How to study English at uni

I might do English at uni this year but I haven't done it for Alevel. How would you study an English degree and what exactly are you expected to do on a day to day. Also do you tend to study digitally or on paper?

Hi @Bakugo27!

It's great to hear that you're considering studying English at university! What a course looks like - and what you'll do as part of it - varies depending on the exact programme of study you choose (i.e., if you do English Literature, English Language, English and Creative Writing, English Joint Honours etc.). My own experience is with both studying and teaching an English Literature degree programme so anything I say here relates to that.

Teaching on English degree programmes tends to take the form of either lectures and seminars or, increasingly, workshops (which combine elements of lectures and seminars together). During these sessions your tutor will provide you with information about the text you're studying, as well as some critical and contextual contexts (the lecture element). You'll also be encouraged to discuss your own ideas about the text, both with your fellow students in pairs/small groups and with your tutors in larger/whole class discussions (the seminar element). These discussions might involve looking at/thinking about the whole text, or they might involve close reading and analysis of a section of text.

Outside of classes, you'll be doing a LOT of reading. You'll usually have both a primary text to read for each class (which could be a novel, poem, play, short story, or a piece of non-fiction) and may also have some secondary reading (a journal article or book chapter) or preparation activities to undertake (such as watching a film adaptation, thinking about some discussion questions, or annotating an extract).

To help with accessibility, many universities are trying to ensure the texts they set are available in a range of formats and obtainable either cheaply/second hand (lots of students from previous years sell/donate their books to incoming students) or via the university library. Most secondary resources such as journal articles will, for example, be made available to you - so you usually only have to acquire your primary texts for yourself. Your tutors will usually ask that you have either a hard copy of the text for in class, or a fully annotatable e-version but, beyond that, how you choose to read is largely up to you.

In terms of assessment, English is often associated with essays - and English students do usually write those as part of their degree - but assessment methods are becoming increasingly varied. Some courses may still hold exams (although, in my experience, this is quite rare) but I've increasingly seen assessment via annotating/producing digital editions, scene analysis assignments, creating podcast discussions around texts, group/individual presentations, poster presentations, and other formats.

As for what you'll study, that can vary massively. You'll usually have some core modules to cover a 'survey' of English Literature but optional modules are largely focused on tutor interests. So you might find options to study Gothic Literature, Ecocriticism, Children's Literature, or Medieval Women's Writing, for example. You can get an idea of the kind of options available by looking at course webpages. Keele's, for example, can be found at https://www.keele.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/undergraduatecourses/englishliterature.

You might also find this blog post about 'what does an English Literature student actually do' helpful: https://link.unibuddy.co/unibuddy/GZ3S2pcrQDPBZybr5. I wrote it during my MA year at Keele and there are some further links there to our other English Literature courses so you can find out more about them if you're interested (or if you just want to see what different types of courses look like).

Hope that helps!

Amy Louise
PhD English Literature, Keele University