Shani

I have taught in the English Department at University College London, renowned for its one-to-one tutorials and consistently ranked in the top 5 UK universities for English as well as Yale University. I have a PhD in English Literature from UCL and I pride myself in academic excellence, hard-work, and resilience.

I specialise in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. My PhD examines the relationship between optics and Shakespeare's drama, looking at the influence ocular science on Shakespeare's works. Outside of my PhD, I am also a theatre critic.

I teach across all periods/ modules of literature: from Old English (Beowulf) to Middle English (Chaucer), from Shakespeare and Renaissance literature (my specialism) through to the eighteenth century (Swift, Pope, Richardson, Sterne), from Romantic poetry and novels (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Mary Shelly, Percy Shelly etc.), to the Victorians (George Eliot, Dickens, Carrol, Tennyson), from modern literature (T.S Eliot, Woolf, Joyce) to post-modern works (Beckett, Pinter, Nabokov, Morrison, Zadie Smith etc.). If you're unsure whether I cover a writer or topic, do get in touch.

Tutoring Experience

I teach undergraduates at UCL (in the English Department and the Arts and Sciences (BASc) programme) in one-to-one tutorials as well as large group seminars and summer lectures to A-Level students. I have also tutored privately and helped several students improve their A-Level English Literature marks by one grade boundary. I have extensive experience in marking at university level and have worked with Colleges and Sixth forms to prepare students for UCAS applications and interview practice.

Prior to my PhD, I was an editor and have extensive experience in editing long academic essays. Asides from offering one-to-one tutorials, I am happy to proof-read undergraduate/ Masters dissertations or other long essays. I am trained to edit following a variety of style guides.

During exam season, I am available to tutor on one-off-basis for exam practice.

Tutoring Approach

My approach is centred around one-to-one discussion. I strongly believe that discourse, exchange of ideas, and allowing the student to defend and justify their arguments is as important as the writing. That said, I believe writing frequently is key to improving one's writing style and articulating complex ideas, therefore I set my students a writing task prior to the tutorial and mark it, ready for discussion, before the tutorial itself. When giving students feedback on their writing, I go through their work with a fine comb not only correcting punctuation, grammar, and syntax but also their paragraph structure and argument. My approach emphasises close-reading and I work with my students to help them get the most out of the text. I tailor each tutorial specifically to each individual's needs.