Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

How to Study English in Your First Term of University

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This is my advice to First Year English students studying in their first term at University.

This is everything I would have done differently.

If I could go back in time and get the most out of my English degree as possible, this is how I would structure my time, how I would approach my reading and writing assignments, and who I would read.

If there is interest, I will do a second, third, fourth part, and so on.

The schedule is modelled on the syllabus from Michaelmas (First Term) in Year One of Oxford University’s English Language and Literature Degree.

Timestamps, notes, links and resources are listed below the video.

How to Study English in Your First Term of University

BEFORE YOU GO “UP” TO UNIVERSITY

  • 2 main pieces of advice:
  • 4:00 – what to do if big reading lists scare you
  • 5:00 – indulge your personal literary loves alongside the reading
  • 6:47 – commit to reading and meta-learning (learning how to learn)
  • 7:25 – learn how to plan effectively
    • Having a planning day each week
  • 7:50 – goal setting 
  • 7:40 – learn to write a first class-essay
  • 10:20 – most effective reading schedule
  • 11:10 – establish a good diet and exercise regime
    • Your body and mind are intertwined
    • Cardio every day + before study sessions
    • Academia is a life-long pursuit
  • 14:00 – find a critical parent
  • 14:30 – err on the side of early
  • 14:50 – print off lecture list
    • Circle 10 interesting ones per term
      • Circle 2-3 you don’t want to go to (and go to them)
  • 15:00 – always look for hook-holds
    • Footnote follow-up
    • Be T-shaped
  • 15:30 – scale your reading (book reviews, videos, podcasts)
    • Establish more feedback points
  • 16:15 – aim to possess by memory 
  • 16:40 – connect your loves + do tons of extracurriculars 

CLARIFYING QUESTIONS

  • What do you like? Why?
  • What don’t you like? Why the resistance?
  • What “important” things don’t you like? Why?
  • What “unimportant” things do you like? Why?
  • Who will be your 3 critical parents?
  • How will you “spiral off” from your 7 self-chosen books?
  • What 10 ideas/parts from books are you most keen to discuss?
  • What questions would you like answers to?
  • What is art?
  • What is realism?
  • What is great literature?
  • Who should be included in the cannon?

FIRST TERM – OLD/MIDDLE ENGLISH

  • 27:50 – get started on Chaucer right away
    • Riverside Chaucer
      • 3 hours/week on history; 3 hours/week on language study
      • Nail pronunciation + listen to authentic recordings
      • 1 Canterbury Tale per week
  • 30:00 – Learn about what you need to know about OE (ask tutor) 
  • 32:50 – focus predominately on 1 text per week (possess by memory)
    • Beowulf (Tolkien/Heaney)
    • Gawain (Armitage)
    • Dream of the Rood
    • Pearl

FIRST TERM – VICTORIANISM + MODERNISM

  • 35:00 – be t-shaped
  • Look out for authors that catch your attention
    • Use them as springboards + read all of their work
  • 38:10 – read all of Dickens 
  • 39:11 – ambitious reading program = 2-3 nice-sized books per week
  • 39:50 – read 2 Conrads per week
  • 40:00 – read in solitude, without distraction 
  • 40:40 – how to read big books/portion out your reading
    • Unmovable reading commandments
  • 41:30 – read and reread 4-5 short stories per week
  • 42:30 – read as much poetry as possible every day
  • 43:00 – read journals, commentaries, non-fiction
  • 43:30 – 9-10-hour reading days
  • 44:00 – read all of Hardy, Wilde, Eliot, Brontë, Stevenson, Wells
  • 44:30 – read the novelist’s poems, and vice-versa
  • 44:50 – how to read Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson
    • Read single volumes as though you went back in time
  • 47:00 – read “big names” with a view to read their more niche works
    • Greene, Joyce, Huxley, Orwell, Hemingway, Golding
  • 47:30 – a trick for going deep cuts