B.A. (Honours) English

Arts

Four years of close reading, argument and writing — the degree that changes how you think, not just what you know.

An honours degree in English is not a course in speaking English fluently — that is a by-product. It is training in reading a difficult text carefully, identifying an argument, and defending your own in writing. Those three abilities are what every civil services interview, law entrance and management aptitude test is quietly measuring.

The syllabus moves from British literature through Indian writing in English to literary theory and linguistics, with a fourth-year dissertation. Our department also runs the Saturday spoken-English club, which is open to the whole college and is staffed by honours students as part of their teaching internship.

Who Can Apply

Pass in 10+2 with a minimum of 50% aggregate and English as one of the subjects.

Admission is granted strictly on the merit of the qualifying examination, following the reservation policy of the Government of Haryana. There is no capitation or donation charge of any kind.

Programme Highlights

What Makes This Course Different

Small Tutorial Groups

Sixty seats across four years means seminar-style teaching rather than lecturing to a hall of two hundred.

Weekly Written Work

A graded essay every week from the second semester. Nothing else improves academic writing as reliably.

Run the Spoken-English Club

Honours students teach the college-wide club — genuine teaching experience before you graduate.

NET-Oriented Fourth Year

The honours syllabus maps closely onto UGC-NET English, and dissertation work builds the research habit.

Syllabus

Year-by-Year Curriculum

The structure below follows the Kurukshetra University syllabus under the NEP 2020 framework. Papers are revised by the university periodically — the department publishes the current detailed syllabus at the start of each session.

Under the four-year framework you may exit with a certificate after year one, a diploma after year two, or a degree after year three.

Introduction to Literary Studies
British Poetry and Drama: 14th–17th Century
Indian Classical Literature in Translation
Ability Enhancement: Academic Writing
Multidisciplinary elective

British Literature: 18th and 19th Century
Indian Writing in English
American Literature
Introduction to Linguistics and Phonetics
Skill Enhancement: Creative and Media Writing

Modern European Drama
Postcolonial Literatures
Literary Criticism and Theory
Women's Writing
Discipline-specific elective

Research Methodology in Literary Studies
Contemporary Literary Theory
Special Author study
Dissertation (12,000 words) with viva voce

After You Graduate

Career Paths & Higher Study

Where our graduates from this programme actually go — based on alumni records, not projections.

Teaching and academia

M.A. → NET/JRF → college lecturer, or B.Ed. for school teaching.

Civil services

English literature is a well-regarded optional subject in the UPSC main examination.

Content and communications

Editing, technical writing, corporate communications and publishing.

Law

CLAT and LL.B. entrance tests reward exactly the comprehension skills this degree builds.

Journalism

Print and digital newsrooms, or a post-graduate diploma in mass communication.

Translation

Hindi–English translation for government departments, publishers and media.

Questions

Frequently Asked About This Course

If you are willing to work, yes — but be realistic about the first year. Students who come from Hindi-medium schools and take the department's remedial and spoken-English support seriously usually catch up by the third semester. Students who avoid the extra classes do not.

In the general B.A. you take English as one of three subjects. In honours, English is your single major with far more papers, a compulsory dissertation in the fourth year, and a much deeper syllabus. Honours is the right choice if you intend to do M.A. or NET.

Only if you continue into the fourth year. If you exit with a three-year degree, there is no dissertation — but you will need the fourth year for direct Ph.D. eligibility under the NEP structure.

Yes, though the roles differ from commerce placements — content writing, edtech, BPO voice-process and teaching are the common recruiters. The placement cell runs a separate communication-heavy interview module for humanities students.

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B.A. (Honours) English