Being a student of English Literature isn't always easy. You're studying a core subject that allows you to explore the ways in which the context of an author's life and the historical period within which they were writing has influenced their novel. You're taught to read into every word and look beyond the obvious for a deeper meaning, using theorists, philosophers and movements to support your findings. The Gothic? You'll know so much about it that you might as well move out of student halls and into Whitby Abbey. The male gaze? Soon you'll sense it oppressing you and those around you. This is going to be your area of expertise. By the end, Charles Dickens will feel like your second cousin. Yet people will still challenge you and disregard your BA Hons, mansplaining that 'all you have to do is read children's books'. Wrong Sir. A degree in English Lit isn't as easy as most people think, it's maybe not even as easy as you thought! Here are some top tips on the best ways to go about tackling an English BA Hons, from students who are doing and have done just that!
"Don't immediately buy all the books on the reading list" - Charlotte, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
Reading isn't all you'll do on your degree, but it's a big part of it. Charlotte studied English at Lincoln from 2015 to 2018 and in her third year ran The Tab, an online newspaper written by and for students. She has said, "No doubt you'll get all excited when you see the reading list for the upcoming year but don't go out and buy every book on the list as soon as you get it. Reading lists can be changed, can feature books you'll never read or simply could be incorrect and it's a lot of money to waste if you're not going to use the books". This is a very good point, money is probably going to be tight and you don't want to go wasting it on a book that you don't end up using! The reading list your university gives you is most likely provisional and will change slightly based on which tutor you have. Charlotte has encouraged you to "Maybe pick a handful of books from each module to buy then try and find the rest once the term has begun. There's always the library which you could try to save you a bit of cash. Also, by not buying all of your books at once, you'll not be faced with the sheer amount of reading you have to do, which is a major bonus!" It's definitely true that when you see all that you're expected to read, it can be a bit daunting. Avoiding this and just tackling the reading as it comes is advisable, as Charlotte says!
"Don't panic if you don't know what your idea is immediately when you start your dissertation" - Eleanor, Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
As Eleanor says, your idea "will develop as you do research", so it's not essential that you have a solid plan at the start - in fact, that's not really what a dissertation is about. Obviously, it's good to have a broad idea of the topic you'd like to look at, but if you can do a lot of research and then narrow in on a couple of areas of interest and explain why you have chosen these few areas to focus on, you'll probably be rewarded for that! For example, you may know you want to look at the representation of women in Victorian literature, but not know which texts or characters you want to look at, and what sort of representations you want to discuss - that's fine! As long as you're certain you'll enjoy writing on the topic of female representation during that time period, you can develop that with the help of your tutor.
"I would definitely advise joining the English society" - Kate, current student at the University of Lincoln.
Kate is entering her third year at the Uni of Lincoln this September. She recommends joining the English Society, if your university has one, which she did herself and really benefited from! She says that "It is run by 3rd year students who are usually so lovely and welcoming and always welcome any questions and give advice. They organise lots of fun things like bar crawls and Christmas meals. They can also help academically, such as running revision sessions which I found very helpful!" Joining the English Society is definitely a great way to make connections on your course away from the pressured environment of the seminar room, and lets you meet people that you have something in common with! It also enables you to branch out from your halls and avoid only being friends with flatmates! It's a great way to get that little bit more involved with your course!
"Don't panic over your dissertation, it's not as hard as you think" - Chloe, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
Chloe wants you to enjoy your degree and reminds you not to panic over your dissertation. Though daunting, the dissertation can be really enjoyable to write if you manage your time well. We had from September to March to write out dissertations, that's six whole months, and we had lots of time prior to that for research and reading. Chloe explains that "essentially it’s just like writing three essays!" which is true, and when you think of it like that it becomes a lot less scary! Try to tackle a chapter at a time and treat each one as an independent essay that only really has to link to the next one through its final line, that way you can set yourself mini-deadlines and minimise the task before you.
"Shmoop is your friend" - Maisie, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
Maisie studied a combined degree of English and History, now she's looking into teacher training at a secondary level. Though we maybe shouldn't admit it, Shmoop/Spark Notes/Wikipedia and other similar plot synopsis sites really do come in useful. Sometimes you'll find yourself so weighed down with reading that it won't be possible to get it all done AND maintain a social life. Often you'll know what books you'd like to look at for the essay and so don't really want to waste time reading the rest, but for the sake of the seminar you have to know something about the novel that week! These sorts of sites provide very basic overviews of plot, character, character relationships, setting and often context, and should not be snubbed if ever you're finding yourself not quite clued up on this week's novel. It's better than not having a clue about what's going on!
"Always prep before a seminar" - Shannon, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln
Shannon recently completed her undergraduate degree and in September will be beginning a Masters in Creative Writing. She says that "I always go into seminars with at least one of my own opinions about the text, even if I don't voice it during the session". Which is very important. Seminars are designed to aid discussion and prompt independent thought ready for when you're writing the essay or revising for the exam. The more prep work you do for a seminar, the more you'll get out of it! She also made a great point about not ending up "going into a seminar as the class sponge who doesn't speak but laps up everyone else's ideas". Honestly, don't be this person. Seminars are intimidating but if you come up with a point you'd like to raise ahead of time then you can go in feeling confident, get your point out of the way and be assured that you probably won't be picked on again.
"Stay on top of things. Try to keep up with the reading" - Megan, 2:1 English Language & Literature Graduate at the University of Sheffield.
Linking in with Shannon's point about being prepared for the seminar, Megan advises that you try to keep on top of the reading. This may prove impossible at times, but the more effort you put into completing the reading, the more knowledge and understanding you'll get out of the text. You often have to look at three or four books a week, as well as some theory and perhaps other extracts, and it's so easy to lag behind but not as easy to then catch up. Megan recommends that you "plan what you want to have read by a particular date, and focus on one particular piece of reading at a time instead of trying to do too many things at once". So instead of starting all four books for the week, prioritise the one that you'll be discussing in your first seminar, and then tackle the next and so on. Some of the books might be very light and easy to get through, others won't be quite so easy, take this into account and plan your time accordingly. You may know that one particular seminar tutor is a little more lenient, or only covers extracts of the text which they provide within the seminar, meaning that you don't have to have read the whole novel but just need a general understanding - use this to your advantage. Megan is currently working as a teaching assistant and will be applying to do a PGCE in October.
"Find the film version of your text" - Hayley, 2:1 Graduate of English & History at Northumberland University.
If you know that there's a film adaptation of the novel, watch it. Watch it while you're cooking your tea, doing your make up, before going to bed or when you're on the train home. It's a lot easier to watch something than it is to read it, you can be a bit more passive and still understand the gist of the plot, characters and so on. Once you've watched the film you can and should go onto read the book too, but in case you haven't got time for that, at least now you know what's going on and have a very basic level of understanding. If for some reason you don't have time to read the entirety of the book, you still know how it ends! Hayley says that she used films "especially when studying Shakespeare, I found it very helpful to read the play alongside watching the movie". Some texts, such as Shakespearean plays, will be hard to tackle. Many will contain a lot of archaic and sometimes obsolete language that you can't get your head around, but watching the film makes it a lot easier to understand! You then have a visual aid, and that's really important. Just make sure you check on Wikipedia how true to the book the film is ahead of your seminar! Hayley has recently secured her first graduate job working for Hilton Hotel's as an Events Coordinator.
"Maintain a healthy social life" - Luke, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
Amidst all of the reading, researching, and writing, it's important that you maintain a healthy social life. Obviously the course should be a priority, you're paying a lot of money to be on it and you need to make the most of it, but that doesn't mean that you can't ever go out and enjoy yourself. Group library trips are a great way to merge studying and socialising. You can also try to either get up a little earlier, or go to bed a little later, and fit in an hour of work at the very start and the very end of each day - then you have less to do in the middle and can meet up with friends for lunch, to go out shopping, to see a film at the cinema etc. When you're planning your week and organising yourself with the reading, as Megan recommended, also plan what you'd like to do with friends. If you decide you're going to go to the library at 2pm, why not meet with a friend for a coffee at 1pm? Or pencil in a little study break at 4pm and go meet them then! Also, saying yes to spontaneous plans instead of doing work isn't going to harm occasionally. Don't do it the night before a deadline if you're 500 words under the limit, don't do it every day, but sometimes it's more important to have fun than it is to get chapter six finished. Be sensible and, as we said before, be realistic in what you have to read and what you can maybe get away without reading.
"Remember to enjoy it" - George, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
George studied English from 2015 to 2018 and was part of the Drama Society during his time in Lincoln. He's now embarking upon a gap year to earn some money and look out for his next big adventure. His tip is an important one. Studying literature often takes some of the enjoyment out of reading. Though you probably love to read and write, you're now under certain restrictions. You're told what books to read, and when you have to read them by. You have to explore the text, its themes, the author, scholarly opinion, the context surrounding the novel, AND create an academic essay out of all of that. It's not always easy and it's certainly not always enjoyable. George explains "It sounds simple, but I can’t count how many times the last thing I wanted to do was read and write stuff. But eventually I’d come round to it and remind myself that I actually love reading and writing, it’s why I picked English." When it all seems a bit much, you need to remind yourself of this too. At least as an English student you're reading interesting works of the imagination, whether they're to your taste or not. You picked this degree for a reason, hopefully English is your passion, and you're no doubt very good at it! Don't lose sight of that, make sure you enjoy the experience and recognise how lucky you are to be studying such a broad and creative subject.
"Do the secondary research first, then develop your points" - Jessie, 2:1 Graduand at the University of Lincoln.
Jessie's offering advice on essay writing and explains that she thinks it's sensible to look for secondary research and scholarly theory surrounding your question, then to make your arguments based on your findings. In an academic essay at this level you are required to make a few points which all need to be supported by something a scholar has already said, so finding the opinions of a few scholars and then choosing the ones you agree with is a good place to start. Just make sure you phrase your answers to the essay question as if they are your opinions and the scholar is merely backing you up, not that you're copying them! Where exams are concerned Jessie says, "write down a plan as soon as you go in, that always helps me when I get closer to the end", this would work for both exams and essays! It's always good to have something to refer back to. When writing an essay, it's unlikely you're going to complete it in one day, you're probably going to go back to it a few times over a period of days or even weeks, and it's good to know where your ideas started so you don't lose track of what you want to say! Those your fail to prepare must prepare to fail!
As well as these great words of wisdom, I'd also advise any new students to...
1. Take advantage of any trips on offer. At Lincoln we were taken on a free trip to Newstead Abbey, Lord Byron's home, which was a lovely end of year day out that provided us with the chance to explore the background of the interesting and eccentric poet we had been studying on our Georgian module. Trips provide you with a chance to interact with tutors and coursemates outside of the classroom and explore somewhere new.
2. Wear comfortable clothes to lectures. It sounds simple but you want to feel comfortable when you're sat staring at a powerpoint for an hour. Quite often the lecture theatre itself might not be as spacious as you'd like, don't add to this discomfort by wearing your tightest and most jazzy outfit!
3. Use the library. It can be intimidating trying to take a book out for the first time or sitting among lots of strangers at the computer desks, but the library can provide you with a great working environment so don't hide away from it! The sooner you go and work out how to use the resources, the better. Also, if you can go before and after university hours as opposed to during, it's likely to be a lot less busy and more peaceful.
4. Email tutors and attend one-to-one's for additional guidance. If you're struggling with an essay, or even just with the reading set that week, Email your tutor. Every time I Emailed my tutors for support they were more than willing to give it and were never annoyed or mad at me for not understanding the material, but instead were glad that I wanted to engage with it and didn't just give up on it or struggle through with no real understanding. Additionally, if your tutor arranges a one-to-one meeting with you ahead of your essay/exam, attend! Get your name down and go along. As much as seminars are very useful for debating ideas, there's nothing more beneficial than you telling the tutor your independent thoughts away from the rest of the class, and having them give you feedback.
5. Ask for a Kindle for Christmas. Books will take up a lot of space in your small student halls bedroom and you'll get major back ache if you have to carry novels around in your bag all day long. A Kindle solves these issues, as your books will all be in one place. A lot of the "classics" (Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Shakespearean plays etc.) are free on Kindle, and the books that aren't free can be refunded via the Amazon store if you decide after the seminar that you don't want to use them within your essay. It's also handy to have a Kindle in seminars when tutors ask you to look at a particular sentence or phrase, everybody will have different copies of the text and so will be searching away for the correct page number while you can simply type the line in and the Kindle will locate it for you! I'd seriously recommend putting this on your Christmas list.
I hope that this post will help pre-existing AND soon-to-be English students as you continue or begin your three-year journey on the course! Thank you so much to everybody that has taken the time to help me with this one, I really appreciate all of your contributions. Please feel free to subscribe (below) for updates on future posts!