Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - English Literature (with Foundation Year)

The combined 4 year programme allows students with lower academic marks, or whose qualifications are not equivalent to British A Levels, to gain the necessary qualifications to proceed to undergraduate study. After completing the Foundation Year, students will be eligible to progress to a number of University of Chester undergraduate programmes. Students will study an exciting variety of novels, poems and plays. Students might find themselves looking for the psychological undercurrents in a fantasy novel, applying feminist theory to a Renaissance courtly sonnet, studying the motif of the vampire in Gothic horror or exploring the treatment of love in the comedies of Shakespeare. There's the chance to write a dissertation on a topic of their choosing. Students will develop key skills for the future: the students learn how to frame a convincing argument, express it in discussion, analyse writing in all styles and work effectively independently. At Chester, they offer an engaging and supportive atmosphere in which ideas about literature are shared. Students' contact hours will include individual tutorials with lecturers, seminars with other students and a tutor, and lectures attended by their whole year. Group discussion is at the heart of the degree. At Chester, they offer a wide range of assessment: as well as writing essays and sitting exams, students can gain marks for private study projects, oral presentations and creative writing depending on the options you choose. Students can opt to study film as well as literature, or to link literature to wider issues like crime, fashion and science. Students can customize their degree as they progress, so by the third year they might be taking several optional modules as well as working on a dissertation project which students have created and where they work individually with a lecturer.