English Literature
MA or PGDip or PGCert
Start dates: September 2025
Full time: PGCert: 4 months, PGDip: 9 months, MA: 12 months
Part time: PGCert: 2 semesters, PGDip: 3 semesters, MA: 24 months
Location: Headington
Department(s): School of Education, Humanities and Languages
Overview
Are you ready to take your love of English literature to a higher level?
On the MA English Literature course at Oxford Brookes, you’ll explore everything from Elizabethan lyrics to New York stories. You’ll consider social issues such as gender, sexuality, and mental health through a literary lens. Your dissertation will enable you to explore an area you’re fascinated by, with expert support. On top of that, you’ll study in one of the world’s great literary cities.
We are a close-knit community. We prioritise small teaching groups, the sharing of ideas, and mature dialogue. Problem solving and critical thinking are key features of the course. Our staff are internationally recognised experts, meaning that you’ll be supported by specialists in most areas of English literature.
You’ll graduate with a greatly enhanced understanding of English literature, as well as critical thinking and research tools to thrive in any future career.
We like to give students the opportunity to showcase their work when applying for this course. Please include a writing sample with your application.
Why Oxford Brookes University?
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Trained writers
Our academic staff are respected in their fields and have broad writing experience.
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Course flexibility
Create your own specialist pathway based around your specific interests.
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Research communities
Benefit from a programme of conferences, public events, and lectures.
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Small group seminars
These help to build trust among peers and tutors.
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The Bodleian Library
You’ll gain full reader access to the world-renowned Bodleian Library.
Course details
Study modules
On the MA, you’ll take a total of four modules, including:
- one compulsory core module
- two elective modules
- a dissertation.
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Research
The School of Education, Humanities and Languages has several collaborative research communities, including:
- The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre
- Materialities
- Networks and localities
- Memory and life-writing
- The Oxford Brookes language and discourse.
We support our doctoral students and encourage wide participation both through our partnerships and our busy programme of conferences, public events and lectures.
Research students are supervised by a team of tutors, including a director of studies and at least one other supervisor.
Research supervision is offered in the following areas:
- Romantic writing
- Contemporary literature
- The pre-raphaelites
- American literature avant-garde writing
- Witchcraft in the 19th century
- John Clare and eco-criticism
- Ben Jonson
- Shakespeare
- Theatre and science
- Utopias
- Thomas More
- Modernist Poetry
- Stylistics
- Victorian religion
- Literature and technology
- Literature as therapy
- Literature and war.
Careers
Our graduates are highly valued by employers for their creative, research, and critical thinking skills. They go on to work in various sectors of the economy including:
- PR, marketing and communications
- NGOs and charities
- research
- teaching
- higher education
- publishing
- media and journalism.
In recent years, MA English Literature graduates have gone on to work for companies and organisations such as:
- The British Museum
- Better Pathways
- the Chartered Institute for IT
- Blue Zoo Animation Studio.
Student profiles
Our Staff
Dr Eric White
Eric White works on American modernism in the transatlantic context, and his research focuses on avant-garde writing, literary networks, and technology
Read more about EricProfessor Nicole Pohl
Nicole Pohl has published and edited books on women's utopian writing in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, European salons and epistolarity.
Read more about NicoleEntry requirements
Specific entry requirements
You should normally hold a lower second-class honours degree, or its equivalent, in English Literature or a related subject.
You also need to provide a writing sample; it should showcase your writing at its best. For many the sample would consist of an advanced-level undergraduate essay that features:
- Close engagement with primary sources (literary texts and/or other evidence)
- Critical engagement with secondary sources (scholarly criticism, and/or theory, where appropriate)
- A formal scholarly apparatus (notes, bibliography, works cited, etc).
If the above is not an option for you, then we're happy for you to submit one of these alternatives:
- A piece of professional writing that engages with academic study or other research
- A review of a literary work you have read recently, which makes use of current literary criticism/academic sources about the writer(s).
The sample should be 1500-2500 words, but if you use a longer piece - highlight the 2500 words you want us to focus on.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language you will need to provide certification of your English language proficiency. For this course you will need an IELTS score of at least 7, with at least 6.0 in each element.
Please also see the University's standard English language requirements.
Pathways courses for international and EU students
We offer a range of courses to help you meet the entry requirements for your postgraduate course and also familiarise you with university life in the UK.
Take a Pre-Master's course to develop your subject knowledge, study skills and academic language level in preparation for your master's course.
If you need to improve your English language, we offer pre-sessional English language courses to help you meet the English language requirements of your chosen master’s course.
English requirements for visas
If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
International qualifications and equivalences
How to apply
Application process
All applicants should send their writing sample in English – together with the application form.
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Fees quoted are for the first year only. If you are studying a course that lasts longer than one year, your fees will increase each year.
The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.
How and when to pay
Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.
- For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
- For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page
Financial support and scholarships
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences believes strongly in the importance of making a difference to the world of our students, and in the ability and potential of our students to make a difference in the world. The Dean's Scholarship is one small way in which we make that belief tangible.
International students can apply for our International Students Scholarship.
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.