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Glasgow Uni English Lang/Lit questions

Hi, I am interested in studying English Language/English Literature in Glasgow and I have some questions, so anyone studying that course in Glasgow (Q304), please enlighten me! :P

1) Is it a joint honours degree? (I couldn't quite understand from the website..)
2) Would I have to write one or two dissertations?
3) What is the course like in general? Is it very demanding?
Hi,

At Glasgow you're admitted to a College rather than a particular course. It's a very simple process but can seem kind of odd at first, especially as you're asked to apply for a particular degree subject to begin with.

If you apply for English Literature/Language, and you are accepted, you will become a student in the College of Arts. In first year you study three subjects, normally consisting of the subject you applied for and two others of your choosing (or in your case just one other as you're a joint honours student). In theory there's nothing stopping you studying three entirely different subjects to those you applied to study intitially (although you'd need to clear this with your course advisor). I imagine it's rare for people to do that, but i'm just trying to connect the rather liberal attitude the university takes to this kind of thing - there are numerous opportunities to chop and change throughout your degree. I didn't study English myself, but i think i'm right in saying that if you want to qualify for honours (Years 3 and 4) you have to study both English Lit and Lang at Year 1 (and possibly Year 2 as well?) You'll have a meeting with an advisor before you start and they'll explain the process to you in more detail and let you know your options. I originally applied for Philosophy & Politics and took History as my third subject on a whim. I ended up enjoying that the most and I'm now studying a single honours History degree :smile:

As for the disseration, you only write one. If you're doing a joint honours you pick which subject you want to write your dissertation in.
Graduation day, University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
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Reply 2
Original post by European Son
Hi,

At Glasgow you're admitted to a College rather than a particular course. It's a very simple process but can seem kind of odd at first, especially as you're asked to apply for a particular degree subject to begin with.

If you apply for English Literature/Language, and you are accepted, you will become a student in the College of Arts. In first year you study three subjects, normally consisting of the subject you applied for and two others of your choosing (or in your case just one other as you're a joint honours student). In theory there's nothing stopping you studying three entirely different subjects to those you applied to study intitially (although you'd need to clear this with your course advisor). I imagine it's rare for people to do that, but i'm just trying to connect the rather liberal attitude the university takes to this kind of thing - there are numerous opportunities to chop and change throughout your degree. I didn't study English myself, but i think i'm right in saying that if you want to qualify for honours (Years 3 and 4) you have to study both English Lit and Lang at Year 1 (and possibly Year 2 as well?) You'll have a meeting with an advisor before you start and they'll explain the process to you in more detail and let you know your options. I originally applied for Philosophy & Politics and took History as my third subject on a whim. I ended up enjoying that the most and I'm now studying a single honours History degree :smile:

As for the disseration, you only write one. If you're doing a joint honours you pick which subject you want to write your dissertation in.


this was really helpful, thank you!!!! :smile:
I'm a bit late, but I figured I could chime in. To start, this page can explains the structure of joint honours programmes: http://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/choosingyourdegree/artssciencesocialsciences/arts/
I'm currently doing English language, and as a part of my degree I had to do English literature as well in the first year. Thus, all first year English literature students (unless they have do joint honours or postpone it until the following year year) will have to do English language as well. So your first year will be no different from the single honours students' experiences in these subjects. In general, I wouldn't say the linguistics courses are too hard or demanding. The first year contains several tiny courses covering all different aspects of the field, from Old English to pragmatics. Year one and two of linguistics are basically there to give you a taste of what there is to specialise in later on. However, English literature is a lot more fast paced and requires different skill sets and lots of time spent reading. You will also have to do readings in critical theory, which can be very boring and seemingly irrelevant to your books and poems. I personally found the poetry course very boring (first semester), but loved reading Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein in semester two. The key here is to read ahead, highlight/summarise, ask questions to your tutor and find possible points of analysis common between books and critical essays. Linguistics is more about hammering in facts with a more superficial level of analysis.
Reply 4
Original post by IlluminatedRain
I'm a bit late, but I figured I could chime in. To start, this page can explains the structure of joint honours programmes: http://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/choosingyourdegree/artssciencesocialsciences/arts/
I'm currently doing English language, and as a part of my degree I had to do English literature as well in the first year. Thus, all first year English literature students (unless they have do joint honours or postpone it until the following year year) will have to do English language as well. So your first year will be no different from the single honours students' experiences in these subjects. In general, I wouldn't say the linguistics courses are too hard or demanding. The first year contains several tiny courses covering all different aspects of the field, from Old English to pragmatics. Year one and two of linguistics are basically there to give you a taste of what there is to specialise in later on. However, English literature is a lot more fast paced and requires different skill sets and lots of time spent reading. You will also have to do readings in critical theory, which can be very boring and seemingly irrelevant to your books and poems. I personally found the poetry course very boring (first semester), but loved reading Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein in semester two. The key here is to read ahead, highlight/summarise, ask questions to your tutor and find possible points of analysis common between books and critical essays. Linguistics is more about hammering in facts with a more superficial level of analysis.


Thanks a lot!!! Do we have to buy and/or read the books on the reading list for 1st semester before the semester actually starts? And the books for 2nd semester before 2nd semester starts?
Original post by Austenlover
Thanks a lot!!! Do we have to buy and/or read the books on the reading list for 1st semester before the semester actually starts? And the books for 2nd semester before 2nd semester starts?


You will have to buy two very thick books for the poetry course, once with a wide selection of poems, and one filled with critical essays. You do not need to read these entire books at all, but you will get selected works and chapters to read for your seminars. You will probably also read Romeo and Juliet during your November week off, before the seminar on it is scheduled. For semester two, it is useful if you read ahead during the winter holiday, but you don't need to have read them all before the course at all. There's plenty of time to do that during the actual course, and you kind of need to know the order of the books studied to do that. I think we started off with Jane Eyre.
Reply 6
Original post by IlluminatedRain
You will have to buy two very thick books for the poetry course, once with a wide selection of poems, and one filled with critical essays. You do not need to read these entire books at all, but you will get selected works and chapters to read for your seminars. You will probably also read Romeo and Juliet during your November week off, before the seminar on it is scheduled. For semester two, it is useful if you read ahead during the winter holiday, but you don't need to have read them all before the course at all. There's plenty of time to do that during the actual course, and you kind of need to know the order of the books studied to do that. I think we started off with Jane Eyre.


I feel so much better now, thanks A LOT!!!!!!!!!! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

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