English and Creative Writing BA (Hons) Q3W8 Hayden Gabriel BA PGCE MA PhD Programme Leader for Creative Writing

The University

Our Graduates Continue study at Masters Level: all who wanted to attained places on Masters programmes in A high percentage of graduates attained 2.1 or 1 st Class Honours degrees. Teacher-training: primary and secondary. Arts events management. Media contexts. The highly developed, communication and analytic skills acquired on the programme are valued by employers in many fields including publishing.

The New English and Creative Writing Programme UCAS Code: Q3W8 Currently going through the formal process of validation and is informed (as all our programmes are) by National Standards known as ‘benchmarks’ from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA); Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ), and the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE).

The New English and Creative Writing Programme A few of those benchmarks for Creative Writing: support students in the development of their own writing, and develop their confidence through a critical, technical and creative understanding of the subject/craft/art and of their own creative process; develop students’ ability to contextualize their own work within the writing traditions that precede and surround them; encourage students to recognize the skills they develop through the course, and help them identify career opportunities to use those skills.

The New English and Creative Writing Programme A few of those benchmarks for English Literature: Graduates display confident textual analysis and fluent critical argument, attending to language, structure and form and the role of the reader in the process of communication and interpretation. Graduates are able to exhibit an effective command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary. Graduates are able to conduct independent research through self-formulated questions and tasks and organise relevant information to establish an appropriate written argument or response and achieve scholarly standards of presentation.

Student Choice Students place their own emphasis on subject weighting throughout the programme via a choice of assessment points. They may complete literary critical assessment tasks, or produce portfolios of creative writing and reflective critical commentaries.

External Examination – Students have a particularly clear idea of expectations at USMSJ, because of the way in which feedback is couched in a very consistent and recognisable language throughout the degree. The marking is notably fair and rigorous. The programme nurtures individual student talent. There are some very strong students here whose merits are appropriately rewarded. Students [are given] a consistent framework throughout the degree for understanding what is expected of them.

The New English and Creative Writing Programme Offers even more ‘employability’ skills than previous programmes in terms of: Additional use of Information Technology, eg: publishing software, screenwriting software, presentation software, investigation and use of social media, personal profiling, etc. Work and community placements. Broad-based engagement with English in a wide range of disciplines and contexts.

First Year Modules The Craft of Writing: We study a variety texts and experiment with the writing of narrative, poetry, blogs, screenplay, memoir, and travel journalism. Intertextuality: Creative Reading and Writing: asks students to investigate how one text influences another, and to reflect on their findings creatively and/or critically.

First Year Modules Linguistics: An introduction to the analysis of form and meaning in historical and contemporary English. 20 th Century Text in Performance: The study of stage plays including those by Pinter, Beckett and Ibsen. Students have a choice of creative, critical and practical assignments.

First Year Modules Study skills module: offers the opportunity to identify and gain the research, IT and academic writing proficiencies you will require throughout your degree. Introduction to Narrative and Poetry: invites students to make close study of set novels and poems.

Second Year Modules The Language of Fiction: Responding to short stories and novels either through creative and reflective practice, or through critical analysis; Variations in English: studying and transcribing non- standard English. Shakespeare in Context: Shakespeare’s work in contexts including educational, historical, cinematic and creative.

Second Year Modules Work-based Learning: offers the chance to experience the subject in work-related environments and placements. Language and Ideology: investigating the way belief systems are encoded into language and literary texts. 19 th Century Literature & Discourse: including ecocritical responses.

Second Year Modules Plus a choice of: Magazine Production. TESOL

Third Year Modules Poetry and Stylistics Language Change & the History of English Dissertation Part One Screen Writing and Filmic Language Discourses of Nature in Romanticism & 19 th Century Literature Dissertation Part Two

in addition...

It’s possible to study abroad as part of the degree programme – usually in the USA. There’s a week-long Shakespeare Summer School which includes a visit to The Globe Theatre in London. Field trips include the residential Writers’ Retreat:

Open Day Saturday 21 st February 2015