Programme Specification
BA (Hons) English and American Studies (2012 entry onwards)
Academic Year: 2014/15
This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if full advantage is taken of the learning opportunities that are provided.
This specification applies to delivery of the programme in the Academic Year indicated above. Prospective students reviewing this information for a later year of study should be aware that these details are subject to change as outlined in our Terms and Conditions of Study.
This specification should be read in conjunction with:
- Reg. XX (Undergraduate Awards) (see University Regulations)
- Module Specifications
- Summary
- Aims
- Learning outcomes
- Structure
- Progression & weighting
Programme summary
Awarding body/institution | Loughborough University |
Teaching institution (if different) | |
Owning school/department | Department of English and Drama - pre 2017 |
Details of accreditation by a professional/statutory body | |
Final award | BA (Hons) / BA (Hons) + DPS |
Programme title | English and American Studies |
Programme code | EAUB08 |
Length of programme | The duration of the programme is 6 or 8 semesters. Candidates following the four year programme are required to spend an approved placement in professional industry leading to the award of Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS). The sandwich year (Part I) must be taken after satisfactory completion of Part B and before commencement of Part C. |
UCAS code | Q3T7 |
Admissions criteria | http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/departments/english-drama/englishandamericanstudies/ |
Date at which the programme specification was published | Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:47:25 BST |
1. Programme Aims
The Department seeks to encourage in its students:
- a sense of enthusiasm for the subject and a full understanding of its social and cultural significance.
- the study of English and American Studies as a means of developing the ability to think creatively, to read critically and to be both sensitive and disciplined in their approach to their studies.
- to think independently, to reason critically, to weigh the importance of alternative arguments and perspectives and to analyse critically different forms of discourse.
2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:
English Benchmark Statement
Area Studies Benchmark Statement
University Learning and Teaching Strategy
Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ)
3. Programme Learning Outcomes
3.1 Knowledge and Understanding
On successful completion of this programme students should:
- have substantial knowledge of a range of authors and texts from different periods of literary history, including those before 1800.
- understand the distinctive characteristics of both English and American Fiction, poetry and drama
- have an awareness of the role of critical traditions in shaping literary history and a knowledge of the linguistic, literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature is written and read.
- develop an understanding of key aspects of U.S. visual culture, especially in relation to American film
- deploy useful and precise critical terminology.
- have an appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and an awareness of the range of contemporary approaches to literary and area studies
- have an appreciation of American Studies as a multi and interdisciplinary subject area.
3.2 Skills and other attributes
a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:
On successful completion of the programme, students will have acquired critical skills in the close reading and analysis of verbal and visual texts and will have a thorough understanding of critical and theoretical models relating to English and American studies. They will have an appreciation of the central role of language in the creation of meaning and will have gained rhetorical skills of effective communication and argument. They will have bibliographic skills appropriate to the discipline and will be practised in the accurate citation of sources and in the use of conventions in the presentation of scholarly work.
b. Subject-specific practical skills:
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to present cogent and persuasive arguments both in oral and written form. They should be able critically to assess the effectiveness and value of a wide range of oral, visual and written communications. They should possess advanced and effective research skills, including the ability to access and assess electronic data.
c. Key transferable skills:
On successful completion of this programme, students should possess advanced analytical skills and should be able to handle complex information in a structured and systematic way. They should be able to communicate effectively and work with others through the presentation of ideas and the collective negotiation of solutions.
They should be able to understand and apply a variety of theoretical and interpretive positions, and should be able to weigh the importance of alternative perspectives. They should possess effective organisational and time-management skills.
4. Programme structure
Part A - Introductory Modules
American Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAA006 |
Introduction to American Literature |
20 credits |
Optional - NONE |
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English Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 30) |
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EAA101 |
Critical Studies 1 |
10 credits |
EAA102 |
An Introduction to Language |
10 credits |
EAA104 |
Introduction to Poetry 1 |
10 credits |
Optional (10 or 20) |
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EAA003 |
Introduction to the Short Story |
20 credits |
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EAA023 |
Oral Communication |
20 credits |
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EAA108 |
The Search for Identity |
20 credits |
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EAA010 |
Writing Women |
20 credits |
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EAA016 |
The Essay |
10 credits |
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EAA015 |
Introduction to the Short Narrative |
10 credits |
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EAA002 |
Women’s Voices |
10 credits |
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American Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 30) |
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EAA001 |
Introduction to Film Studies |
20 credits |
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EAA511 |
Imagining America: An Introduction to American Studies |
10 credits |
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English Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAA201 |
Critical Studies 2 |
10 credits |
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EAA204 |
Introduction to Poetry 2 |
10 credits |
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Optional (10 or 20 credits) |
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EAA003 |
Introduction to the Short Story |
20 credits |
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EAA004 |
Language in Context |
20 credits |
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EAA023 |
Oral Communication |
20 credits |
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EAA108 |
The Search for Identity |
20 credits |
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EAA011 |
Writing in History |
20 credits |
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EAA010 |
Writing Women |
20 credits |
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EAA016 |
The Essay |
10 credits |
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EAA015 |
Introduction to the Short Narrative |
10 credits |
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EAA002 |
Women’s Voices |
10 credits |
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Part B - Degree Modules
In the course of Semester 1 and Semester 2, candidates should register for a minimum of 40 credits in both English Studies and American Studies.
Candidates may choose optional modules so that as few as 50 or as many as 70 credit units are attempted in a semester, provided that 120 credit units are accumulated over the year.
Candidates may apply to the Head of Department for permission to undertake study abroad at Acadia University, Canada or the National University of Singapore. Candidates can apply to take a single semester abroad. The study abroad option would be in place of study at Loughborough for a single semester during Part B of the degree programme.
Candidates may apply to the Head of Department for permission to undertake an approved course of study at a European University which is a member of the EU-approved Erasmus exchange programme. Candidates can apply to take a single semester abroad. The exchange option would be in place of study at Loughborough for a single semester during Part B of the degree programme.
Candidates who register for the Erasmus exchange programme must undertake the placement in place of one semester at Part B of the degree programme. For one semester, students must register for a total of 60 credits in English and Drama in addition to the 60-credit Semester Abroad module EAB101.
American Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20 ) |
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EAB039 |
Nineteenth-Century American Writing |
20 credits |
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Optional |
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EAB102 |
American Adaptations |
10 credits |
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English Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAB001 |
British Drama 1576-1737 |
20 credits |
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Optional |
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EAB154 |
Chivalry from Chaucer to Shakespeare |
20 credits |
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EAB300 |
Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
20 credits |
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EAB113 |
Introduction to Linguistics |
20 credits |
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EAB032 |
Sensation Fiction |
20 credits |
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EAB009 |
Theatre, Nation and Trauma: Contemporary Irish Drama |
20 credits |
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EAB002 |
Writing of the 1790s: The Gothic and Revolution |
20 credits |
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EAB020 |
Diverse Voices |
10 credits |
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EAB918 |
Revolt Against Fate: Literature and Theatre of the Absurd |
10 credits |
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EAB026 |
Slavery and Empire 1750-1850 |
10 credits |
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EAB019 |
W B Yeats |
10 credits |
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EAB101 |
Study Abroad |
60 credits |
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American Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAB012 |
African American Culture |
20 credits |
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Optional |
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EAB061 |
American Nightmare II: Horror Film |
10 credits |
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EAB062 |
Moby Dick |
10 credits |
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English Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory - NONE |
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Optional |
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EAB114 |
Elephants and Engines: An Introduction to Creative Writing |
20 credits |
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EAB110 |
Introduction to Multimodality |
20 credits |
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EAB016 |
Language in Society (pre-requisite EAB113) |
20 credits |
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EAB050 |
Philosophy, Literature and the Arts |
20 credits |
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EAB008 |
Victorian Literature |
20 credits |
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EAB018 |
Women's Writing in the 17th Century |
20 credits |
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EAB203 |
Renaissance Lyric Poetry (also available at Part C) |
10 credits |
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EAB101 |
Study Abroad |
60 credits |
Part I
Four year Sandwich Programme (DPS) route
Candidates will undertake an approved placement leading to the Diploma in Professional Studies.
Semesters 1 and 2 |
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EAI001 |
Industrial Training Placement |
120 credits |
Part C - Degree Modules
In the course of Semester 1 and Semester 2, candidates should register for a minimum of 40 credits in both English Studies and American Studies.
Candidates may not choose a total of more than 30 credits in the year that have a prefix of EAB.
Candidates may choose optional modules so that as few as 50 or as many as 70 credit units are attempted in a semester, provided that 120 credit units are accumulated over the year.
American Studies Semesters 1 and 2 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 30) |
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EAC217 |
American Studies Dissertation |
30 credits |
American Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory - NONE |
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Optional |
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EAC012 |
America at War |
20 credits |
EAC034 |
Narratives of American Sport |
20 credits |
EUC607 |
The European Union and the United States |
20 credits |
English Studies Semester 1 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAC103 |
Modernisms |
20 credits |
Optional |
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EAC900 |
Analysing Work Experience in the Creative Industries |
20 credits |
EAC003 |
Decadence |
20 credits |
EAC042 |
Dimensions of Texts: An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics |
20 credits |
EAC023 |
Libertines and Libertinism |
20 credits |
EAC214 |
Maps and Motors: The Writing Portfolio (pre-requisite EAB114) |
20 credits |
EAC227 |
Myth and History: Milton's Paradies Lost |
20 credits |
EAC300 |
Rare Shakespeare |
20 credits |
EAC024 |
The Writings of Intimacy | 20 credits |
EAC104 |
Aphra Behn |
10 credits |
EAC206 |
Clarissa |
10 credits |
EAC301 |
T S Eliot |
10 credits |
EAC035 |
Poetics and Politics of Contemporary Literature |
10 credits |
American Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory (total modular weight 20) |
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EAC013 |
Postmodern America |
20 credits |
Optional |
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EAC703 |
Myths of America: Ideology and American Drama |
20 credits |
EAC032 |
Emily Dickinson |
10 credits |
EUC713 |
From Prohibition to the Swinging Sixties: The United States 1918-1969 |
20 credits |
English Studies Semester 2 |
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Compulsory - NONE |
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Optional |
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EAC900 |
Analysing Work Experience in the Creative Industries |
20 credits |
EAC806 |
The Child and The Book |
20 credits |
EAC014 |
Contemporary Irish Texts |
20 credits |
EAC228 |
Modern Subjects |
20 credits |
EAC229 |
Neo-Victorianism |
20 credits |
EAC109 |
Romantic Writings: 1815-1832 |
20 credits |
EAC008 |
Women's Drama |
20 credits |
EAC808 |
Publishers, Authors and Agents |
10 credits |
EAB203 |
Renaissance Lyric Poetry (cannot be taken if completed at Part B) |
10 credits |
EAC022 |
Ulysses |
10 credits |
5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award
In order to progress from Part A to Part B and from Part B to C and to be eligible for the award of an Honours degree, candidates must not only satisfy the minimum credit requirements set out in Regulation XX but also:
.1 In order to progress from Part A to Part B, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory modules.
.2 In order to progress from Part B to Part C, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory modules.
.3 To be eligible for the award of an Honours degree, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory modules.
Provision will be made in accordance with Regulation XX for candidates who have the right of re-assessment in any part of the Programme to undergo re-assessment in the University’s special assessment period.
6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification
Candidates' final degree classification will be determined on the basis of their performance in degree level Module Assessments in Parts B and C, in accordance with the scheme set out in Regulation XX. The percentage mark for each Part will be combined in the ratio Part B 40% : Part C 60% to determine the final percentage mark.