Creative Writing

Description

The University of Essex is one of the UK's leading academic institutions, ranked ninth nationally for research excellence following the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

BA Creative Writing offers a unique approach to the practice of writing, combining more familiar Anglo-American perspectives with other influential schools of writing, from the study of traditional rhetoric to the innovative practice of the Workshop of Potential Literature or Oulipo in France. We concentrate on deepening your knowledge of literary tradition across a variety of modes and genres in order to develop your practical skills of expression and invention.

Our modules lead you into varied modes of writing through planned readings and writing exercises, expanding your techniques as well as critical judgement of your own work. Our creative writing teaching team has a breadth of experience in the literature of different cultures and different forms, including novels, short stories, poetry, translation, theatre writing, and science fiction. You may pursue these modules in combination with others offered in literature, film, and theatre.

Your first year offers a highly focused introduction to the study of literature, including a specialist module on creative writing skills and a module on rhetoric. Your second year features a wide-ranging core module on the theory and practice of creative writing, including topics such as surrealism, the fairy tale, and confessional writing. Your third year offers specialist modules in creative writing, ranging across experimental writing, myth, playwriting, and science fiction, and includes the possibility of an independent creative writing project of 10,000 words, allowing you to develop a piece of work over eight months.

Detailed Course Facts

• GBP 9000 Year (EEA)
• GBP 11950 Year (Non-EEA)

• English

Course Content

The special characteristics of our courses are flexibility and choice. In your first year, you usually take four or five modules that include pre-requisite(s) for your course but, in many cases, mean you can try subjects you have not come across before. If you are taking a humanities or social science, then you have the greatest choice, as most of our first-year modules do not assume any specialist knowledge.
With a small number of exceptions, if you successfully complete the first year of your BA, then you are qualified to enter the second year of that course and a range of other courses: for example, if you take economics, politics, philosophy and sociology, then you have a choice of at least nine possible single or joint honours courses at the end of your first year. This means you can change your course, providing you have taken the appropriate pre-requisites and places are available. We offer a range of optional modules in your second- and final-years and most courses allow you to undertake a final-year project, an individual piece of research on a topic that interests you.
We operate a credit framework for our awards, which is based on principles widely used across the UK university sector. Each module has a credit rating attached and our standard three-year course consists of 360 credits (120 credits in your first year, and 240 credits across your second and final years).
Please note that module information on our course finder provides a guide to course content and may be subject to review on an annual basis.

Year 1

The Enlightenment;
Literature: Origins and Transformations;
Creative Writing Skills;
Introduction to Rhetoric;
Writing for the Radio; and
Creative Writing: Tradition and Innovation

Year 2

Creative Writing;
Approaches to Text;
Creative Writing Non-fiction;
one literature option; and
one option or one Literature option

Year 3

Four literature options with at least three in creative writing

English Language Requirements

IELTS band : 6

To study at this university, you have to speak English. We advice you to

Requirements

A-levels: ABB-BBB, including at least one A-level in a humanities subject (or equivalent)
GCSE English: C
IB: 32-30 points (we consider IB certificates at the Higher Level on a case-by-case basis)
Achievement of the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 6 level three credits at distinction and the remainder at merit (or above) or achievement of the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 45 level three credits at merit (or above).
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall with minimum 5.5 in each component (or equivalent). Different requirements apply for second year entry.

Work Experience

No work experience is required.

Related Scholarships*

• Academic Excellence Scholarship

  "The Academic Excellence Scholarship can provide up to a 50 % reduction in tuition per semester. These scholarships will be renewed if the student maintains superior academic performance during each semester of their 3-year Bachelor programme. The scholarship will be directly applied to the student’s tuition fees."

• Access Bursary

  Bursary for UK students all subjects where the variable tuition fee rate is payable.

• Alumni Bursary

  Alumni Bursary for UK Undergraduate students

* The scholarships shown on this page are suggestions first and foremost. They could be offered by other organisations than University of Essex.

Funding

For up-to-date information on funding opportunities at Essex, please visit: www.essex.ac.uk/studentfinance.