Information for Sophister Students

Junior Sophister Single Honour (SH) and Joint Honours (JH)

Students have the option of studying either English Studies (Single Honours) or English Literature (Joint Honours). The pathways available are Single Honours, Major with Minor and Joint Honours.

In the third and fourth years, you will choose most of your modules from a wide range of specialist options; in these years, modules are taught at an advanced level in small group seminars. Examples of third and fourth year modules may include: Creative Writing, Ulysses in Context, African and Caribbean Literature, Crime Fiction, Global Shakespeare, Modernism, American Writing, Children’s Literature, Popular Literature, and History of the English Language. All final-year students are expected to complete a Capstone project, which might be a dissertation, a study of material from the Library’s Open Collections, or a portfolio of Creative Writing.

Assessment is by a combination of submitted essays, journals, dissertation and end-of-semester examinations. In first and second year the weighting is approximately 66% submitted work and 33% final examinations. In third and fourth year it may vary depending on the modules chosen, although submission of a Capstone project is compulsory for all final year students. The link below gives you the full list of JS modules available in 2023-24.

Senior Sophister Single Honour (SH) and Joint Honours (JH)

In the Senior Sophister year, students choose from a very wide range of option modules. These modules are taught by individual members of staff in their own areas of expertise, in intensive seminars meeting for two hours a week. Students take term-long modules and the year-long Capstone Project. In principle all modules are open to SH and JH students, though lack of some of the necessary linguistic background may make it very difficult for JH students to take some of the language-based options.

Because the number in each of these modules has to be limited, a system for the choice of options has been devised in consultation with student representatives. Module choices are made through online module enrolment. The link below gives you the full list of SS modules available in 2023-24.