English Literature MA

Program Overview

About the course

This course introduces you to the excitement of cutting-edge research in the discipline of English Literature. You’ll engage with the latest debates in the field and learn to articulate your own position within these. Exploring different genres and periods, you’ll develop a specialist understanding of key areas and ideas.

You’ll be taught by staff with international reputations in their areas of expertise. We’ll introduce you to emerging academic ideas, and ensure your work reflects the latest research. The department is home to the Ted Hughes Network and the Centre for International Contemporary Poetry. We have close links with the Huddersfield Literature Festival and the Cosmia multi-arts festival of science, speculative and fantasy fiction. You’ll be part of a vibrant and exciting postgraduate and scholarly community, sharing your ideas with fellow researchers at our regular events.

The MA English Literature will teach you to communicate your advanced subject knowledge to a variety of specialist and non-specialist audiences. So you'll be equipped for your future, whether you’re looking to pursue a career in academia or use your subject knowledge and skills in a different context.

Program Outline

Course detail

Modules

Research Methods

This module will introduce you to a range of advanced research skills, research methods and approaches appropriate for postgraduate study in English Literature. The module will also support your professional development, helping you to reflect upon the attributes you will develop through postgraduate study and how you might employ these in a range of professional contexts.

Specialist Study

This module will advance your understanding of English Literature through the in-depth study of one key topic. In the process, you'll develop a sophisticated understanding of cutting-edge research in this area and learn to assert your own position within key debates in this field. The topic will be determined by staff research interests and advertised from spring 2023.

Literature and Engagement

This module will introduce you to the process of taking your work beyond academia through detailed study of one key area of English Literature. You will then learn how to rearticulate and present your subject knowledge in the form of a public-facing resource (such as a digital exhibition, online micro-lecture series or study scheme for A level). This module will help you to recognise the value and transferability of your specialist knowledge within wider cultural and professional contexts. The topic will be determined by staff research interests and advertised from spring 2023.

Research for publication

This module will advance your understanding of research for publication in the field of English Literature. You will employ advanced research skills in the study of one key area of the subject. You'll also consider the process of academic publishing and writing for publication, learning to present your work in a format appropriate for publication in an academic journal. The topic will be determined by staff research interests and advertised from spring 2023.

MA Dissertation

The culmination of your MA studies, the MA dissertation offers you the opportunity to exercise your advanced research skills through the development of a significant piece of independent research, culminating in a written dissertation. You will choose the topic in consultation with a supervisor, who will then guide you through the research process.

Teaching and assessment

During your MA, you will experience a variety of teaching and learning formats, including lectures, workshops, seminars and one-to-one discussions. You’ll work with your peers and your tutors, and have access to the wider postgraduate and academic community.

Our assessment is varied and innovative. You’ll write an extended essay and journal article, produce a portfolio and develop a public-facing resource. You’ll also undertake reflective writing, contributing to your personal and professional development. And in your MA dissertation you’ll showcase the skills and knowledge you have developed throughout the course.

Formative assessment will feed directly into summative assessments. Formatives are the start of your assessment journey and we will support you as you develop your ideas and produce your summative work.

Assessment can be varied to meet specific student needs arising from factors such as a disability; in all such cases the form of assessment will always meet the required learning outcomes for the module in question.

Teaching excellence

1. Triple proof of teaching excellence: our staff rank in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees, and hold teaching qualifications (HESA 2022). So, you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

2. We are joint first in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 20 since 2008 (2022 data).

3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

You will take 180 credits at Master's level: four 30-credit modules and a 60-credit dissertation.