BA (Hons) Literature and History
Course options
Key Details
- Award
- Degree of Bachelor of Arts
- UCAS Course Code
- QV31
- Typical Offer
- AAB
- Contextual Offer
- BBB
- Course Length
- 3 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2024
Why you should choose us
Course Overview
Literature and history are closely intertwined subjects, and this degree enables you to study them together, under the guidance of our leading historians, literary critics and creative writers. This genuinely interdisciplinary history and English literature degree gives you a grounding in the core knowledge and practices that are essential to each subject, bringing them together in a unique bridge module, and in a diverse and exciting range of optional modules from both disciplines.
Historians and literary critics often read the same documents, but they bring to them different approaches and employ different methods of analysis. This history and English literature degree gives you the opportunity to learn and experiment with both ways of reading. You will become a historian with a marked sensitivity to sources and a lively and engaging writing style through learning the skills of close textual analysis and engaging with narrative form. As you encounter arguments about historical causality and assess conflicting accounts of historical events, you’ll become a literary critic with a complex grasp of the social, political and cultural contexts in which literature is produced. The two disciplines enrich each other, and the diverse range of experts at UEA combine to deliver you a course that is both flexible and distinctive. It’s up to you to set the precise balance between literature and history as your degree progresses – you might take an equal number of modules in both, or gradually specialise in one or the other discipline.
You’ll be taught by specialists from two world-leading UEA departments. Our School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing is famous for innovation in teaching and for cutting-edge research – that’s why in the most recent Times Higher Education Analysis (REF2021), UEA was ranked 19th in the UK for the quality of its research in English language and literature. UEA is acknowledged to be at the forefront of history research in the UK, and in the Times Higher Education Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 Analysis, UEA was ranked 3rd overall in the UK for research quality in history.
Studying in Norwich gives you access to a city rich in historical and cultural artefacts, with a vibrant literary and performance community. This unique literature and history degree also offers you many opportunities to extend your studies beyond the classroom, into archives of literary and historical manuscripts, and out to sites of historical and cultural importance.
You can follow the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing on Instagram to keep up with our activities!
Placement Year and Study Abroad
You have the option to apply to study abroad for one semester of your second year. Studying abroad is a wonderfully enriching life experience – you’ll develop confidence and adaptability and will have the chance to deepen your understanding of literature and history while learning about another culture. At UEA, you will also be surrounded throughout your degree by the many students we welcome from around the world.
For further details, visit the Study Abroad section of our website.
Study and Modules
Structure
In your first year, you will unite your two subjects from day one. You'll cover the historical span of English Literature and explore how your subjects can illuminate one another. You’ll explore the global history of English itself, from its origins in multilingual medieval society to the extraordinary literatures which are still being forged today from the legacies of colonialism and its resistance. You’ll also be able to choose optional modules in medieval, early modern or modern history, and in specialist topics such as witchcraft. Or you might choose to take a module from another Humanities subject, experimenting for instance with languages or American studies.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 40)Optional B Modules
(Credits: 20)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Your academic year will be split into two semesters: Autumn and Spring. You’ll take three modules in each semester of your first year, with between seven and nine hours of contact time per week. You’ll enjoy compelling lectures, packed with new ideas, from our world-leading teams of literary critics and historians. In two-hour seminars, you’ll learn through lively discussion with your fellow students, guided by your seminar leader. You'll also have the chance to explore your own ideas in one-on-one tutorials, and you'll have an academic adviser to support you through your whole degree with everything from choice of modules to launching your career.
Independent Learning
You'll already be developing skills in independent reading and research, with a framework of guided tasks provided by your lecturers to help you get the most out of whatever book or topic you're studying. You'll explore the library, discovering a wealth of new resources. You might discover student societies where you’ll meet like-minded literature and history lovers who’ll enjoy nothing more than discussing your favourite topics with you. You'll finish the year equipped with the skills you need to make the most of your journey through literature and history.
Assessment
On the literature side of your degree, all your work is assessed by written coursework: you'll develop renewed enthusiasm for writing academic essays, and will express your thinking in a diverse variety of forms, like reviews or personal reflective writing. In history, you'll be assessed by a dynamic mix of essays, presentations, document commentaries, and (occasionally) group projects, to help build your skills in collaboration and confidence in presenting to new audiences.
Feedback
To prepare for coursework, you'll receive feedback on pieces of 'formative' work from your tutors in one-to-one tutorials. Feedback on assessed work will be returned within 20 working days (after it has been carefully marked and moderated). As your first year does not count toward your overall degree result, it's a great time to experiment and take risks
Structure
At the heart of your second year is a compulsory, innovative module which fosters a lively debate between your two subjects. Here, you’ll explore the similarities and differences between literary and historical approaches to the same topic, and reflect on your own literary-critical and historical writing practices.
You’ll also select 5 other modules from a range of options in literature and history, covering eras from the medieval to the contemporary, alongside a wealth of options on topics such as propaganda, power and politics, gender, or reading and writing in Elizabethan England.
You can choose options which will enable you to develop new skills in creative writing, or in writing for professional creative industries like journalism or publishing. You can cultivate connections between your two subjects by examining the same period from each disciplinary perspective – you might find yourself immersed in Victorian novels in an English Literature module and studying the social upheavals of the same period in a history module.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 20)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
You’ll study three modules in each of the Autumn and Spring semesters, with between seven and nine contact hours per week. Lectures and seminars will enable you to get to grips with a variety of periods of literature and history. You'll have the option to take literature seminars in more vocational areas like journalism or publishing (using our state-of-the-art Media Suite), while selected history modules may include thought-provoking field trips or field work, where you’ll consider history in a real-world setting (examples of past trips range from Norwich Castle Museum to Rome and the field of the Battle of Agincourt). You might also take a placement as part of a Humanities-wide module. And you'll continue to benefit from the support of your academic adviser.
Independent Learning
You'll continue to benefit from the guidance and support of your tutors through regular exercises designed to help you focus your reading and writing outside of the seminar room. You’ll deepen your command of the craft of literary criticism and of historical research and analysis, discovering where your true passions lie in both subjects, and developing a sophisticated sense of the similarities and differences between them. You'll finish the year with a real sense of how your academic studies will underpin your future career.
Assessment
You'll continue to submit coursework for all your literature modules, taking your essay writing to new heights (in projects of around 2500 words) and becoming increasingly daring in your work. In history, you'll be assessed by coursework, document analyses, presentations, quizzes and exams; this range of assessments helps you to master both careful planning and thinking on the spot. While essay writing remains the cornerstone of your degree work, in literature you might also experiment with 'creative criticism', for instance by writing a short story to show off what you've learnt about that form.
Feedback
You'll continue to have the support and feedback of your tutors, which your academic adviser can help you incorporate into your work. Formative work might take all sorts of forms, from videos and podcasts to conference papers. As your marks begin to count toward your final degree classification, you might draw on the support offered by our Learning Enhancement Team (who are there to help with everything from study skills to academic writing).
Structure
Your third year will be all about pursuing your passions, on both sides of your history and English literature degree. You can choose from a multitude of specialist options, which might cover topics like the making of the English landscape, to Thatcher’s Britain, from the trailblazing women writers of the Renaissance to feminist writing today, from medieval monsters to contemporary hardboiled detective fiction. You can also undertake a dissertation, if you wish, in either literature or history. Although you must continue to study both subjects in your final year, the precise balance between literature and history modules in your final year is up to you: the result of the particular blend of interests you’ve developed during your degree.
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 30, Max Credits: 90)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 30, Max Credits: 90)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 30)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
In literature, this is your chance to explore cutting-edge literary topics in depth, in our three-hour seminars, each taught by a subject-specialist. In history, you’ll also be taught by leading experts in the field, but you may choose to tackle topics for a single semester or even to pursue a topic over your whole academic year (these 'special subjects' have included Elizabeth I, the history of modern Japan, and the cultural and political impact of the end of British imperial power). If you decide to pursue a dissertation in either literature or history as one of your module choices, you'll work one-on-one with either a literary critic or historian who's passionate about your chosen topic.
Independent Learning
While retaining the support and guidance of your seminar leaders, you'll bring together all the skills and confidence you've developed in independent research, critical writing and thinking, as you master the fields of literary and historical study that have come to matter the most to you.
Assessment
In your study of literature, you'll perfect the craft of essay writing in more substantial and independently conceived projects (3500-5000 words), and you might choose to embark on an 8000-word dissertation on a topic of your choice. In history, your final year will be assessed through a combination of coursework and document work, along with examinations and an extended essay on your specialist subject. If you wish, you might continue to experiment with the forms in which you express your ideas about literature, perhaps by writing Shakespearean sonnets, ghost stories, ecopoetry, apocalyptic fiction, or biography.
Feedback
You’ll receive detailed and focused feedback to help hone your abilities even further, enabling you to graduate at the end of your final year with highly developed skills in writing and argument which are hugely valued by employers.
Entry Requirements
- A Levels
- AAB including one of the following subjects: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law. If you are taking an EPQ and three A-levels, we may offer you a one grade reduction on our advertised typical offer, if you achieve an A in the EPQ.
- T Levels
- Not accepted
- BTEC
- DDD alongside grade B at A-level in one of the following subjects: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law. BTEC Public Services, Uniformed Services or Business Administration are not accepted. See below for accepted subjects and combinations .
- Contextual Offer
A Level - BBB including one of the following subjects:
English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, LawBTEC L3 Extended Diploma - DDM plus A in English Literature or one of the subjects listed: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.- Scottish Highers
- AAAAA including one of the following subjects: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- Scottish Advanced Highers
- BBC including one of the following subjects: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law A combination of Advanced Highers and Highers may be acceptable
- Irish Leaving Certificate
- 4 subjects at H2, 2 subjects at H3 including one of the following subjects: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- Access to HE Diploma
- Access to Humanities and Social Sciences Pathway. Pass Access to HE Diploma with Distinction in 36 credits at Level 3 and Merit in 9 credits at Level 3
- International Baccalaureate
- 33 including HL 5 HL English, History, Global Politics or Psychology.
- GCSE
You are required to have Mathematics and English Language at a minimum of Grade C or Grade 4 or above at GCSE
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
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IELTS: 6.5 overall (minimum 5.5 in all components)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:
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- Interviews
Most applicants will not be called for an interview and a decision will be made via UCAS Track. However, for some applicants an interview will be requested. Where an interview is required the Admissions Service will contact you directly to arrange a time.
- Deferred Entry
We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year. We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.
- Intakes
This course is open to UK and International applicants. The annual intake is in September each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
Extended Diploma: DDD plus A in English Literature or one of the subjects listed: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
Diploma: DD plus B in English Literature or one of the subjects listed: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
Extended Certificate: D plus AB to include one of the subjects listed: English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes such as -
https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-english-literature-with-a-foundation-year
https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/undergraduate/ba-history-with-a-foundation-year
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
We welcome and value a wide range of alternative qualifications. If you have a qualification which is not listed here, or are taking a combination of qualifications, please contact us via Admissions Enquiries.
International Requirements
We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. View our International Students pages for specific information about your country.
INTO University of East Anglia
If you do not meet the academic and/or English language requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO UEA offers progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme. Depending on your interests, and your qualifications you can take a variety of routes to this degree:
International Foundation in Business, Economics, Society and Culture (for Year 1 entry to UEA)
International Foundation in Humanities and Law (for Year 1 entry to UEA)
Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.
Fees and Funding
Tuition Fees
View our information for Tuition Fees.
Scholarships and Bursaries
We are committed to ensuring that costs do not act as a barrier to those aspiring to come to a world leading university and have developed a funding package to reward those with excellent qualifications and assist those from lower income backgrounds. View our range of Scholarships for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
Apply for this course through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS), using UCAS Hub.
UCAS Hub is a secure online application system that allows you to apply for full-time undergraduate courses at universities and colleges in the United Kingdom.
Your application does not have to be completed all at once. Register or sign in to UCAS to get started.
Once you submit your completed application, UCAS will process it and send it to your chosen universities and colleges.
The Institution code for the University of East Anglia is E14.
View our guide to applying through UCAS for useful tips, key dates and further information:
Employability
After the Course
On completing your history and English literature degree, you could go on to work in the arts, media, publishing, the heritage industry, politics, charities and NGOs, teaching or the commercial sector. You will be equipped with skills of critical reading, independence, time management, team work and more, which are highly valued by employers. You’ll also be well placed to study for a postgraduate degree.
Our Careers Service is here to support you in launching your career by advising with CV writing, internships, and much more. Every year we run an event, Working with Words, where you’ll have the chance to meet and hear from successful UEA alumni from across the creative industries.
UEA also has its own in-house publishing project, Egg Box, along with many other exciting initiatives that give you opportunities to turn your love of English literature and history into a foundation for your future career.
Careers
A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.
Examples of careers you could enter include:
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Media
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Marketing
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Heritage and Museums
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Publishing
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Events Management
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Journalism
Discover more on our Careers webpages.