BA History and English Literature
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UCAS code
QV31 -
A level offer
BBB -
Year of entry
2026/27 See 2025/26 entry -
Course duration
Full Time: 3 Years
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Year of entry
2026/27 See 2025/26 entry -
Course duration
Full Time: 3 Years
Our joint honours BA History and English Literature course allows you to explore the richness of English literature alongside the rich history and variety of human experience.
Discover a thousand years of history whilst experiencing all the specialist areas on offer at the University of Reading. The Department of History's expertise covers a wide range of regions, from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East. The University of Reading ranks in the top 100 for Arts and Humanities globally (91 in QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2024).
In your first year, your core History modules will explore people, politics, and revolution – finding out how people struggled for power in past societies – and the culture and concepts those societies developed. We will teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice.
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. 100% of our research is of international standing (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – English Language and Literature). In the Guardian University Guide 2025, the University of Reading is ranked 9th for English.
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 Department of English Literature, 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.
In both the Department of English Literature and the Department of History, 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 the National Student Survey 2024, 100% of students in the Department of English Literature and 98% of students in the Department of History said that teaching staff are good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024, respondents from the Department of English Literature; respondents studying in the Department of History).
This course is flexible and enables you to shape your study to match your interests. Taught in small interactive seminar groups, you will regularly be able to discuss and debate topics with teaching staff and fellow students.
Field trips in the UK and abroad enable you to access new areas of history within their historical surroundings. Past examples include the National Trust in Winchester and Westminster, and further afield in Paris and Berlin.
You can study abroad for a term in your second year at one of the University's partner institutions, including those in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The University also offers all students the chance to learn a modern language alongside their core subjects.
Placement
Placements are a prominent feature of our degree courses and highly encouraged. Placements are a good way to show you how you can use the skills acquired through studying history in the real world. In History we ensure that placements are incorporated into your core learning. In the second year, we offer opportunities for short group placements in museums and heritage and media organisations, and encourage students to reflect on what they have learned from previous employment or voluntary work experience.
Through our links with the Careers Centre, you can source potential employers and help with CVs and letters of application. Staff in the department also have close links with the university’s Institute of Education, Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) and Special Collections (archives), and with external organisations such as the Berkshire Record Office.
You also have the option to study abroad for a semester in the second year. Some of the universities we have links with include University of Ottawa, Canada; University of Maastricht, Netherlands; University of Georgia, USA; and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
For more information, please visit the Department of History website.