During your first year, you will develop core skills to be employed throughout the rest of your degree. You also have the opportunity to take some modules outside your core subject of English literature – and even to learn a new language, for free.
You will study a range of additional, optional modules which will allow you to specialise in areas of literary study that most interest and stimulate you.
As a second-year student you will choose core modules which broaden and deepen your knowledge and skills gained in Year 1.
In your final year of study, you will specialise even further by taking modules relating specifically to the areas of English literary research in which your lecturers are engaged and in which they publish. This will allow you to develop knowledge in areas which most appeal to you.
The Advanced Options modules offer intensive, small-group teaching in a specialised area of study. They are designed to build on the work you have done in Year 2, and to extend and deepen your knowledge, analytical skills and appreciation of yourself as a critic.
In addition, you must choose either:
- Contemporary Literature (Synoptic), or
- Dissertation Module.
A dissertation is recommended if you are hoping to continue your studies at postgraduate level. If there is a particular topic or approach which is not included in the English degree course and which you would like to cover, it is possible to undertake further independent study in the form of a dissertation or project.
Study modules
Throughout your studies you will have a wide choice of modules, allowing you to pursue your interests. We regularly review and update the modules we offer, so it is possible that the options available to you will differ slightly from those listed here.
Year 1
Modules include:
- Culture, Criticism, Literature 1 & 2 **
- Shakespeare**
- Critical Theory In Action*
(**Compulsory for single and combined honours; *compulsory for single honours.)
You will also have the opportunity to add modules from the following:
- World Literature
- Creative Writing
- Approaches to Performance
- Texts in Performance
Years 2 and 3
As a second-year student you will be able to choose between the following compulsory core modules, which broaden and deepen your knowledge and skills gained in Year 1.
- Landscape and Mindscapes*
- American Vistas*
- Culture, Crime and Transgression*
- The Culture of Modernity*
(*Core modules of which single honours students must choose at least two, and combined honours students must choose at least one.)
Alongside your compulsory modules, you will have the opportunity to choose from a range of options which enable you to begin specialising in the areas of literary study that most interest you. These options change from year to year but include:
- Tragedy
- Renaissance Love Poetry
- Creative Writing
- Literature and Psychoanalysis
- Witchcraft and Magic in Literature
- Satire
- The Pre-Raphaelites and the Victorian Literary Imagination
- WWW: Wired Writing Worlds
- Post-War American Fiction
- Possible Worlds: Science Fiction
- Victorian Poetry
- Avant-Garde Poetries
- Independent Study in English Studies
- Work Placement in English
In your final year of study, you will specialise even further by taking optional modules related specifically to the areas of English literary research in which your lecturers are engaged and in which they publish.
Contemporary Literature (Synoptic Module)
This module explores literature of the last ten years, and considers how issues directly relevant to students’ lives such as globalisation, post-9/11 culture, and digitalisation are being debated in literary texts.
Advanced Options modules
These options offer you the opportunity to develop deep knowledge through working with experts on research-led topics. Single honours students can choose up to three options; combined honours students can choose up to two. Options change each year, and include:
- African-American Avant-Gardes
- The Theatrical City
- The Middlebrow Novel
- Literature, Technology, Culture
- Postcolonial Writing
- Literature and Madness
- Creative Writing
- The Gendered Self
- Ecology and Romanticism
- The Victorian Supernatural
- American Modernism
- Utopian/Dystopian Writing
Dissertation Module
You will work one-to-one with a specialist lecturer to devise, research and write a 10,000-word project. The topic is entirely of your own choosing, and tests all the skills of literary research, critical reading, time management, planning and focused writing that you have learned over the course of your studies. You may use the dissertation as an opportunity to focus on a familiar area, or to address a subject not covered by the curriculum. Combined honours students have the option of writing a dissertation which embraces both their chosen subject areas.
Modules in detail » Module diagrams »
Work placements
You can explore possible careers in the Work Placement Module and gain valuable work experience while earning credit towards your degree. You will build on the skills and knowledge you have gained to engage with professionals in the fields of publishing, journalism, education, cultural heritage and literary history.
Recent placements have included the Oxford Story Museum, the Oxford Literary Festival and Oxfam.
Students organise placements themselves, and Oxford Brookes Careers Centre is on hand to provide students with assistance in finding their own placements. Students are responsible for their own travel and associated costs, therefore it is advised that they organise placements bearing this in mind. Oxfordshire based placements, such as at Pegasus Theatre, are accessible via public transport – a trip which is included on the Brookes Bus route, whilst placements in London will incur higher travel costs. It is encouraged that students explore opportunities for their placement provider to cover travel costs if they opt for a placement which is not local.
Study abroad
The English programme has links with many universities across the world, and you can spend a semester experiencing another country and culture. Our students have studied at our partner universities in Australia, the United States, Canada, and English-speaking universities in Norway and Denmark.
Tuition fees are paid as they would be if you remained in the UK, either to Oxford Brookes via your Student Loan or directly to Oxford Brookes according to your preference.
You will be responsible for all other costs such as accommodation, purchasing your airfares, travel and health insurance and visas.
Find out more about studying abroad here.
Free language courses for students - the Open Module
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
Please note that the free language courses are not available if you are:
- studying at a Brookes partner college
- studying on any of our teacher education courses or postgraduate education courses.
Additional costs
We do not expect students to purchase any compulsory course books, as they are all available in the library. If students wish to purchase additional books to supplement their reading, this is at their own discretion.
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.