English Literature MRes
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

The MRes is a postgraduate degree that allows you to embark upon a closely-supervised research project. At the same time, you will participate in taught modules that comprise a framework designed to aid the acquisition of a wide range of transferable skills that are at once generic to all researchers and specific to your chosen discipline.

By progressing through this robust and dynamic framework of research training, and building on your strong undergraduate degree, you will gain an understanding of research methods, contemporary digital literacies, and acquire expert professional skills in communication, self-management, and project planning.

Our assessment is carefully designed to promote and nurture student-centred learning, and is tailored to the diverse needs of our students. Assessment encompasses traditional and innovative modes, including a 20,000 word dissertation (or equivalent project), oral and written presentations, critical reviews, and portfolios of work.

This MRes reflects – and is informed by – staff interests across periods, locations, and theoretical approaches: from the Early Modern period to contemporary writing; British, American and transnational literature; class, gender, and sexuality.

Northumbria’s Humanities department works with a range of cultural partners including New Writing North, the co-operative movement, Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums and Shandy Hall, providing students with direct industry exposure and live project opportunities.

Many staff are well-known figures in their own research fields and the department boasts a significant number of staff at professorial level.

Humanities at Northumbria is composed of three subject teams: History, Literature & Creative Writing, and English Language & Linguistics, and is also developing strengths in the fields of American Studies and Heritage Studies.

The Humanities department is made up of a community of learners all the way through from first year undergraduate to final year PhD level. All Humanities staff are engaged in research and actively create the knowledge that is taught in the department.

English Literature MRes students, as part of Northumbria’s Humanities department, will have access to the new Institute for Humanities which houses a range of specialist research resources.

We are recognised for world-leading research in all our Humanities’ disciplines. Our researchers have attracted major funding from Research Councils UK as well as the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust and Nuffield Foundation.

Northumbria is rated in the UK top 15 for the quality of its English Literature, Language and Creative Writing publications. You can explore some of the key themes here.

Furthermore, as an MRes student in English Literature you will engage with the activities of the Institute for Humanities, which is home to five international journals in English studies and which regularly hosts an exciting range of seminars, symposia and conferences on topics as varied as Memory, Heritage and Identity; Transnationalism and Societal Change; Digital Humanities; Medical Humanities; and American Studies.

On completion of the MRes, you will have improved your employability through enhancing your critical skills, presentation skills, and reflective and evaluative abilities. You will be self-motivating, capable of making decisions in complex situations, and possess a thirst for independent learning. 

In addition to these personal skills, you will have demonstrated a critical awareness of the current research and scholarship within your discipline, facilitating your ability to interpret knowledge in a variety of professional fields.

The MRes builds on undergraduate skills, distinguished by the level of intensity, complexity, and density of study.  Advanced communication skills and media literacy must be demonstrated along with exceptional ability for time management, ethical and professional understanding, and highly developed research and inquiry skills.

From the start of the course you are encouraged to access the central university Careers and Employment Service, to seek advice on areas such as career guidance.

The MRes is perfect for people wishing go on to study a PhD, while ensuring that those students who move on to work as researchers outside the university system will have the skills necessary to meet the needs of the public services, the professions, and of employers generally.

The course offers a qualification that may enhance promotion prospects in some professions – most notably teaching, professional research, museums/archives, public policy, and project management.

Helen Maria Storey came to Northumbria as a mature MRes student. She says, “I would never have achieved what I have done without the support of Northumbria University and the staff encouragement to continue.

…[I enjoyed most] the opportunities to meet acclaimed academics at seminars and conferences that I never would have had the chance to meet.

Don't think about it, just do it!"