Modules
Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
Year one
University English Literature: An Introduction
Year: 1
Status: C
This module offers students a basic introductory guide to literary criticism and interpretation, focusing upon the ways in which the formal structures of poetry, fiction and drama contribute to a diversity of effects and levels of meaning.
Theory and Other Monsters
Year: 1
Status: C
The module offers an introduction to the practice of reading and criticism. It aims to enable students to work with a variety of critical approaches, and to develop an informed awareness of the analytical possibilities available to them as readers and critics.
Writing Matters
Year: 1
Status: C
The module introduces students to various shorter literary genres (literary essay, short story, poem, autobiography / memoir, detective story, science writing, book review and other forms of journalism), exploring questions of genre and examining key themes and issues that have 'mattered' to writers and that have made writing 'matter' from the Renaissance to the present. Students will gain insight into various literary eras, writers, their work, and its contexts; and will further develop their own study, communication, and employability skills.
Year two
Professional and Creative Writing: An Introduction
Year: 2
Status: C
On this module, students actively engage in diverse genres of writing, developing and reflecting on their writing and reading experience in particular genres and for particular audiences, including employers. Reading and critical analysis of sample texts and of texts about each genre are essential elements of the module.
Irish Literature and Society: An Introduction
Year: 2
Status: C
An introduction to some of the key texts and themes of the Irish literary tradition, this module places the texts in their social, historical, and political contexts. Reading a selection of fiction, poetry and drama, students will explore issues such as gender and the nation, rebellion and violence, folklore and the heritage industry, religion and the gothic, language, and identity. Beginning with the Act of Union in 1800, this module will investigate the ways that writers have responded to, and helped to create, modern Irish identity.
Pandemic Prose in the Viral Village
Year: 2
Status: C
In the late 1990s, post-apocalyptic fiction, and, in the 21st century, climate fiction or 'cli-fi' have been some of the bestselling literary genres. This module explores how such works address current environmental concerns and allow readers to reflect on the impact of climate change and the pandemic, and to speculate on ways to deal with future problems and the toll they will take on people both socially and psychologically.
Detective Fiction
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module will cover a range of some of the best-known examples of detective and crime fiction, in print and on screen, from the C19th to the present, exploring the genre's social and political importance, and the reasons for its universal popularity.
Year three
Early Modern English Culture 1509-1659: Poetry, Prose, Drama
Year: 3
Status: C
The module introduces students to the culture of Renaissance England. Canonical and non-canonical poetry, prose, and drama as well as artefacts (such as paintings, jewelry, coins, seals, architecture, and clothing) will be studied within a framework of instruction on the sweeping changes brought to England by sectarian tension, increased literacy, nationalism, changing politics, women's complex roles, technical innovation, increased power for the monarchy, expanding commercial enterprise and a major expansion of literary and cultural creativity.
Eighteenth-Century Literature
Year: 3
Status: C
This module provides an introduction to literature from 1660 to 1780 (the 'long eighteenth century'). It helps develop knowledge of relevant contexts including marriage, sickness and health, 'race' and slavery, and encourages you to apply this knowledge critically in class and assessments. It assists in reflection on, and assessment of, skills for post-degree employment.
Tales of the Familiar and the Exotic: The Beginnings of Modern Fiction in English
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
The module is designed to introduce students to the history of the development of early fiction in English, from the early adventure narratives of the Elizabethan era to the emergence of the novel as a leading literary genre in the mid-eighteenth century. It will acquaint students with a range of thematic and formal sub-genres of fiction, ranging from tales of adventure to the philosophical romance, from religious allegory to the oriental tale, and from the picaresque to the epistolary.
Rhymes Of Passion: A Brief History Of Love Poetry
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
This module tells the story of love poetry. Having first asked the question 'What is love?', we will look at significant periods, writers, attitudes, and innovations, starting with love poetry's deepest roots in ancient verse (including Egyptian, Greek, and Roman), and ending with recent Western writers (such as Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy). The main aim of the module is to help you appreciate both enduring themes and changes in the way love has been understood and has expressed itself over time. Warning: it's not all hearts and flowers!
Modern Drama and Its Influences
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
The module accounts for a diverse range of dramatic genres, staging techniques, and thematic preoccupations inherent to the work of twentieth-century heterosexual, feminist, gay, lesbian, White, Jewish, and Black British and American playwrights. On this module, their work is to be analyzed and critiqued in the context of their theatrical and thematic responses to influential ancient, early modern, and nineteenth-century playwrights and in the context of changing twentieth-century values.
Sex and the City of God: religion and sexuality in American literature
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
This module examines the intersection of religion and sexuality in American literature, with a view to exploring issues of religious discourse, theories of metaphor, the language of desire and constructions of gender. The module explores the Puritan foundations of America, and the long shadow it casts over American culture. As well as literary fiction, the module explores texts from popular culture, as well as sermons, diaries, and other non-fiction prose.
Year four
Writing and Editing
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This practice-based module aims to advance the writing and editing knowledge and skills of students through lectures and workshops focusing on diverse genres of writing. Students are introduced to methods and techniques in the writing and editing processes. Instruction is given in the collaborative teamwork of writers and editors, with students adopting both roles during the course of the module. Formative assessment ensures that all students get a chance to edit and improve their own work (and some of each other's work) before final submission.
Angels, Madwomen and Whores
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module enables students to engage with a wide range of writing by women from the 1790s to the end of the nineteenth century. By examining both poetry and prose, this module will uncover self-determined literary representation of female experience throughout the modern period, allowing students to engage with the central issues of gender and identity which affect women's writing.
Writing the North: Ulster Literature
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
The module introduces students to literary writing from Ulster to representations of, and imaginative responses to, the north of Ireland, and to the central debates surrounding these representations and responses.
Contemporary World Fiction in English
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
The module introduces students to a range of texts from areas of the world that have been oft ignored in academic studies for various geo-political reasons. The role that fiction plays in helping nations construct a sense of identity and community is a key focus of the module.
How It Is: Samuel Beckett Studies
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module celebrates Samuel Beckett the man and artist, whose innovations in theme and form pushed the boundaries of literature, redefined the medium of theatre, and made him one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. We will explore Beckett's work chronologically from the early fiction to the late drama, examining its impact alongside historical, cultural, and philosophical influences; we will consider Beckett's depiction of the human condition and will chart his gravitation towards minimalism.
Adaptation and Historical Fiction
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module is about the relationship between verbal and visual media (adaptation) and the portrayal of the past in fiction, film, and television (historical fiction). The module is designed to make you think critically about the relationship between literature and visual media; how they shape our understanding of the past through historical fiction; how adaptation and historical fiction give a voice to marginalized/underrepresented people.
Gothic and Romantic Writing
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module surveys writing associated with Gothic and Romantic discourses, focusing on the rise of the Gothic novel at the end of the C18th, Gothic imagery in Romantic writing, late-Victorian versions of the Gothic, the concept of decadence both before and during the fin de siècle, and the rise of psychoanalytical models at the end of the C19th.
Writing and Publishing
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Students on this module learn about the functions, and apply some of the methods, of professionals in the publishing process (by undertaking tasks associated with writers, literary agents, editors, etc.). They workshop their own and each other's writing, and they gain experience in the editing and publishing processes
Year five
Nineteenth Century Literature
Year: 5
Status: C
The module is designed to introduce students to the history of nineteenth-century English literature. It will trace, through the study of a selection of representative works of the period's poetry and prose, the rise and development of Romanticism and its continuation - and gradual transformation - in the writings of the Victorian era.
Twentieth-Century Literature
Year: 5
Status: C
The module offers a broad survey of English literature written during the twentieth century. It will describe, through analysis of significant works by celebrated and representative writers, some of the major aesthetic and cultural developments and thematic preoccupations of modern literature in English, paying particular attention to stylistic and attitudinal changes throughout the century, from late-Romantic melancholy to a post-modern appreciation of multicultural diversity.
English Placement
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
This module provides students with the opportunity to experience life as a professional in the creative and cultural industries as a paid employee of a company. They will gain experience and expertise in the field of their future profession and extend and enhance their skills, capabilities, and practice.
How to be Modern: Writing from the Jazz Age, 1910-1930
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
The urge to be modern was a defining characteristic of a group of creative artists christened the 'Lost Generation'. Born towards the end of the 1800s and reaching maturity around the time of the First World War, these groundbreaking writers modernized English literature (and themselves) through the 1910s and 1920s. Looking at both poetry and fiction, we will explore the breaking of sexual taboos, the impact of psychoanalysis, the trauma of the Great War, the rise of the New Woman, the Harlem Renaissance and avant-garde aesthetics (including free verse, streams of consciousness and unreliable narrators). In all cases we will seek to appreciate how these dynamic authors challenged stale cultural norms left over from the previous century.
Bonnets, Beards and Bastards: The Fiction of the Victorian Period
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
The module is designed to introduce students to the thematic and formal diversity of Victorian fiction, as illustrated through the works of the leading novelists of the period. The key themes studied will include, among others, the social problems of Victorian Britain, 'the woman question', the role of religion in society, and the operation of the literary market; in aesthetic terms, the novels on the module will exemplify a range of formats and story-telling conventions, from the psychological novel to the sensation novel, from realism to symbolism, and from comedy of manners to naturalism.
Twentieth-Century American Literature
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
Examining the history of twentieth-century American literature in its social, cultural, and political context, this module involves close literary study of selected texts by some of the most representative American writers of the period, and discussion of broader issues such as the American Dream and the relationship between the American and English literary traditions. The module links with ENG511 Nineteenth-century American Literature (Year Three, semester 1), with other modules in English and European literature, and related modules in American History.
The Ulster-Scots Literary Tradition 1750 - 2000
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
The module introduces students to the history of Ulster-Scots literature from the middle of the eighteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It will trace the relationship of Ulster writing to Scottish and Irish cultural, literary, political, philosophical, and linguistic influences in this period. The module will investigate the development, revivals, and transformations of Ulster-Scots literature through an examination of its most representative and important authors.
Black Lives Recovered and Remade
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
This module traces the historic presence of people of colour in literature and visual culture. It covers the lives of historical individuals as well as fictional recreations or imaginings. Content covered includes historical fiction, government reports, life writing, cinema, and television. It offers a range of perspectives on race, racism, and their legacies.
The ‘Impact of Translation’ in Modern Irish and British Literature
Status: O
Year: 5
This module is optional
This module focusses on English-language translations of major works from European languages including Irish and Medieval English. No second language is required, as the texts are studied in translation. The translations are the work of leading authors, including Helen Waddell, Seamus Heaney, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and Simon Armitage. The module explores the translators' motivations and methods, the context and reception of their translation work, the role of translation in each writer's oeuvre, and relevant questions and issues in Translation Studies.
Year six
Dissertation
Year: 6
Status: C
This module offers students an opportunity to design, plan, prepare, write up, and present a dissertation of 6000 words on a topic of their own choice and researched under the guidance of a suitably qualified member of staff.
Nineteenth-Century American Literature
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
An introduction to some of the key texts and themes of nineteenth-century American literature, this module places texts in their social, historical, and political contexts. Reading a selection of fiction, poetry, and autobiography, we will explore issues such as the possibilities and limits of a 'new world', race and exclusion, gender and sentiment, nature and technology. This module will examine the invention of a unique American voice in writing of the period.
Body, Mind and Soul in Novels and Non-Fiction from Addison to Austen
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
A survey of ideas about the human body, mind and soul in texts ranging chronologically from Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's Spectator (1711) to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1814). It investigates the links between literature and medicine, psychology and philosophy, and will be of interest to students who want to explore how literature engages with issues such as belief, education, pain, pleasure, sexuality and disease.
From The Vote To The Pill: C20th And C21st Women's Writing
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
This module will enable students to engage with a variety of writing, in different genres, by women writers of the modern and the postmodern period, and will develop their understanding of the ways in which new political, social and sexual freedoms impacted upon women in the last century and beyond.
Writing Ireland: Ulysses to Normal People
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
This module celebrates some of the most influential Irish writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through an examination of poetry, drama, and prose, we will explore works that have been deemed classics, future classics, and revolutionary. From Ulysses to Normal People, we will examine the impact and prominent characteristics of key texts, exploring how they have responded to the changing state of Ireland.
Shakespeare
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
The module delivers advanced tuition on the works of Shakespeare. Every genre of Shakespearean drama is studied in detail: from Comedy to Tragedy, from Roman Play to Romance. Diverse appropriations of Shakespeare are addressed too - a political play, a bourgeois film, a diverting television sitcom. Shakespearean plays mean different things to different people in different places but, ultimately, sound knowledge of the primary texts, their genres and contexts must be established.
Narratives of Slavery
Status: O
Year: 6
This module is optional
This module invites students to explore a diverse range of literary texts and other media through which the history and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade has been represented.
Standard entry conditions
We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.
A level
Grades CCC.
Applicants may satisfy the requirement for the final A level grade C by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.
Preference may be given to candidates with an A level Grade C or higher in English Literature.
Applied General Qualifications
*** To note that only qualifications defined as “Applied General” will be accepted for entry onto any undergraduate course at Ulster University.***
BTEC Awards
QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma (2012 Suite)
Award profile of DMM
RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma (2016 Suite)
Award profile of MMM
QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Diploma(2012 Suite)
Award profile of Distinction Merit plus A Level Grade C or award profile of Distinction Merit plus A Level Grade C
RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Diploma (2016 Suite)
Award profile of Merit Merit plus A Level Grade C
QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma / OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Introductory Diploma (2012 Suite)
Award profile of Merit plus A Level Grades CC
RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Certificate (2016 Suite)
Award profile of Merit plus A Level Grades CC
Diploma, National Diploma and Subsidiary Diploma applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.
Irish Leaving Certificate
96 UCAS tariff points to include a minimum of five subjects (four of which must be at higher level) to include English at H6 if studied at Higher level or O4 if studied at Ordinary Level.
Preference may be given to candidates with a H4 at higher level in English.
Irish Leaving Certificate UCAS Equivalency
Tariff point chart
Scottish Highers
The Scottish Highers requirement for this course is grades
CCCCC
Preference may be given to candidates with Grade C in English
Applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.
Scottish Advanced Highers
The Scottish Advanced Highers requirement for this course is grades
DDD
Preference may be given to candidates with Grade D in English
Applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.
International Baccalaureate
Overall International Baccalaureate profile minimum of 24 points to include 12 at higher level.
Access to Higher Education (HE)
Overall profile of 55% (120 credit Access Course) (NI Access course)
Overall profile of 45 credits at Merit (60 credit Access course) (GB Access course)
GCSE
For full-time study, you must satisfy the General Entrance Requirements for admission to a first degree course and hold a GCSE pass at Grade C/4 or above English Language.
Level 2 Certificate in Essential Skills - Communication will be accepted as equivalent to GCSE English.
English Language Requirements
English language requirements for international applicants
The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement for Tier 4 visa purposes.
Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.
Additional Entry Requirements
HND - Overall Merit with distinctions in 15 Level 5 credits entry to Year 1
HNC – Overall Merit with distinctions in 45 Level 4 credits for entry to Year 1.
You may also meet the course entry requirements with combinations of different qualifications to the same standard as recognised by the University (provided subject requirements as noted above are met).
Foundation Degree- an overall mark of 40% in Level 5 modules for Year 1 entry.
APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning)
The University will consider applications on the basis of experiential learning for those who do not hold the normal entry qualifications.
Transfer from degree level study at other institutions
Those applicants seeking entry with advanced standing, (eg. Transfer from another institution or year 2 entry) will be considered on an individual basis.
Exemptions and transferability
Studies pursued and examinations passed in respect of other qualifications awarded by the University or by another university or other educational institution, or evidence from the accreditation of prior experiential learning, may be accepted as exempting candidates from part of an approved programme provided that they shall register as students of the University for modules amounting to at least the final third of the credit value of the award at the highest level.