BA Philosophy and English Literature with Placement Experience

Develop your critical and analytical skills, apply them to a variety of philosophical and literary texts, and gain vital professional skills with our BA Philosophy and English Literature with Placement Experience degree.

In philosophy, we will give you an understanding of the central philosophical principles, concepts, problems, texts and figures. You will be taught by leading experts whose research strengths lie especially in moral philosophy and the philosophy of the mind and language. You will also have the chance to explore non-Western philosophies, such as Indian philosophy.

Your first year will introduce you to the general skills required for all philosophy. You can also select modules from outside the department. In years two and three you will have the opportunity to explore your chosen topic in more depth. These may include studying philosophy in terms of ethics and animals, crime and punishment or religion.

In your English Literature modules, you will read more of authors and genres that you may already know (from tragedy to Gothic, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Plath and Beckett). But you will also encounter aspects of literary studies that may be less familiar to you, from children’s literature to publishing studies and the history of the book. Our academics have published research on everything from medieval poetry to contemporary American fiction.

Professional placement

This four-year degree includes an integrated, year-long work placement between your second and final year of study.

Supported by our dedicated placement team, you'll gain real-world experience and a range of transferable skills that are highly valued in the workplace. Your placement will enable you to put your newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice, and also provide opportunities for you to build your network.

We have excellent links with a diverse range of employers from industry, the public sector and the charity sector, meaning that we can help you find placements for a variety of career paths.

Over the years, students in the Department of Philosophy have completed a wide range of placements. Roles have included:

Education and Engagement Assistant
HR Intern
Communications Co-ordinator
Azure Specialist.

Students have worked at organisations such as the House of Commons, the 澳门六合彩开奖记录, Microsoft, and Enterprise Mobility.

Recent placements have also enabled students to examine philosophical issues in the workplace – for example, working at a zoo to learn more about the ethical treatment of animals.

If you would prefer to study this course without a placement year, you can choose our three-year BA Philosophy and English Literature course.

Placement support

Our dedicated placement co-ordinator will support you throughout securing a placement, during the placement, and while transitioning back to university life.

From your first year, we will guide you through the career planning process and support you in identifying paid placements suited to your individual career interests. We'll also review your CV and application forms, build your confidence for interviews, tests and assessment centres, and help you prepare for receiving feedback.

Your learning environment

As you progress through your degree, your module choices become more diverse and specialised: you can pursue archive work, or look at the politics of literature.

Everyone in the English Department, from new lecturers to professors, teaches at every level of the degree: this gives you the benefit of our expertise and makes you part of the conversation about our research and its impact outside the classroom.

We place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment. In your first and second years, you will have a mix of lectures and seminars.

In both subjects, you will be taught in small interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with teaching staff and peers. Our small class sizes ensure that you will receive dedicated, individual attention.

Overview

Professional placement

This four-year degree includes an integrated, year-long work placement between your second and final year of study.

Education and Engagement Assistant
HR Intern
Communications Co-ordinator
Azure Specialist.

Students have worked at organisations such as the House of Commons, the 澳门六合彩开奖记录, Microsoft, and Enterprise Mobility.

Recent placements have also enabled students to examine philosophical issues in the workplace – for example, working at a zoo to learn more about the ethical treatment of animals.

If you would prefer to study this course without a placement year, you can choose our three-year BA Philosophy and English Literature course.

Placement support

Our dedicated placement co-ordinator will support you throughout securing a placement, during the placement, and while transitioning back to university life.

Learning

Your learning environment

As you progress through your degree, your module choices become more diverse and specialised: you can pursue archive work, or look at the politics of literature.

We place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment. In your first and second years, you will have a mix of lectures and seminars.

Entry requirements A Level BBB

Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS and we'll guarantee you a place even if you don't quite meet your offer. For details, see our firm choice scheme.

Our typical offers are expressed in terms of A level, BTEC and International Baccalaureate requirements. However, we also accept many other qualifications.

Typical offer

BBB, including grade B in A level English Literature or related subject.

Related subjects include English Language and Literature, English Language, Drama and Theatre Studies, and Creative Writing.

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall, including 5 in English at higher level or related subject

Extended Project Qualification

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study, we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.

BTEC Extended Diploma

DDM (Modules taken must be comparable to subject specific requirement)

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Alternative entry requirements for International and EU students

For country specific entry requirements look at entry requirements by country.

International Foundation Programme

If you are an international or EU student and do not meet the requirements for direct entry to your chosen degree you can join the 澳门六合彩开奖记录’s International Foundation Programme. Successful completion of this 1 year programme guarantees you a place on your chosen undergraduate degree. English language requirements start as low as IELTS 4.5 depending on progression degree and start date.

Learn more about our International Foundation programme

Pre-sessional English language programme

If you need to improve your English language score you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.

Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Compulsory modules

Reason and Argument

Explore arguments in different contexts such as newspaper opinions, social media spats and philosophical treaties. You’ll develop critical thinking and logic to evaluate claims and arguments.

Great Works in Philosophy

You’ll delve into the most important philosophical works, considering the significance of each text and analysing the arguments within them to sharpen your critical skills.

Poetry in English

From the Renaissance to the present, uncover the history of poetry as you explore key genres related to love, politics, pastoral, elegy, satire, the sonnet, the ode, and the dramatic monologue. You’ll study poems drawn from the wider English-speaking world including Ireland, the Caribbean and North America, encountering the diversity of voices found in gender and sexuality.

Theory and Practice of Writing

Discover the key concepts that shape our understanding of literature from the perspective of composition and of critical work. Consider how writers are connected to other authors, editors and publishers as you articulate your own and others’ ideas in a portfolio of written work.

Optional modules

Radical Philosophy

Question your assumptions and beliefs by exploring radical philosophical claims. You’ll compare and contrast different ways of doing philosophy, such as phenomenology and deconstruction.

Global Justice

Discover global perspectives on justice and freedom, from the Buddha to Christian female mystics, to acquire new insights and question your own beliefs and ideas.

Philosophical Skills for Life

Develop the skills needed to produce persuasive and nuanced academic arguments, research, and referencing. You’ll learn how to identify limitations and advantages of philosophical writing.

Modern American Culture and Counterculture

Discover American countercultures in work, from 1950s Beat poetry to fiction responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. You’ll study the perspectives of African-American, Native American and white American creatives in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, YA fiction, science fiction, drama, songs, films, war reportage and the graphic novel.

Shelf Life

Become acquainted with English literature’s material dimension and how writers, both past and present, have depicted the library as a symbol. As you study, you'll interpret poems, novels and plays, and investigate books and other archival documents as physical objects.

What Is Comparative Literature?

Learn about the major critical and theoretical issues in the study of Comparative Literature, as well as the important methodologies for studying literature in a comparative context. Approach a cluster of texts from different cultural and historical traditions, you'll be be encouraged to reflect on the practices and consequences of reading transnationally.

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

Learn about the current thinking on translation by exploring some specific case studies. The historical approach to translation will allow you to develop a critical awareness of the role played by: genres, readership, institutional influences, market constraints, gender attitudes and discourses, purpose. In seminars, you will explore the challenges facing translators when dealing with literary, scientific, philosophical and political texts

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the 澳门六合彩开奖记录.

Optional modules

Ethical Argument

Develop your knowledge and skills by considering arguments in moral philosophy and contribute to debate by learning how to argue in a charitable but critical way.

Oppression, Inequality, and the Enemies of Democracy

Explore the concerns of society by asking questions within contemporary political philosophy. You’ll enhance your ability to think reflectively and critically about the role of fairness in society.

Myth, Legend and Romance: Medieval Storytelling

Explore storytelling in medieval England as you take in the fantastical tales of ancient heroes, drama that blends comedy and religious devotion, and magic and supernatural beings. You’ll consider the stark contrast of narrative structure, character development and language use by medieval writers in contrast to our own.

Modernism in Poetry and Fiction

Examine the concepts of modernity, modernism, and the history of early twentieth-century poetry and fiction. You’ll explore experimentation and innovation in poetic and narrative form, and their relation to wider social upheaval and cultural movements in the period.

Contemporary Fiction

Study a selection of fiction from the 1980s to the present day, exploring the formal, thematic and cultural diversity of Anglophone fiction produced in this period. You’ll consider these texts within a number of social, political and historical contexts, such as multiculturalism, feminism and globalisation.

Writing the Public Sphere

Study literature designed to prompt social and political change as you examine speeches, pamphlets, tracts and political posters from the early modern period to the present. Consider how such literature shapes debates on race, class, religion, nationality and women’s rights across Britain and Ireland.

Meaning and the Mind

Consider questions such as How can there be minds in a physical world? How does a mental state (like a memory or a perceptual experience) come to represent the world? What role does consciousness play in the mind? Discuss and analyse some of the core arguments in philosophy of mind, including with historical reference to the figures who originally formulated those arguments.

Global Philosophies

Participate in cross-cultural conversations about global issues such as gender, race, social identities, and death. You will be introduced to and taught how to analyse a range of concepts, including Buddhist, Jain, and African American critical theories, performative theories, and phenomenological theories.

Aesthetics

Explore topics that are central to philosophical aesthetics including beauty, definitions of art and truth in literature. This will enable you to develop critical understanding of philosophical problems raised by art and aesthetic experience.

Philosophy through the Ages: The Minds that Shaped our World

You’ll engage with a range of ideas and theories from classic texts that mark some of the most important and influential ideas in philosophy, from Socrates to the present day.

Ignorance, Doubt, and Relativism

Investigate the concept of knowledge and analyse and evaluate some of the core arguments in contemporary epistemology. You will learn about the different theories of knowledge and explore famous works from Ernest Sosa, Alvin Goldman, David Lewis, Edward Craig, and Miranda Fricker.

Early Modern Literature

Discover the rich and fascinating literary culture of the early modern or Renaissance period. You'll explore the ways that English literature was shaped by, and helped to re-shape, English culture in the years between the Reformation and the Civil Wars.

Enlightenment Revolution and Romanticism

Study the political revolutions that shook British society to its core during Age of Enlightenment (c.1680-1790): England’s bloodless ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688; the colonial revolution of American independence; and the French Revolution of 1789.

Victorian Literature

Victorian literature consists of a period where authors began to consider people’s place in the world with God, the workings of the mind, and the role of class and gender in the construction of identity. You’ll engage with these ideas as you consider some of the greatest works of the period – from Dickens and Hardy to Tennyson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

The Business of Books

You'll cover the history and development of modern trade publishing and have focused sessions on some of its key players, including publishers and literary agents. Through a combination of theoretical, methodological, and hands-on teaching sessions and workshops, you’ll study the role and function of books in historical and institutional contexts including libraries, bookshops, publishing houses, and board rooms.

Writing America: Perspectives on the Nation

Examine the construction of American national identity in American literature from a range of different perspectives. You’ll study a diversity of American voices and central themes including myths of the frontier, Manifest Destiny, personal and political liberty, and the construction of race, gender and sexuality.

Critical Thinking

Approach familiar ideas and issues from unfamiliar angles that prompt you to re-examine the unspoken grounds on which common-sense ways of thinking are based. You’ll take part in exciting and rewarding discussions on issues of language, power, and identity, ideology, gender, and race.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the 澳门六合彩开奖记录.

Placement year

Compulsory modules

Dissertation in Philosophy

Engage in original and independent research to produce an extended essay that focuses on a philosophical topic of your choice. You’ll also submit an assessed research proposal and give a presentation.

Dissertation in English Literature

Complete a substantial work of literary-critical argument based on sustained independent research under the guidance of a supervisor. Engage in depth with a topic of particular interest as you develop the skillset accumulated during your first two years of study.

Independent Learning / Extended Essay

Choose a philosophical topic that fascinates you to form the basis of an extended essay. This will enhance your independent learning skills, self-awareness and ability to reflect on your progress and strengths.

Optional modules

Free Will and Responsibility

Investigate the concepts of freedom and responsibility using philosophical thinking and by applying approaches from different cultures.

Philosophy of Language: Animals, Babies, Colours, and Language Death

Engage with questions concerning meaning, language and communication. To address these, you'll engage with foundational texts in linguistics, psychology and anthropology and research informed by developments in the cognitive sciences.

Literature and Mental Health

Discover how literature engaged with mental health in the first half of the twentieth century, a crucial turning point in psychology. You’ll consider the de-stigmatisation of mental health in the wake of World War I, the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology that emerged from it, and how literature engages with trauma, anxiety and obsession.

Early Chinese Philosophy

Deepen your understanding of the history of philosophy. You’ll focus on early Chinese philosophy to include the Confucian and daoist traditions, as well as moral, social, and political philosophy.

Current Moral Philosophy

Explore current debates in ethics, roughly focusing on material published in the last 20 years. These debates could be totally new, or they could be current takes and debates about much older issues (such as Aristotle's ethics).

Fairness

Learn about leading contemporary theories of fairness, including the relation of fairness to impartiality, equality, proportionality, need, desert, and free-riding. You'll address conflicts between fairness and other values, while developing your skills in dealing with abstract moral concepts and normative arguments.

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Explore and debate critical issues in business ethics from a moral, practical and, sometimes, political perspective. You will learn about topics such as the morality of sweatshop labour, the ethics behind advertising, and the corporate obligation to do what is right.

Society and State in Ancient Greece

Study the classic works in Ancient Greek political philosophy, including some or all of Aristotle's Politics and Rhetoric and Plato's Republic and Gorgias. You'll look at the philosophers' conceptions of politics, society, and government, and examine their relevance to modern concerns and issues.

The Scandal of Film

Study the role films play in our cultural lives. Explore film in relation to reality, the human condition, philosophy and art.

Hume and Wittgenstein

Speech Attacks: Bullshit, Lies, Propaganda

Discuss the foundations of speech act theory and examine ways that it has been applied to philosophical problems in feminist theory and political and social theory. Explore lies and bullshit, and what (if anything) is wrong with these uses of language. And we will discuss the nature of propaganda and 'fake news' and how to resist its effects.

Paradoxes

Explore some of the great contemporary and historical paradoxes in philosophy, and their proposed solutions. Philosophy is full of paradoxes – logical, semantic, metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and others, which shed light on big philosophical issues.

Metaphysics

Discover metaphysics, one of the foundation stones of philosophy, and how the way we deal with metaphysical problems affects our approach to problems in many other areas of philosophy, such as philosophy of mind and epistemology.

Philosophy of Religion

Explore the central topics within analytic philosophy of religion, examining both contemporary ideas and their historical origins. Through lectures and seminars, you will evaluate these concepts and consider their significance and validity.

British Black and Asian Voices: 1948 to the Present

Examine British poetry, drama, novels, short stories and films by writers of black and Asian descent. You'll read the set texts alongside theoretical and historical material examining issues of cultural capital, national identity and minority communities.

Virginia Woolf

Gain a knowledge and understanding of selected novels and essays by Virginia Woolf, while exploring key issues including her challenges to concepts of boundaries, hierarchies, sex, sexuality and difference, and her attention to debates concerning the social, political, cultural and economic marginalisation of women in the early years of the twentieth century.

Decadence and Degeneration: Literature of the 1880s and 1890s

Engage with iconic texts in English literature, including Stoker's Dracula, Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, while exploring what's meant by these terms 'decadence' and 'degeneration', calling, amongst many other things, on portrayals of 1890s' foppishness, Darwinian models of evolution, the emergent New Woman phenomenon, the Wilde trial, and the portrayal of prostitution.

Children's Literature

Explore issues surrounding children’s literature and its criticism. Questions and analyse critical assumptions and formulations around authorship, memory, observation, readership, and identity.

The Bloody Stage: Revenge and Death in Renaissance Drama

Explore the representation of revenge and death in revenge tragedies performed on the Renaissance stage. Analyse the staging of death scenes and whether there are differences in the ways that men and women die on stage.

From Romance to Fantasy

Explore the role played by fantastical or wondrous elements in English literature from the middle ages to the present day. Focus on a range of key narrative structures (such as the quest), persistent motifs such as magical objects, and influential modes, such as the gothic.

Lyric Voices, 1340-1650

Explore lyric poetry from the Middle Ages and the renaissance. You’ll look at the presentation of themes such as love and longing, grief, and the fear of death, and compare the ways in which authors make use of literary conventions to present such themes.

James Joyce

Trace the literary development of one of the most important and influential writers of the twentieth century through an intensive study of Joyce's experimental and influential novel Ulysses, and get an introduction to what is arguably the most challenging and wonderful book of the Twentieth Century, Finnegans Wake.

Placing Jane Austen

Examine the movements of Austen’s characters through rooms and houses, the patterns of their dances in assembly halls, the paths of their journeys through town and country. Investigate how these movements sometimes represent changes of heart or class, of mind or fortune and how they are always significant for the carefully drawn lines of her narratives.

Writing Women: Nineteenth Century Poetry

Explore writing primarily by (but also about) women in the nineteenth century, including Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh. Ask how women found a voice in a predominantly patriarchal society, what subjects were deemed suitable for female poets, and how such poets overcame the limitations of expectation.

Modern and Contemporary British Poetry

Study key trends in poetry's engagement with changing circumstances in England, Wales, and Scotland in the twentieth century and beyond. Consider issues including the aftermaths of modernism, gender and poetry, British poetry and post-war retrenchment, the 'poetry wars' of the 1970s and the perpetuation of 'Movement' ideals down to the present.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the 澳门六合彩开奖记录.

Fees

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,535 per year for 2025/26 then fixed per year at this fee for the standard duration of your course.

New international students: £25,250 per year for 2025/26 then fixed per year at this fee for the standard duration of your course.

Tuition fees

To find out more about how the 澳门六合彩开奖记录 sets its tuition fees, see our fees and funding pages.

Additional costs

Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Placement year fees

If you spend a full year on placement, you will only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee for that year. For more information, please see our fees and funding pages or contact placements@reading.ac.uk.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Flexible courses (price per 10 credit module)

UK/Republic of Ireland students: £795

International students: £2,105

Careers

Specialist career modules throughout the degree will give you the chance to think about what career you would like and what skills you will need for it.

In addition, our Careers team will support you with:

CV writing, placement applications and interview techniques
developmental workshops, career advice sessions and recruitment events
career mentoring and training sessions.

Your placement will provide you with experience of applying for roles and a year’s worth of valuable work experience to help you stand out. Many students in the School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics are offered jobs from their placement providers after they have completed their placement.

Studying philosophy enables you to develop a range of transferable skills. In particular, skills in clear thinking, logical analysis and the critical assessment of argument are greatly valued in a variety of professional careers such as law, politics, management and marketing.

Past graduates have found employment in the civil service, journalism, consultancy, finance, local and central government. Previous employers have included the Ministry of Defence, Cambridge University Press, local authorities and other universities.

Some of our graduates choose to continue their studies at postgraduate level, or through conversion courses and teacher training.

Overall 94% of graduates from Philosophy are in work or further study within 15 months of graduation. (Based on our analysis of HESA data (c) HESA 2024, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021/22 includes all Philosophy responders).

澳门六合彩开奖记录