Third Year Modules

Heyo!

I'm now almost two weeks into my third and (hopefully) final year of university, and I'm honestly feeling so drained. I have been in the education system since I was three years old, so this will mark my eighteenth year in the system without a break, and I feel so tired. I am really looking forward to the end of uni so I can take some time out and go travel to a few places and celebrate the end of a very long chapter in my life! I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had, the progress I have made due to amazing people like teachers, peers and pals and the amazing university journey, but right now it's draining me, and I think that's okay.

So many people in my year are feeling the exact same way, and although it is sad that we all feel so uncertain it makes us all feel a bit more normal, and in turn has helped me calm down and put things into perspective more and more. I have such high hopes and plans for this year, and I just hope I can pull it all off, get the grades I want and know that I have done everything in my power to get the best degree possible and produce the work I know I am capable of.

I thought I would take the chance today to talk about the modules I am doing this year, because I have had a lot of people, a healthy mix of both friends and family, ask me about the modules I am doing. I just don't want to spend the rest of the year explaining what modules I am doing and what they entail, so here's a little run-down of my module choices and what I'll be doing this year.

I do a joint-honours degree, so I do 60 credits in English Literature, and another 60 credits in Publishing (one big module and one smaller module in each!) and this makes up my third and final year! I have followed this structure throughout my whole degree because I like the equal workload from this and worry that major/minoring or dropping Publishing would badly impact me in the future and I would miss the creativity and balance of the two.

English modules

I am doing two modules in English this year, the 40 credit (core module) dissertation, but instead of doing the formal stupidly long 10,000 word essay, I am doing an editorial assistant role at The Irish Studies Review, and I am also doing a 20 credit module called Literature and Evil and I am so excited to get stuck into the two of these!

'Dissertation'

So as I've said a few time now I'm not doing a traditional English Dissertation, but I will be an editorial assistant at The Irish Studies Review, which I feel will give me invaluable industry experience and will be far more beneficial than writing a long essay about my chosen subject (I won't say it because there's always a chance I may opt out of this and do the normal dissertation, but fingers crossed I don't have to!) I am really excited to do this, as it involves me commissioning content, line-editing work, proofreading work and doing what I would do in the role after university. The main reason I wanted to take this was to stand out from others who would be applying for editorial assistant roles, as I will already have experience at one of the top academic journals in Europe! I am also doing a preliminary essay about my work, and an extended piece (between a report and an essay) about an aspect of marketing, academic publishing or open access publishing. I really hope this works out because I think it will be really good for me, and it will help me figure out what I want to do with my life, and I find the best way to decide if you want to really do something is to try it out in a safe space if at all possible. I'll keep you all posted on this as the year goes on!

Literature and Evil

This is the module that I have been most excited about, right since I went to the open day at Bath Spa almost three years ago now! It is by far the most popular third year module, and this is probably due to the subjects and texts we cover across the module. We look at types of evil, critical theory to support notions and ideas of evil, content outside the realm of books, and even graphic novels to have an in-depth look at what evil is, what it is to be evil and evil as a concept. The module also sees us spend a lot of time studying the Holocaust, and the impact it had on individuals and the world, as well as modern-day serial killers, psychopaths and testimonies. We cover so much on the module, and it has been whittled down to a list of texts that are pivotal, but as our lecturers rightly said they could run a whole degree about evil in literature! I already know a lot about Nazi Germany and subsequent things we look at, so I am looking forward to bringing my knowledge to the texts and applying theories to help me try to understand the different types of evil, and the human capacity for evil. I will, of course, keep everyone posted as to my progress, the texts I am studying and enjoying and the course in general, because it is so fascinating!

Publishing Modules

I am doing the core publishing module, Digital Publishing, this year, and it involves looking at lots of different aspects of modern digital publishing in the industry, and the way we consume this type of published material. I am also doing a module called The Commissioning Editor after Christmas, which is an intense term-long module that involves taking on the role of a commissioning editor and coming up with a sample of a book idea.

Digital Publishing

I have already started this module properly, and we are first looking at different types of publishing throughout the last thirty years or so, and how advances in the modern world such as the internet, the rise of the E-book and technological advances have changed the way we publish and consume content. I am really enjoying this module so far, and we are preparing for the first assessment already, which is a long blog piece about a subject or issue of our choosing in the realms of digital publishing, be it children's publishing, the E-book, news and multimedia publishing, or the future of publishing for examples. I am feeling really prepared for this module, and I am so thrilled that there is a huge push for us to do industry-based work experience within the module. I am (hopefully) going to be helping out with TedxBristol in November, as well as maybe another one two things to form a portfolio of industry projects I can write about and present in my final portfolio. We also do some personal projects too, and I already have some ideas and plans lined up for these, so I am keen to get some guidance and get cracking with those as soon as I can! This module is pretty intense, but I am looking forward to seeing my progress and my work to hit a point and standard where I am truly happy with it and know it's the best I could have done due to the new skills I am going to learn this year along the course of the module.

The Commissioning Editor

I haven't actually started this module yet so there is very little I can actually say about it. I start the module in January next year, and I am excited at the prospect of looking into the different genres of books and finding one that is right for me, and working on it to produce a ready-to-go sample for a book idea of my choosing, I think I have already decided what I want to do, but I am going to use the time I have between now and January when the module starts to do some extra research and explore a couple of other ideas before I settle on this one. I will probably do an update after Christmas when this module has started to re-address this and keep everyone up to date that want to know!

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I think that's pretty much all I have for now, but I am really looking forward to tackling all of this head-on, and trying to keep on-top of everything as well as trying to have a bit of a social life outside of uni. Wish me luck!

B x