Combining the study of modern prose, literary heritage and creative writing, the MA English Literature at Ulster University offers an exciting opportunity to further your love of literature.
Whether you are a recent graduate, a budding creative writer, a teacher keen to upskill, or simply returning to education for your own personal development, the variety and breadth of this programme will appeal to many. It also provides an excellent springboard for doctoral studies.
The MA English Literature at Ulster will develop your critical and research skills. You will explore and discuss a range of texts and also have the opportunity to enhance your own creativity and writing style, with on-going encouragement and guidance from our expert academic staff.
Graduates have been successful in a wide variety of careers including teaching, publishing, librarianship, the media, public relations and advertising.
Broad-ranging in nature, the MA English Literature covers a variety of areas of English literary tradition and is designed to stimulate debate and evoke your creativity.
You will explore key theoretical approaches to literature including structuralism, Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis and eco-criticism, giving you a solid foundation in critical models and concepts.
Pioneering research shapes our teaching. You will benefit from the extensive knowledge and expertise across our academic team as you study and debate a broad range of texts and themes. You will also investigate Irish writing in English, a unique element which gives the course a distinctive regional identity.
A creative writing pathway offers you with the opportunity to develop individual writing projects and to reflect, in a self-analytical way, on your own engagement in creative work.
Throughout the course, you will hone your research ability as well as a range of key transferable practical skills that can be utilised across a host of employment settings.
The programme offers the perfect pathway for further study and research at PhD level, as well as a bridge to new and enhanced career opportunities.
Full time: One calendar year September - September
Two modules per semester. Each taught module involves one three-hour lecture/seminar meeting per week for twelve consecutive weeks. Taught modules are scheduled for evenings 6-9pm. Independent study modules involve an equivalent number of study hours, with contact hours arranged with supervisory staff.
Part time: Two and a half calendar years (five semesters)
One module per semester. Each taught module involves one three-hour lecture/seminar meeting per week for twelve consecutive weeks. Taught modules are scheduled for evenings 6-9pm. Independent study modules involve an equivalent number of study hours, with contact hours arranged with supervisory staff.
Students graduating with the MA in English Literature are well-prepared to undertake a variety of occupations, both those related directly to the nature of literary study as an academic discipline and to the subject-specific skills acquired in the course of the programme, and those of a more generally defined postgraduate-level variety. Some typical careers followed by graduates from the course include teaching, publishing, bookselling, librarianship, archive work, media work, public relations, advertising, marketing, and administration. The MA also responds to a demand from serving teachers of English who wish to develop their own knowledge and advance their careers. For both full-time and part-time students, the course offers a useful bridge to further research work at the doctoral level.
This unique course allows you to study children’s literature in a flexible, part-time format. You’ll engage with staff working in the UK’s leading centre in the field and explore a range of landmark texts for young people, from fairy tales and picturebooks to classics and graphic novels.
This programme invites you to explore the exciting and varied world of children’s literature, and to examine how texts aimed at young people convey and challenge ideas about childhood. You will be taught by a team of staff with international reputations and expertise in areas such as philosophy, popular fiction, adolescence, critical theory, landscape, and memory.
As a distance learner you will have access to specialist services, and a wide range of e-books and digitised items from the Children’s Literature Collection at the University Library which contains 3,000 critical, theoretical, bibliographical and reference works and approximately 40 specialist children's literature journals.
As a Children’s Literature student, you will become a member of the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature (NCRCL), regarded as the premier institution for children’s literature research in Britain. The NCRCL has close links with organisations that work to further the study and teaching of children's literature, including The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Seven Stories (The National Centre for Children’s Books), and Booktrust. The University is also the exclusive Creative Partner of Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, London’s largest event dedicated to children’s writing. You can stay up-to-date with the NCRCL by following their blog.
This programme asks you to think about children’s literature in new ways. In your first year you will be introduced to essential critical approaches, from feminist theory, psychoanalysis, and reader-response criticism, to new ideas about the child, power and ethics. Using these tools, you’ll study fairy tales such as 'Snow White' and 'Puss in Boots,' classic children’s literature including Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows and Judith Kerr’s landmark picturebook The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and the contemporary innovations of authors like Melvin Burgess, Shaun Tan and Jackie Kay.
In optional modules you can study the history of British children’s literature from its origins to the present day, as well as texts in translation, and visual and verse forms. Throughout the course you will gain knowledge of literary works produced for children, and the social, cultural and historical contexts of their production. The eclectic and rigorous nature of the programme allows you to contribute original work from a variety of perspectives, particularly in the extended critical Dissertation. The creative writing modules, ‘Writing for a Child Audience’ and ‘Creative Dissertation’ represent exciting additions to the programme, recognising the fact that many of our students have ambitions to write for children.
The Distance Learning MA is taught through a mixture of independent study, tutor feedback, and peer support. Most modules on offer include a course pack, with digital materials and links to an online learning environment. You will work through the materials, undertake learning activities, and discuss ideas with other students through online discussion boards and online seminars. At the end of each module, you will complete a piece of coursework, usually an essay, to demonstrate your understanding of the subject.
Modules
Here is some of the varied range of modules we currently offer:
Possible careers include teaching and librarianship, children’s publishing and arts management.
