History and English

History and English are fascinating subjects in their own right, but studying them together is excellent interdisciplinary training for analysing and expressing complex ideas and for articulating a deep understanding of texts, historical processes, theories and alternative perspectives. Your training in historical methods will make you particularly astute to the way social and political contexts shape human perception and cultural expression. As a student of literature, you will become more aware of the way in which accounts of historical processes can be shaped by conventions of narrative and drama

Fist, you'll develop an overview of the subject areas via the modules History of English Literature. The first year also focuses on developing your academic writing skills. History's practical applications are explored through the module Creating the Past. In Year 2 you will then progress to more specialised study, on modules such as Romantic Conflicts, Victorian Literature and Culture, Modernism and the City, Britain in the Nineteenth Century and the United States in the twentieth century. In Year 3 you specialise further and select an English or History subject of your choice for more in-depth study, culminating in a dissertation.

This course is as much about knowledge as it is about developing important advanced skills. The course has prided itself on its supportive ethos that recognises the challenges inherent in studying two subjects simultaneously. Our goal is to help you become an independent, critically alert, competent thinker, and a confident, stylish writer and speaker.

You will learn primarily through a combination of lectures, seminars and group work. You are welcome to approach your module lecturer with questions but are also allocated an academic personal tutor to provide guidance on general study issues. You are supported through assignment workshops and personal development plans which help you reflect on your studies and plan for future progress.

As a BA (Hons) History and English student, you will be able to present independent opinions in arguments, support them effectively by relevant evidence and learn to organise and express these well in writing. Your vocabulary will be sophisticated and your thoughts well-judged. You will have shown the ability to plan and carry out individual and group presentations to deadlines and to handle word-processing and presentation packages. Your IT skills will further involve the ability to extract information from and effectively evaluate electronic resources such as academic online databases, blogs, or wikis. Your research skills will involve the ability to collect and select judiciously from a wide range of written material and evaluate its significance.

A substantial proportion of our graduates have gone on to postgraduate study, mainly postgraduate certificates in education. Graduates seeking a career in primary and secondary school teaching have very quickly been offered full-time jobs with on-the-job teacher training in either English or History or both subjects. Our graduates are now in leadership positions in their respective schools and colleges or local authorities. Others have progressed from teaching into education management and special needs support. Graduates also seek careers in journalism, publishing, marketing and PR, in public administration, social work, the caring professions, and in library or museum work.

These are the modules for the last academic year. These are currently under revalidation so some of these modules can be subject to change

Year 1
A History of English Literature from the Present to 1789
A History of English Literature from Equiano to Chaucer
Writing Matters
Reading Literature and Theory
Creating the Past
The Growth of the USA: Race, Politics and Conflict, 1776-1900

Year 2
Romantic Conflicts
Dialogue and Debate: From More to Milton
Modernism and the City
Victorian Literature and Culture
The United States in the Twentieth Century
The British Empire
Britain in the Nineteenth Century
From Welfare State to European State? British Politics and Society, 1906-1975

Year 3
From Communism to Consumerism: Russia since 1917
A Global History of Government and Society, 1945-1999
Adaptations and Afterlives: Art of Rewriting Stories
Contemporary Fiction
Spectacle and Representation in Renaissance Drama
The Era of Thatcher and Blair
Undergraduate Major Project: In History OR in English

Assessment will vary from module to module and is designed to help students develop and demonstrate a range of skills. The most common form of assessment is through an essay, though there will be a few presentations and exams too.