The course explores a range of media, forms and genres using a variety of scholarly approaches, and encourages the development of independent research skills. The Modern Literature and Culture module encourages close reading of works by writers of the period, while the Critical Contexts and the Special Topics modules offer the opportunity to analyse technologies, media, philosophical perspectives and art forms underpinning writing from c. 1900 to the present.
The course is particularly suitable for graduates with a first degree in English, although applicants holding a degree in a related subject will be considered. The course gives students a thorough grounding in the skills needed for independent research, and is an ideal foundation for further academic study in this field.
Studying on this MA course will help students to develop their written and oral communication skills; their ability to analyse and synthesise ideas and to organise complex materials in a lucid manner; their capacity for logical argumentation and critical thinking; and their time management and independent working skills.
Graduates from this MA will be strongly equipped to find employment in fields such as professional writing, publishing, journalism, film and television, teaching, PR, advertising and marketing, performance and the creative arts. The course is also an ideal preliminary stage for doctoral research in literature; candidates who obtain the MA and have found a promising subject requiring further study are encouraged to apply to the UCL MPhil/PhD course.
In the Graduate Outcomes Survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2018–2024 cohorts, 81% of graduates from this MA were in either highly skilled work or graduate-level study 15 months after graduation.
UCL English has an outstanding research record, with 94% of our research outputs being graded as 4* ‘world-leading’ or 3* ‘internationally excellent’ in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 . Staff publish in mainstream as well as academic media, and some publish original creative work.
Excellent facilities are provided by the UCL Library. It has several important holdings including the James Joyce Collection, the Little Magazines, Alternative Press and Poetry Store Collections, and the George Orwell Archive.