Life & Books

Becoming An English Literature Master’s Student At The Open University

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll know that last year was the pivotal point in what is now my journey toward a master’s qualification in English literature. I dedicated much of my time in 2025 to reigniting a reading hobby I’d let go of many years before. I used this very blog to hold myself accountable to my goal of 4 book reviews a month. Not only did this reignite a forgotten passion but it reminded me why I loved reading in the first place and showed me that this could be more than just a hobby.

What it Feels Like Being a Master's Student

I’ve officially been a master’s student now for just over a week, although I’d been preparing for months before the semester started. The daunting part isn’t only the workload—which I’d been made well aware of by many of my friends who’d completed theirs—but also the feeling that I may not quite belong in this field. I’d studied microbiology and genetics in my BSc so I still feel rather unqualified to be entering the world of literature.

Why I Chose The Open University

The great thing about The Open University is that the tutors make it incredibly clear that help is always available. They obviously know how scary this all is for those of us without prior higher level literary knowledge, so the reminder to simply ask for help truly does bring a lot of ease to my mind.

It’s been extra reassuring to see that my fellow classmates also come from an array of both educational and demographic backgrounds.

And the most convenient part about OU is their well-developed remote learning programme. The study tools provided to tackle studying at this level are invaluable—tools like Microsoft 365 and access to their extensive online library.

What Does the English Literature Course Look Like

Reading, reading, and more reading. That’s the very essence of English literature. Reading set texts, reading secondary texts and critically reading anything else in relation to the core texts. And I actually love it. There are also weekly tutorials allowing for discourse over the topics at hand, but my time zone means I don’t get to participate. However they’re all recorded and posted for later viewing which is fantastic. Essentially the course is something I work through in my own time—but weekly guides are provided. I simply need to be sure to hand in my assessments timeously.

If you’re on a similar journey, or if you just adore the world of literature I’d truly love for you to sign up for my newsletters and let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments. I’ll be writing more on the core texts, research insights and my overall experiences along the way. I do hope you join me, who knows where all of this could take us.