The Personal Study of Literature (PS) is possibly the most difficult part of the Higher course. This is not because the work required to complete it is any harder than the rest of the coursework, it is because it is a body of work that you are completely responsible for.
It is the responsibility of the student to select the text(s) studied, to do the research, to pose the question/task, and to write the final SSL.
This does not mean that you will get no help from your teacher, but it does mean that the help the teacher is allowed to give you is strictly controlled. Don’t Panic! (I couldn’t find a keystroke to put that into large friendly letters). If you pay attention to the work done in class when studying the texts chosen by your teacher, you will find the task relatively straightforward. You should be approaching your text(s) in the same way… use any notes or guides your teacher gives you and apply them to your SSL text.
I will add more on this topic later, but in the meantime, here are some links to get you started.
The SQA produce a fairly helpful guide to the SSL which you can download HERE. (It’s an Adobe Acrobat document, so you’ll need to download the Acrobat Reader if you don’t already have it).
The Library and English Dept have also collaborated to produce a handy booklist of texts you might like to consider. It is not a definitive list, nor is it prescriptive. It is just a starting point… you will have to get your teacher’s approval for the final choice of text (see the SQA guide for more info). The booklist is another Acrobat file, and can be downloaded HERE.
