English Studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the UK, the U.S., Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics (including English phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and stylistics), and English sociolinguistics (including discourse analysis of written and spoken texts in the English language, the history of the English language, English language learning and teaching, and the study of World Englishes).

More broadly, English studies explores the production and analysis of texts created in English (or in areas of the world in which English is a common mode of communication). It is not uncommon for academic departments of "English" or "English Studies" to include scholars of the English language, literature (including literary criticism and literary theory), linguistics, law, journalism, composition studies, the philosophy of language, literacy, publishing/history of the book, communication studies, technical communication, folklore, cultural studies, creative writing, critical theory, disability studies, area studies (especially American studies), theatre, gender studies/ethnic studies, digital media/electronic publishing, film studies/media studies, rhetoric and philology/etymology, and various courses in the liberal arts and humanities, among others.

Michelle Smith (born 16 December 1969 in Rathcoole, County Dublin, now more commonly referred to by her married name, Michelle de Bruin) is a retired Irish swimmer and practising Irish barrister. She was a triple gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley. She also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event. She remains Ireland's most successful Olympian.

Significant controversy followed these victories, particularly after U.S. swimmer Janet Evans at a press conference accused Smith of doping immediately following Evans' defeat. These accusations have never been proven. However, as David Wallechinsky writes in his Complete Book of the Summer Olympics series, doubts about Smith involved the fact that no Irish swimmer had ever won an Olympic medal and that Smith's previous Olympic record had been "mediocre". Suspicions about her suddenly improving performances at an age considered to be late in a swimmer's career had been raised earlier, following her medal wins at the 1995 European Championships. Moreover, her husband and coach, Erik de Bruin, a Dutch discus and shot put thrower, had failed a drug test in 1993 and had been suspended from competition. He was first cleared by the Dutch Athletic Federation, but this was overturned by the IAAF.