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Introduction
Why choose this course?
Key features
 Learn from world-renowned academics and internationally-acclaimed guest speakers who have previously included writers Kate Forsyth and Carol Ann Duffy.
 Select a route through this degree in Creative Writing, Drama, Education, English Language, Film, History, Journalism or Media. These carefully chosen routes will complement and enrich your understanding of your main subject, alongside broadening your skillset to give you a wider range of career paths available upon graduation.
 90% of students were satisfied overall with the course (National Student Survey, 2022).
 Explore print and digital humanities and learn to use a hand printing press or gain practical training in programming language HTML through options to explore the production of literary texts from our Centre for Textual Studies.
 Experience a range of teaching activities and a variety of assessment methods, ensuring your learning remains dynamic and enabling you to develop a broader range of skills.
 Gain valuable workplace experience through placement and internship opportunities. Our students have worked with the National Space Centre, the English Association, Age Concern, the Leicester Mercury, and local schools and colleges.
 Develop a range of transferable skills that make English graduates extremely employable and sought after in the workplace, find out more. Our graduates succeed in wide-ranging careers with big names that include Penguin Random House, HomeStyle magazine, the BBC and Pan Macmillan.
 Benefit from Education 2030, where a simplified ‘block learning’ timetable means you will study one subject at a time and have more time to engage with your learning, receive faster feedback and enjoy a better study-life balance.
Overview
Study an exciting range of literature in English, from writers across the globe and on subjects including the novel, Victorian and Romantic literature, Shakespeare, text technologies and modernism. Learn how texts work, and debate literature’s role in society both now and throughout history, whilst developing skills in critical analysis, creative thinking and research. You can select a route through this degree in Creative Writing, Drama, Education, English Language, Film, History, Journalism or Media.
By studying English Literature at DMU you’ll join a lively and welcoming academic community – a group of people who are friendly, supportive and passionate about literature. You’ll receive excellent teaching from internationally-renowned academics and will be taught to articulate your ideas with confidence while writing with fluency and flair.
We’re proud that our English Literature graduates enter a wide range of professions including media, marketing, publishing, teaching, public relations and the civil service.
Modules
Entry Criteria
ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.
IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.
Entry criteria
Typical entry requirements
 112 points from at least 2 A'levels
 BTEC Extended Diploma DMM
 International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points or
 T Levels Merit
Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.
 Pass Access with 30 level 3 credits at Merit and GCSE English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.
We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.
 We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above
Interview required: No
English language requirements
If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.
English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.
First year
Block 1: Approaches to Reading and Writing
Block 2: Introduction to the Novel
Block 3: Introduction to Drama: Shakespeare OR you can select to study one route from the list below:
 Creative Writing route – Writers Salon
 Drama route – Shifting Stages
 Education route – Childhood, Social Justice and Education
 English Language route - Evolving Language
 Film Studies route – Disney, Warner Bros and the Business of the Film Studio
 History route – Global Cities
 Journalism route – Understanding Journalism
 Media route - Media, Culture and Society
Block 4: Poetry and Society
Second year
Block 1: Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature
Block 2: Romantic and Victorian Literature
Block 3: Text Technologies OR continue with the route selected in the first year:
 Creative Writing route – Story Craft
 Drama route – Theatre Revolutions
 Education route – Preparing for Professional Practice and Cultural and Educational Transformations
 English Language route - Sociolinguistics
 Film Studies route – Screen Archives - Preservation, Conservation and Usage
 History route – Humans and the Natural World
 Journalism route – Beyond News: Peace journalism and Opinion Writing
 Media route – Public Relations and Strategic Communication
Block 4: Screen and Literary Adaptations of The Classics
Third year
Year Long: Dissertation
Block 2: Remediating Texts
Block 3: World Englishes: On the Page and Beyond OR continue with the route selected in the first year:
 Creative Writing route – Uncreative Writing, Creative Misbehavior
 Drama route – Performance, Identity and Activism
 Education route – Adult Learners and Lifelong Learning OR Reflection on Practice: Teaching and Learning OR Gender and Education
 English Language route – Language and Identity
 Film Studies route – British Cinema - Creativity, Independents and Interdependence
 History route – The World on Display
 Journalism route – Music, Film and Entertainment Journalism
 Media route – Gender and TV Fictions
Block 4: Modernism and Magazines
Assessment
ASSESSMENT METHODS
1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview
Teaching and assessments
You will be taught by internationally-recognised academics who are friendly, approachable and experts in their fields. There are opportunities to attend guest lectures by exciting writers and thinkers; previous speakers include Simon Armitage, Andrew Davies (screenwriter), Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Andrew Motion and Benjamin Zephaniah. You will learn to write fluently and persuasively, to articulate complex ideas and arguments, to research topics comprehensively and to challenge existing opinions.
The first year expands your knowledge of the major literary genres (poetry, drama, fiction) and develops foundational skills in research, writing and critical analysis. It also introduces you to adaptation studies – an area of study bridging English and other media, including film and television, which you can study in each year of your course at DMU if you choose.
The second year broadens your understanding of the development of English literature through time. You will also develop your awareness of text production and learn to apply digital skills.
The third year allows you to build on the knowledge already gained to pursue your own interests within the taught modules and through your dissertation.
You will be learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, group tutorials, presentations, student-led seminars and reading groups. Teaching sessions might be structured around discussion, a film screening or based in a computer lab. You will complete reading and research in advance and join in conversation with your tutor and your peers. Individual tutorials with module tutors are available in weekly ‘office hours’, at which you can discuss any aspect of your course or get help with assignments. You will experience varied forms of assessment, including essays, presentations, preparation worksheets, journals, examinations, practical work (such as the production of a sonnet using a replica of a sixteenth-century printing press), website production, peer evaluation, creative work, self-evaluation, blogs and dissertation. This range of assessment methods will enable you to develop a broad spectrum of communication and technological skills, alongside an ability to think critically, independently, flexibly and imaginatively.
You will be supported by a personal tutor with access to specialist guidance in writing and study skills. Our postgraduate students also run a popular peer mentoring scheme providing friendly and informal advice for undergraduate students in English at DMU.
Contact hours
In your first year you will normally attend around 7 hours of timetabled taught sessions (workshops and seminars) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 30 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.
Career Opportunities
Placements
This course gives you the option to enhance and build your professional skills to progress within your chosen career, through a placement. Our dedicated team offers a range of careers resources and opportunities so you can start planning your future.
Rubyna Cassam secured a placement with Penguin Random House in London. She gained invaluable knowledge of the publishing world, from creating presentations for new book releases and producing spreadsheets of international sales figures, to contacting buyers about merchandise and attending marketing meetings about the London and Frankfurt book fairs.
DMU Global
Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich studies, broaden cultural horizons and develop key skills valued by employers.
Through DMU Global, we offer an exciting mix of overseas, on-campus and online international experiences, including the opportunity to study or work abroad for up to a year.
Students on this course have undertaken exciting opportunities to study overseas in Tokyo, Japan, and Vancouver Island in Canada.
Graduate careers
English Literature graduates are eminently employable because of their highly developed communication and reasoning skills and their ability to work independently and as part of a group.
Our graduates go on to work in careers in a variety of areas such as archival work, the media, the civil service, marketing, journalism, the arts, library services, teaching English as a foreign language and public relations. Graduates have earned roles such as Associate Producer at the BBC, Picture Book Editor at Pan Macmillan and a Senior Press Officer in the Children's Department at Penguin Random House. Graduates also have the opportunity to undertake further studies at DMU.
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