GSET December 2024

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Practice Test-4 UGC NET SET GATE TGT PGT GPSC/UPSC English Literature

Practice Test-3 UGC NET SET PhD Entrance GATE TGT PGT GPSC/UPSC English Literature

Practice Test-2 NET SET GATE PhD Entrance GPSC English Literature

Practice Test-1 for NET SET PhD Entrance GPSC GATE in English Literature

Part-2 Tips, Guidance and Valuable Suggestions for UGC NET Exam

Be yourself a Leader and Self-motivator

Being a leader of one’s own preparation schedule and consistent self-motivation are the key to success in qualifying UGC NET and many other examinations nationwide. It is slightly difficult task to lead our own self and motivate for the same. But when you become a leader, you actually control the whole thing and meanwhile you also motivate yourself for better learning gradually. It is important to stick to the schedule prepared by you. Once you begin following the schedule, it will become a good habit in the long term. Do it at least for 21 days and see the changes in your learning. Make a timetable according to the syllabus topics. For example, Monday for Unit-1 Drama, Tuesday for Unit-2 Poetry and so on for other units. When you complete all topics, revise the same method.

See here : NET / SET English Material

Another method is to complete the whole Unit-1 of Drama in the week or till you can cover all topics of drama. But the first and foremost condition is to read and prepare for the topics at least for 6-7 hours a day. So, you can have around 50 hours in a week to prepare. Follow the same for all units till you cover the whole syllabus of English Literature. It will take time if you are a beginner for the exam. But if you have learnt well the literature during your graduation and post-graduation, you will surely make it out easily in a few weeks.

Further, you can make notes of important key points during your reading. Highlight it using any highlighter or underline it with a pencil. Don’t read any guide for your preparation as a guide which are available in the market will not be sufficient for NET. A guide can help you only 10-20 percent as it gives only an overview of the literary works and about the poets, dramatists or any criticism theory. Select different books for different units. I have already guided on unit-wise important books for UGC NET in English. I have mentioned 10-12 books for the whole syllabus.

Check it : Top Topics for NET English Literature

In addition to accelerate your preparation, use social media for your preparation. But only follow free platforms where the aspirants like you are sharing questions and major points of the literature regularly every day.

Don’t ever listen to the negative people that you cannot clear the exam; you are not for this; you better do something else; or you have tried enough. Just continue doing the preparation as it takes time to cover the topics with in-depth knowledge. Then practice it as much possible as you can. Carry a small chits or copies of any important topic of literature, any work of a playwright or poet with you everywhere you are going. The handiest is your mobile phone which you can use to keep a storage of such important topics; but at the same time make sure that you use mobile for preparation purpose and for communication rather than wasting time on social media for no reason.

UGC NET & SET English – Best Topics to Prepare for the Beginners

As per the newly implemented syllabus of UGC NET English, the following major topics are derived from each unit. This will help you what to prepare in all the units of the syllabus. This will be the same for the SET Exams in English Literature of all states.

Unit-1 Drama

• British Literature & Non-British Literature
• The Tragedy, Morality, Miracle, Mystery Play and Interlude, The Melodrama, The Tragi-Comedy, The Romantic Comedy, The Comedy of Humours, The Comedy of Manners, Sentimental Comedy, The Farce, The Masque, The Poetic Play, The Dramatic Monologue, The Problem Play, The One Act Play
• University Wits, Other Groups of Dramatists

Unit-2 Poetry

• British Literature & Non-British Literature
• Epic, Mock-Epic, Sonnets, Ode, Lyric, Pastoral, Pastoral Elegy, Elegy, Ballads, Satires
• Chaucerian Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Elizabethan Poetry, Modern Poetry, etc.

Unit-3 Fiction, Short Story

• British Literature & Non-British Literature
• Novel of sentiment and sensibility, Picaresque, Gothic, Industrial Novel, Silver Folk Novel, Campus Novel, Prose romance, The Travelogues, The Epistolary Novel, The Domestic Novel, The Historical Novel, The Regional Novel, The Prophetic Novel, The Psychological Novel, The Short Stories

Unit-4 Non-Fictional Prose

• British Literature & Non-British Literature
• Long Prose works, The Essay, The Periodicals, The Biography, The Auto-biography, The Memoirs, historical writings, scientific writings, etc.
• Johnson, Hazlitt, Sidney, Ruskin, Walter Pater, Arnold, etc.

Literary Groups and Movements From Unit-1 to 4

•       The Romantic Movement

•       The Oxford Movement

•       The Aesthetic Movement

•       The University Wits

•       The Graveyard school of poetry

•       The Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry

•       Tribe of Ben

•       Bloomsbury Group

•       Kailyard School

•       The Metaphysical School of Poets

•       Utilitarianism

•       Aestheticism and Decadence, Expressionism

•       Impressionism

•       Imagism, Futurism & Vorticism, Surrealism,

•       Kit-cat Club

•       Diasporic Writers

•       The Renaissance

•       The Reformation

•       Periodicals

•       Disaster/Catastrophe/ Apocalyptic Fiction

•       Edwardian and Georgian poetry

•       Beat Movement

•       Important Literary Terms & Devices

•       Poet Laureates

•       Nobel Laureates

•       Chronological Order of Literary Movements

•       New Apocalyptic Movement, Movement Poets

•       Gay and Lesbian Writing

Unit-5 Language: Basic Concepts, Theories and Pedagogy. English in Use

• Concepts of English Language: ESL, EFL, TESOL, EAP, etc.
• Communication skill and English
• Recommendations of Education Commissions on teaching English language
• Methods & Approaches to ELT
• Evaluation and Assessment in ELT; Various types of Tests: Achievement test, Proficiency test, Diagnostic test

Unit-6 English in India: History, Evolution and Futures

• English before Independence and after Independence
• Recommendations on English Language Teaching in India
• Charter Act, Macaulay’s Minute, Wood’s Dispatch, Indian Education Commission(1882), Indian Universities Commission, Indian University Act, Calcutta University Commission, National Policy on Education(1968), Acharya Rammurti Commission(1990), The Study Group Report on the Teaching of English(1969-71)

Unit-7 Cultural Studies

• Matthew Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy
• F R Leavis’ The Great Tradition
• Raymond Williams & Richard Hoggart
• Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS-1964)
• Stuart Hall and Four Stages of Communication
• IMP Books: Uses of Literacy by Hoggart; Culture and Society and The Long Revolution by Williams; The Making of the English Working Class by Thompson

Unit-8 Literary Criticism

• Classical Criticism: Plato, Aristotle, Horace and Longinus
• Medieval & Renaissance Criticism
• English Neo-Classical Criticism: Dryden, Pope, Johnson
• Romantic & Victorian Criticism: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Arnold
• 20^th Century Criticism: Eliot
• Structuralism, Post-structuralism & Deconstruction, New Historicism, Cultural Criticism, Reader-Response Criticism, Feminist Criticism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Marxist Criticism, Post-Colonial Theory, Queer Theory, Ecocriticism

Unit-9 Literary Theory Post-World War II

• New Criticism (I A Richards, Wimsatt and Beardsley, Cleanth Brooks)
• Cultural Materialism (Raymond Williams)
• Feminist Criticism (Four Waves)
• Russian Formalism (Victor Shklovsky, Roman Jacobson)
• Post-Colonialism (Edward Said’s Orientalism, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha)

Unit-10 Research Methods and Materials in English

• Research Tools and techniques in Literature
• Research Terminology in Literature
• Research Materials in Literature Studies
• Types of Research in English Literature
• APA Style, MLA Style, Hypotheses, Research Report, Article & Paper writing, Publication ethics, Peer Review, UGC Care, etc.

 

Part -1 Best Tips, Guidance and Valuable Suggestions for UGC NET Exam

 

What type of Questions are asked in UGC NET Exam?

 

The questions asked in the UGC NET Exam are not single lined questions. These questions are a little lengthy in form as well as complicated in nature. Therefore, if anyone reads and prepares for NET a simple guide or model objectives given in it will surely face trouble in the exam.

The questions asked in NET are from the in-depth of original books on English Literature. It is highly recommended and suggested to prepare from these books only, rather than reading the guides available in the market. One should refer a variety of books on English Literature, English Language Pedagogy, Literary Criticism and Research Methodology. At the same time, it is necessary to have an idea regarding the format of the questions asked in the exam. Hence, referring the old question papers first is the best way to start preparing for NET. After getting the idea of the format of the question, one can go for referring the original books on literature.

 

One should highlight the significant idea, event, chronology, characters, themes, etc. in the books while reading. One can also prepare a separate note on this and can revise afterwards.

 

When I say the original books, it means the books written by various professors of the Indian colleges and departments of English. One I must suggest you – “A Short History of English Literature” by Prof. Pramod Nayar Sir. This book is highly recommended for the beginners of the UGC NET preparation. This book is in very simple language quite easily understandable to the UGC NET aspirants. This book can become a primary reference to begin your preparation. Then one can go for other books which are describing the complete history of the English Literature rather than giving us an overview.

More books and references will be shared with you along with the important topics in this blog with you soon.

One of the best books for UGC NET, SET, TGT, PGT, PhD Entrance, UPSC (English Literature Section), GATE