Undergraduate study | English and Scottish Literature

Skills and experience

Studying literature shows an openness to ideas and perspectives other than your own, an essential attribute in many careers and a global marketplace.

By engaging with a broad range of texts and a variety of approaches to reading on our courses, you will gain literary, critical thinking and creative skills.

Graduating with a four-year Master of Arts degree from the University of Edinburgh also shows intellectual maturity, resilience, and flexibility.

The skills you will be able to demonstrate to employers include the ability to:

• understand, analyse and articulate complex issues and concepts
• manage your time to meet deadlines on different types of projects
• work independently and as part of a group

Opportunities across sectors

During your time with us, you will study a range of subjects, with the option to take courses in languages, business, politics, law and many other areas of the humanities and social sciences. 

As you progress through your honours years (Years 3 and 4), you will specialise in selected literary topics, periods or genres.

This breadth of education gives you the foundations to excel in a range of career sectors, especially those that value transferable humanities skills.

Our alumni have gone on to careers in the private, public, not-for-profit, and for-benefit sectors, sometimes through graduate training schemes where the ability to communicate well is essential in securing a competitive place.

Typical sectors include:

• business, finance, commerce and tech
• communications, marketing, advertising and public relations
• creative writing, publishing, culture, heritage, and the arts
• education, outreach, advocacy and training
• journalism, broadcasting and media
• leisure, tourism and travel
• politics, policy work, diplomacy, civil service and law
• research, development, consultancy and venture acceleration

Further study

The enhanced research skills you will develop on a four-year programme, particularly in your honours years, are a valuable asset if you wish to continue studying at postgraduate level. 

At the University of Edinburgh, we typically offer a Masters by Research programme in English Literature, with the option to specialise in Scottish Literature. We also typically offer interdisciplinary taught masters in:

• Literature and Modernity: 1900 to the Present
• Literature and Society: Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian
• Creative Writing
• Comparative Literature
• Intermediality

Any of our masters degrees, whether research-based or taught, is a good foundation for a PhD, but is equally of value as a stand-alone qualification.

Beyond literature and associated fields, a degree in English Literature prepares you for further study in almost any humanities and social science discipline.

Careers advice