Get Set for English Literature is a concise and informative study guide aimed at providing advice to the first year undergraduate on matters both practical and academic. The authors make no claim for this book as a definitive guide to University life; rather they briefly address a broad range of topics pertinent to students of English literature. The introductory section is a little patronising in tone. Not only does it confirm that the reader is a student of English literature participating in a degree course but it also repeatedly offers itself as a comforter that can “help you navigate the choppy waters of a literature programme.”
This tone does not persist however and the rest of the guide addresses specific areas of concern to the first year student. Chapter One succinctly outlines the changing structure and increasingly diverse nature of an English literature degree and introduces topics such as literary theory and the significance of modularity as a feature of curriculum organisation. The authors draw upon a diversity of writers in order to address their own question “Why Study English Literature?” and in so doing effectively communicate the heterogeneous nature and creative potential of this course of study.
In an attempt to effectively demonstrate the different learning experiences that can be expected at university level, Amigoni and Sanders elect to provide a series of case studies or potential lecture/seminar scenarios. Whilst these make interesting reading, one wonders whether the structure of the learning situation could not have been articulated more clearly without recourse to such in-depth examples as they occasionally serve to render the lecture/seminar prescriptive.
One of the most useful elements of this guide is that it often addresses small and seemingly insignificant points that are actually integral to the learning process at university level study. Chapter Three, for example, stresses the importance of feedback and progress interviews to the learning process, highlighting a valuable learning resource that is often overlooked or neglected. The guide also encourages early use of journal articles, a regular cause for concern amongst first year undergraduates and an area in need of demystification.
Get Set for English Literature offers useful and practical advice on everything from taking lecture notes to time management strategies and incorporates a very thorough section on research skills. There are also tips about referencing and a checklist for essay writing. The book ends rather abruptly at The Big Day: Taking the Exam, but then so does Level One; and although the tone is occasionally condescending (“have a notebook (and pen)”) the content is interesting and accessible.
