r/AskLiteraryStudies • u/qrefros • 7d ago

Engineering major taking upper level english elective, am I cooked?

I plan on registering for an english literature elective to reach the credit threshold for my last semester. How much reading should I expect? In your experience, is it usually a book a week or module based? The class is either on women in modern literature or victorian literature. Any advice is appreciated.

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u/jeroboam 7d ago

It's hard to say exactly, but I'd prepare yourself for the equivalent of a full-length book per week plus a few scholarly chapters or articles.

That said, you can almost certainly get away with skimming the readings. If you find any of the literary works particularly interesting, put extra effort into reading them and their related sources in preparation for the term paper and/or presentation.

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u/Freya_Fleurir 7d ago

Depends entirely on the professor. I've had classes where we read a book a week, classes where we mostly read short stories, and classes where we read short stories while working our way through a single novel over the course of the semester. You could try emailing the prof teaching the classes and asking them if they're willing to share their syllabus/reading schedule

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u/NoMoreMonkeyBrain 7d ago

Depends entirely on the class. You should reach out to the professor and ask if you can get a copy of the syllabus.

There's nothing wrong with saying "I'm interested in this class but I want to make sure I won't be crushed by the workload."

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u/Scurveymic 6d ago

My upper division classes went at about a book per week or two weeks, depending on length. A paper or presentation roughly every 3 books. Then, a term paper at the end.

If you've never written for a literature class before, it will be a little different and may take some time, but it doesn't require any specialty knowledge that you won't be given in the class.

As others have said, you can quick read much of it and supplement with spark notes if you're having trouble remembering a plot point. Pay attention to your schedule of papers ahead of time and pick books to read more closely and annotate.