefs.

The course equips students with desirable transferable skills for a wide range of careers. Graduates are working in such exciting areas as copy editing, staff writing, prison education, primary and secondary education, charity fundraising, TV, publishing, web design, freelance writing and legal practice. Others have gone on to master’s degrees in Foreign Languages, Critical and Creative Writing, and Writing for Children.

Course content

Year 1

Six core units:

• Key Moments in the History of Literature: Beowulf to the Booker
• Toolbox: Critical, Writing and Presentation Skills
• Adapting the Novel
• Writing and the Literary Industry
• Making and Reading Poetry
• Cultural Fragments.

Year 2

Six core units and two option units:

• Gender Agendas 1 and 2
• Writing for a Living 1 and 2
• Playtexts in Context
• Shakespeare: Script, Stage and Screen.

Options:

• The Eighteenth-Century Novel
• Children’s Literature
• World Poetry in Literature
• Literature of the New World
• Partition Literature
• Gothic
• Curriculum Plus.

Year 3

Three core units and two option units:

• Shock Value: Crises in Literature and Culture in the 20th–21st Century
• Work Experience
• Final-Year Project.

Options:

• Criminal Texts
• World Theatre in English
• Comedy
• Radical Re-readings
• Storytelling
• Writing about Writing
• Shakespeare and the Performer
• The Minority Experience in American Literature
• Travel Writing
• Curriculum Plus.

Why choose Solent?

Exploring literature in English from Beowulf to the twenty-first century, this exciting new single honours degree in English builds on the successes of our popular joint honours English degrees.

We offer a unique blend of the academic with the practical. Our team of respected academics and industry professionals brings the study of literature in English to life, ensuring that you gain the best possible preparation for your future career.

Recent English graduates from Southampton Solent University are now working in fields as diverse as television, charity fundraising, education, professional writing, music journalism, copy editing and postgraduate study.

Blending creative practice with critical awareness, our experienced and highly qualified, diverse teaching team will challenge students to develop a practical toolbox of professional skills that will turn you into potentially valuable employees.

Students have the option of studying abroad for an academic year in one of our partnership European universities, thus increasing their intercultural understanding and employability.

• Explore the significance of the global nature of literature in English
• Discover practical applications for theoretical concepts
• Develop your skills in creative and critical writing, debate and presentation
• Learn a foreign language and/or study abroad for a year as options
• Gain employability skills at all three levels of the degree
• Undertake work experience as an integral part of the course.

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Assessment

In addition to the more traditional essays, examinations, research projects and presentations, students will have opportunities to submit creative writing, journalism, blogs, workbooks and portfolios for assessment. Chaired debates will also form an essential part of the assessment process.

Projects/work experience

Work experience is an integral part of this course and comprises a core unit at Level 6.

Key career skills

Analytical writing, research, creative and critical thinking, presentation, project management, visual communication and problem solving.

Graduate quote

Alice Harding

"The best thing about the course overall is changing your opinion of the way you see things, and the way you think about things. I've changed so much in three years. The support you get from the tutors is amazing. They are enthusiastic and that makes you enthusiastic. They are always available.

"It has given me confidence by learning to give presentations. You don't just learn about English, you learn about history, and you learn to look at things in a completely different way. It develops you completely."

Heather Johnson

"It's hard work, but in a good way. You have lectures and seminars with the same lecturer - unlike some universities, where you don't get that - so you get to build up a real relationship with your lecturers. They are absolutely outstanding. I can't fault them. A lot of my friends at other universities don't understand when I say that I've been for a chat with my lecturer, because they don't have that sort of access to the staff. I've had phone conversations with my lecturers when I'm in a panic - they are always available via email or phone. The skills they can take from an English degree are so transferable in the real world. I could transfer what I've learned on this course to pretty much any job."