Why study English literature at university?

Are you a voracious bookworm? Fascinated by how authors around the world and across time have documented and influenced culture?

You might think curling up with a good book is nothing more than an enjoyable pastime. But here’s the best plot twist you’ve read in a while:

You could turn your love of reading into a fulfilling career by studying literature at university.

Including an English Literature major in your Bachelor of Arts (BA) won’t just enrich your study experience and expand your personal library. It’ll also equip you with a unique skill set that can help you thrive in a surprising range of jobs.

So, why study English Literature? We asked Dr Melissa Dickson, UQ Senior Lecturer and our English Literature Major Convener (and a UQ BA alum herself), for some insights. Here’s a quick look at what this area of study offers and the potential careers for English Literature majors.

What makes the English Literature major so good?

One thing that stands out about the English Literature major is that is doesn’t just teach you specific skills. It also enriches your overall perspective and your ability to understand and engage with the world around you.

“Studying literature allows us to encounter, experiment with, and immerse ourselves in a broad range of voices, opinions, experiences, and geographies,” says Melissa.

“In this discipline, we approach the world through the stories that have been told across places and cultures for centuries.”

“We learn to understand how those stories may position, alienate or influence us; we learn to fill the gaps in narratives creatively and with sensitivity to broader structures and their possibilities.”

And this holistic, wise worldview you get from studying literature at university is something you’ll get to use in every professional and personal path you take after graduating. It’s more than just being able to read and interpret books – it’s being able to read any room and interpret any situation and react accordingly. (Though, yes, you’ll likely develop a deeper appreciation of books as well!)

What skills do you get from studying literature at university?

Let’s start with the obvious. When you study literature, you become a master of words.

You learn how to read them, how to analyse them, and how to craft them into stories and messages. And this is a hugely valuable ability in almost any job you’ll have after uni.

“Words are the most ubiquitous tools we have at our disposal to make sense of our own stories and the world around us,” says Melissa.

“The study of the fabric of those stories and the words with which they are woven creates new and unending possibilities of interpretation, perspective, and understanding.”

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

As omnipresent and influential as words can be, Melissa and her students are often more interested in the larger entities that words contribute to. Understanding words can often be the gateway to understanding something much more complex.

“Even more powerfully than that, though, the study of English Literature is not only the study of words on a page but also of history, landscapes, psychology, law, and spirituality – matters that capture the range of the human experience.”

Careers for English Literature majors

BA graduates with an English Literature major bring a lot to the table for almost any organisation, which is why the career opportunities are a little tricky to narrow down.

You may step straight into a career that’s directly related to literature, perhaps as an author, publisher or journalist. But it’s just as likely you’ll find rewarding work in a field where your literature background is valuable in more subtle ways, especially if you get a job based on your other major or degree (if you study a dual degree).

Either way, having English Literature on your resumé is a bright green flag. It doesn’t just tell employers that you have some great novel recommendations; it also tells them you’ve learnt how to think more deeply and critically than the average job candidate.

“The training that a major in English Literature offers you means that you take forward into your work, life, and future roles a firm sense of how to analyse and evaluate written and oral communications holistically and sensitively,” says Melissa.

“It’s partly for this reason that English Literature graduates are such attractive prospects to today’s employers, who increasingly value their ability to work as a team whilst retaining a passion for independent enquiry, to think creatively, and to communicate in sophisticated ways in speech and writing.”

Jobs for literature majors

So, what can you do with a literature major? The sky might be the limit, but there are a few fields that graduates tend to gravitate towards.

“Our graduates go on to roles in areas including media, communications, content production, marketing, PR, teaching, consulting,” says Melissa.

Some of the common jobs for a literature major include:

• publishing executive
• editor
• content writer
• copywriter
• author
• creative director
• arts administrator
• English teacher
• English as a foreign language teacher
• literary coach
• education adviser.

And if this small snapshot of potential jobs isn’t enticing enough, how about a career that currently exists only in fiction (if at all)?

The truth is that many students in this field will end up in jobs we don’t know about today – but you’ll be ready for these jobs nonetheless.

“Future English Literature graduates will also be doing jobs that don’t yet exist,” says Melissa.

“But they will be equipped not only to handle them but to excel in them because of the wide range of adaptable skills that they’ll develop as part of their learning and the teaching offered here at UQ.”

What do you study in English Literature?

The English Literature major courses at UQ include:

• Contemporary Literature: Reading and Writing
• Literary Classics: Texts and Traditions
• Australian Literature
• World Literature
• The Novel: Realism, History, Fiction
• Postmodern Literature
• Gothic Fiction
• Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
• Thinking about Literature: Criticism and Theory

Learn more about UQ's English Literature major Explore other options in the UQ Bachelor of Arts