BA English Literature

Course description

We seek to foster your love of literature and the creative arts, including film and theatre, so you graduate with a real understanding and appreciation of the subject area. You’ll have the opportunity to study texts from Old English to the present day, and you’ll be invited to participate in new research areas such as Animal Studies and the Environmental Humanities.

Our core module in the first year, Renaissance to Revolution, is the starting point for the chronological study of literature which is central to our Sheffield degree. You’ll be able to choose from a wide selection of optional modules, including Studying Theatre, Introduction to Cinema, Creative Writing and Early Englishes. As well as representing the varied areas of study available within the School, all first year modules provide degree-level study skills to help you expand your knowledge and develop as a scholar.

In your second year, your core modules build on the experience of year one, completing the chronological spine to your degree and equipping you with complex critical and theoretical approaches to unlock the study of English literary cultures in all their forms. There are also options to extend your core studies, which can be based on single authors, genres or literary movements, reflecting the cutting-edge of research.

There are no core requirements in your final year. You choose from modules based on research-led teaching and will engage in focused, in-depth work with tutors who are experts in their field. You’ll also have the opportunity to complete a final year dissertation on a topic of your own choice, with the support of a dedicated supervisor.

Modules

Over the course of each academic year at Sheffield, you will need to study modules that equate to the value of 120 credits. Some of these credits will be taken up by our core modules, which are designed to give you the breadth of knowledge and ways of thinking necessary to the degree being awarded.

For your remaining credits, you will be able to choose from an extensive range of optional modules, allowing you to shape your degree to the topics that interest you.

Entry requirements

The A Level entry requirements for this course are:
AAB
typically including an Arts and Humanities subject

A Levels + additional qualifications ABB, typically including an Arts and Humanities subject + B in the EPQ

International Baccalaureate 34, typically including 5 in a Higher Level Arts and Humanities subject

BTEC Extended Diploma DDD in a relevant subject

Scottish Highers + 1 Advanced Higher AAABB + B, typically in an Arts and Humanities subject

Welsh Baccalaureate + 2 A Levels B + AA, typically including an Arts and Humanities subject

Access to HE Diploma 60 credits overall in a relevant subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 36 credits at Distinction and 9 credits at Merit

English language requirements | 

You must demonstrate that your English is good enough for you to successfully complete your course. For this course we require: GCSE English Language at grade 4/C; IELTS grade of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each component; or an alternative acceptable English language qualification

Fees and funding

Fees

Applications for places on courses starting the following September (except Medicine and Dentistry) should be submitted to UCAS between:

• 1 September and 25 January to be guaranteed equal consideration with other applicants
• 26 January and 30 June for further consideration, although we may not be able to consider your application if all the places on the course you’ve applied for have been filled

Applications for places on Medicine and Dentistry courses must be submitted between 1 September and 15 October.