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Programme code | 1ENGL001U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
John Lee
|
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Department of English |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | English (2023) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 3 years (full time) |
The Single Honours English degree is designed to provide a grounding in the general knowledge and understanding of English Literature from the earliest times to the present day. In its engagement with literature of all periods, the Department of English is committed to maintaining a balance between established traditions of literary study and the latest developments in the subject.
The aims of the course are that students should develop reading skills and critical and conceptual awareness, and that they should acquire a sense of the history, chronological development and contexts of literature and of its various phases and modes, without inertly accepting received ideas of literary history, period or genre.
Students are encouraged to read as many of the most widely known authors as possible, while being given opportunities to develop their own interests in particular authors and topics.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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All Years: 1-hour lectures to year groups, providing the intellectual and chronological framework for the discussion of authors / topics / movements / theory in: 1-hour tutorials to groups of up to 8, based around tutor-directed discussion (which may include student-led oral presentations) and, less directly: 2-hour seminars to groups of 10 to 15, based around tutor-directed class discussion, including student-led oral presentations The reading of literary texts and primary critical materials. The amount of guidance given various throughout the course, with students having to become progressively more independent in their research. Year 1: A series of subject specific Library sessions are held, to introduce the students to the Library, its print and electronic resources, and to basic bibliographic techniques. These sessions are integrated within the teaching of the Year 1 'Approaches' units. Years 2 and 3: 2-hour seminars are used for the optional Special Subjects, which allow the students to share in the research activity of academic staff, and through which the students are asked to demonstrate to a particularly high degree their abilities as independent learners. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Formative, sessional, and summative written assessments of varying lengths, from 1,500 word essays on set topics in Year 1, to 4,000 word essays on self-devised topics and 8,000 word dissertations (optional) in Year 3. Formative oral presentations in all three years Sit-down examinations in Years 1 and 2 of 2 hours' duration |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
---|---|
|
All Years: 1-hour lectures to year groups, providing the intellectual and chronological framework for the discussion of authors / topics / movements / theory in: 1-hour tutorials to groups of up to 8, based around tutor-directed discussion (which may include student-led oral presentations) and, less directly: 2-hour seminars to groups of 10 to 15, based around tutor-directed class discussion, including student-led oral presentations The reading of literary texts and primary critical materials. The amount of guidance given various throughout the course, with students having to become progressively more independent in their research. Year 1: A series of subject-specific Library sessions are held, to introduce the students to the Library, its print and electronic resources, and to basic bibliographic techniques. These sessions are integrated within the teaching of the Year 1 'Approaches' units. Years 2 and 3: 2-hour seminars are used for the optional Special Subjects, which allow the students to share in the research activity of academic staff, and through which the students are asked to demonstrate to a particularly high degree their abilities as independent learners. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Formative, sessional, and summative written assessments of varying lengths, from 1,500 word essays on set topics in Year 1, to 4,000 word essays on self-devised topics and 8,000 word dissertations (optional) in Year 3. Formative oral presentations in all three years Sit-down examinations in Years 1 and 2 of 2 hours' duration |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
---|---|
|
1-hour lectures to year groups, providing the intellectual and chronological framework for the discussion of authors / topics / movements / theory in: 1-hour tutorials to groups of up to 8, based around tutor-directed discussion (which may include student-led oral presentations) and, less directly: 2-hour seminars to groups of 10 to 15, based around tutor-directed class discussion, including student-led oral presentations The reading of literary texts and primary critical materials. The amount of guidance given various throughout the course, with students having to become progressively more independent in their research. Year 1: A series of subject-specific Library sessions are held, to introduce the students to the Library, its print and electronic resources, and to basic bibliographic techniques. These sessions are integrated within the teaching of the Year 1 'Approaches' units. Years 2 and 3: 2-hour seminars are used for the optional Special Subjects, which allow the students to share in the research activity of academic staff, and through which the students are asked to demonstrate to a particularly high degree their abilities as independent learners. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Formative, sessional, and summative written assessments of varying lengths, from 1,500 word essays on set topics in Year 1, to 4,000 word essays on self-devised topics and 8,000 word dissertations (optional) in Year 3. Formative oral presentations in all three years Sit-down examinations in Years 1 and 2 of 2 hours' duration |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Year 1 of the course has been expressly designed to lay the foundations which will allow students to fulfil the course's aims and objectives. Students should be beginning to acquire all the skills set out in 15B, and are expected to demonstrate quite a high level of proficiency in 15B.1-6. Likewise, they should be beginning to acquire the knowledge and understanding set out in 15A, and in especial to demonstrate 15A.1-6. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
Further development of these skills and a greater degree of independent learning. As well as demonstrating the skills noted in 15B.1-6, students' work is increasingly expected to demonstrate the skills noted at 15B.7-11. Likewise, their knowledge and understanding should increasingly be seen to demonstrate 15A.7-9. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
Further development of skils and an emphasis on independent learning and research skills. All skills set out in 15B are expected to be demonstrated to a high level of mastery. Knowledge and understanding should demonstrate all of 15A. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Workload Statement
In common with the rest of the University, units in the Faculty of Arts
adhere to the credit framework which sets out that 20 credits normally
equates to some 200 hours of student input. Some of this time will be spent
in class, with the remainder divided between preparation for classes and
preparation for, and completion of, the assessment tasks. Some of this
activity may occur within the University’s online learning environment,
Blackboard, which you may use to prepare wikis, to interact with other
students, to download tutorials or to receive feedback.
Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/current/under/assessment.html
The English Department also does joint programmes:
English and Classical Studies (QV38)
English and Philosophy (QV35)
Drama and English (WQ43)
The Department has special links under the SOCRATES scheme with the University of Bologna (Italy), the University of Paris-Sorbonne (France) and the University Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand (France).
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Critical Issues | ENGL10017 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Approaches to Poetry | ENGL10018 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Approaches to Shakespeare | ENGL10019 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
One from the following: | |||||
Contemporary Writing | ENGL10016 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Introduction to Old English | ENGL10020 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Open Units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Literature 1 (1200-1500) | ENGL20200 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Literature 2 (1500-1700) | ENGL20201 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Two from the following: | |||||
Darkest London | ENGL29026 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
New England's Dreaming: American Literature from Emerson to James | ENGL29025 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Uncanny | ENGL29027 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Arthurian Literature | ENGL29021 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
American Literature: 1945 to Present | ENGL29007 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Paradise Lost: Inception and Reception | ENGL29032 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Satire | ENGL20022 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Dangerous Books | ENGL20023 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Literature and the Sea: The Seafarer to The Shipping News | ENGL20020 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Black British Literature | ENGL20041 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Presenting the Future | ENGL20044 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Transatlantic Women Modernists | ENGL20042 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
War Stories: Women Writers and Conflict from WWI to 9/11 | ENGL20043 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Gender, Desire and the Renaissance Stage | ENGL20206 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Paradise Lost: Inception and Reception | ENGL29032 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Poetry of the 1960s | ENGL20032 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Revenge Tragedy | ENGL29008 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Fairy Tale in English | ENGL20028 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Creative Writing: Poetry | ENGL20051 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Author as Character | ENGL20048 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Queer Writing | ENGL20049 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Business of the Humanities | HUMS20003 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Poet as Witness | ENGL29006 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Contemporary Multi-Ethnic Writing of America | ENGL20019 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Beats & Crazies | ENGL20034 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Rudyard Kipling | ENGL29004 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Performance Histories | DRAM23125 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Politics of Performance | DRAM20048 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Melodrama | DRAM20054 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Popular Performance: Cabaret, Music Hall, Musicals and Revue | DRAM23124 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Performing the Archive: Re-use, Re-enactment and Adaptation | DRAM23129 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Literature 4 (1830-1945) | ENGL30101 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Literature 3 (1700-1830) | ENGL30100 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Two from the following: | |||||
Dissertation (English) | ENGL39024 | 20 | Optional | TB-1,TB-2 | |
Charles Dickens | ENGL39020 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Postcolonial Imaginings | ENGL39025 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Writing for Art | ENGL39019 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Shakespearean Tragedy: Textual and Literary Criticism | ENGL39027 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Freud and Shakespeare | ENGL30028 | 20 | Optional | TB-1,TB-2 | |
Samuel Beckett | ENGL30029 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Public Role of the Humanities | HUMS30001 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Modernism and the Body | ENGL30034 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
James Joyce | ENGL30045 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Prize Culture and Prestige in Contemporary Fiction | ENGL30046 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
American Masculinities | ENGL30048 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Contemporary Literature and Science | ENGL30049 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
U.S. Postmodernist Fiction | ENGL30078 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Victorian Materialities | ENGL30079 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Twentieth-Century Women Writers | ENGL30105 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Literature and Medicine | ENGL39011 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Writing the Self: Literature and Autobiography | ENGL30107 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Aesthetic Possibilities | ENGL39029 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Contemporary British Theatre | DRAM30053 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Translation and Adaptation | DRAM30055 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Beyond the Battlefield: Environment and Conflict | HUMS30002 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Literature and Revolution | ENGL30093 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Illness Narratives | ENGL30089 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
English (BA) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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