BA Creative Writing and English Literature Degree

Overview & facilities

All writers have to be keen, critical readers. It is also useful for critics to have some understanding of the difficulties and pleasures of creative writing. The BA Creative Writing and English Literature degree with Honours allows you to experience two sides of one coin by combining critical reading with creative writing, two complementary and essential aspects of one larger activity.  Your degree will be a sought-after combination of the academic and the practical areas of writing.

Through English you will learn how to closely read some contemporary literature, and to understand the workings and meanings of literary texts from different historical periods and different genres.

Creative writing modules provide an understanding of different kinds of writing, from a mainly contemporary perspective, and develop your skills and talents through practice.

Middlesex's location, close to all of London's media and publishing markets, makes it an ideal place to study, gain work experience, and make industry contacts.

 

 

Content & modules

Modules

• Year 1

  Critical Reading (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module introduces you to skills and ideas essential for the reading of literary texts. It studies major literary genres: drama, poetry and fiction, and introduces you to the interpretation of literature through an idea that connects all the texts, the idea of the self. It also provides an understanding of the use of historical contexts and criticism in relation to critical reading. The module also teaches key skills, including considering sources, preparing and writing an essay, and introduces bibliographic skills and the use of learning resources.

  Introduction to Writing A: Fiction and Poetry (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To develop reading and writing skills through exploration of two of the major forms of literary writing, prose fiction and poetry. To introduce students to technical considerations and stylistic methods. To engage in critical discussion of existing texts and recognise how this aids the development of one s own voice. To develop and improve skills in reading, thinking and group work.

  Introduction to Writing B: Drama and Non-Fiction (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To develop reading, writing and viewing skills through exploration of two of the major forms of writing, drama and non-fiction. To introduce students to technical considerations and stylistic methods. To engage in critical discussion of existing texts and recognise how this aids the development of one s own voice. To develop and improve skills in reading, thinking and group work.

  Reading Contemporary Literature (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To help students develop a capacity to enjoy, understand, and analyse the meanings of modern and contemporary literature. Different kinds of writing, in different styles and with different aims will be studied. The emphasis will be on close reading that develops into a critical interpretation of a text. Students will develop advanced reading skills centred on key literacy critical concepts eg form and structure, metaphor narrative and so on. Texts will be studied through knowledge of appropriate generic, theoretical, and critical contexts.

• Year 2

  Creative Non-Fiction or Poetry (30 Credits) - Optional

  To develop reading and writing skills through exploration of the main Creative Non-fiction forms autobiography, biography, travel writing and feature writing or of Poetic forms. To enable students, both by looking at examples of successful published work and creating their own work, to deepen their knowledge of literary techniques and improve their formal and stylistic skills. To deepen workshop skills - giving and receiving feedback - in order that students may develop a better understanding of the impact of their work on others and what constitutes good and bad critical commentary. Builds on CMW1001 and CMW1002, and leads towards CMW3001 and CMW3002.

  Exploring Screenwriting (30 Credits) - Optional

  To develop reading, viewing and screenwriting skills through exploration of screenplay forms. To enable students to deepen their knowledge of screenwriting techniques and extend their formal and stylistic skills. To deepen workshopping skills giving and receiving feedback in order that students may better understand the impact of their work on others and what makes for good and bad critical commentary. Builds on CMW1002 pr MDA1916, and leads towards CMW3001 and CMW3002.

  Exploring Writing B: Fiction and Poetry (30 Credits) - Optional

  To develop reading and writing skills through exploration of fictional or poetic forms. To enable students, both by looking at examples of successful published work and creating their own work, to deepen their knowledge of literary techniques and extend their formal and stylistic skills. To deepen workshopping skills giving and receiving feedback in order that students may better understand the impact of their work on others and what makes for good and bad critical commentary. Builds on CMW1001, and leads towards CMW3001 and CMW3002.

  Renaissance Literature (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module aims to introduce key texts and ideas from the English Renaissance, a period of exploration - of the globe and of the self; of religious upheaval; of the idealisation of order and of political revolution. Moving through the period chronologically students will assess literary texts in their historical context, and, by reading plays, poems and prose alongside critical and historical materials they will explore concepts of self and other, order and disorder in the period.

  Screenwriting: The Short Film (30 Credits) - Optional

  To expand knowledge of scriptwriting to encompass a practical understanding of the development and writing short films scripts; To explore analytically and critically particular narrative devices in the short form and their impact on the spectator; To further develop competence in the key elements of screenwriting dialogue, characterisation, plotting, visual storytelling and to present screenplays; To facilitate student delivery of meticulously redrafted screenplays to an industry standard

  Twentieth-Century Literature: Modernity to the Present (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This course explores key texts of the twentieth century and up to the present day, spanning the genres of poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to the profound and wide-ranging historical changes that have taken place in that time. It focuses on such issues as class, gender, and historical and cultural change.

  Writing and Publishing for Children (30 Credits) - Optional

  To gain an understanding of writing and publishing for children by critical examination of texts written for children and by the production of a children s story, aimed at children in a local school. To examine your process by production of a critical statement.

  Writing and Publishing Genre (30 Credits) - Optional

  To provide students with a knowledge of the codes and traditions of different modes of genre fiction romance, historical, horror, crime, fantasy, sf and support their writing in these modes. To provide students with a knowledge and understanding of an expanded definition of reading in order to critically consider a range of texts such as art, radio, film and tv, gaming and eventually the emergence of cult video/DVD; the aim of which is to critically explore the ways in which different genres adapted to new media in distinctly different ways. To enable students to critically discuss the context of these works within the market and traditions of the genres, exploring the development of genre writing, publishing and marketing in the context of relevant social and cultural developments from the end of the nineteenth century.

  Writing the City (30 Credits) - Optional

  Writing the City invites students to develop a detailed consideration of the interactions between media systems in the broadest sense of the word, and their environments. Using writing as a metaphor and a conception of the city as a surface of inscription, it invites students to think about how the city is written, how the sense we make of the places we live in is constructed - and sometimes deconstructed - through media. By considering a variety of media forms - from the lowly sticker and the maligned art of graffiti to monumental architecture, installation art and hyper complex computer networks - Writing the City produces an understanding of the spaces we live in as complex assemblages of discourse, media technologies and architectural forms. Writing the City also aims to encourage students to employ their myriad local knowledge in order to engage directly with the fabric of urban life by thematically and methodologically addressing the place of experience in modernity and its aftermath.

• Year 3

  Creative Non-Fiction or Poetry (30 Credits) - Optional

  To develop reading and writing skills through exploration of the main Creative Non-fiction forms autobiography, biography, travel writing and feature writing or of Poetic forms. To enable students, both by looking at examples of successful published work and creating their own work, to deepen their knowledge of literary techniques and improve their formal and stylistic skills. To deepen workshop skills - giving and receiving feedback - in order that students may develop a better understanding of the impact of their work on others and what constitutes good and bad critical commentary. Builds on CMW1001 and CMW1002, and leads towards CMW3001 and CMW3002.

  Gender, Violence and the Postmodern (30 Credits) - Optional

  Gender is a central way in which we think and imagine ourselves. This third level module examines how gender has been configured within literary texts, mainly through the twentieth century, and the role of writing in producing gendered identities. Violence is inextricably linked to issues of gender, in multiple ways that map both masculinity and femininity and the module traces some of these. Postmodernism has further complicated the ways in which we conceptualise gender, and the module examines the link between postmodern literature and contemporary postmodern culture, mapping important social, political and cultural themes and concepts in relation to how gender is configured in relation to history, the body, ethnicity, work and leisure.

  Independent Project Single Weight (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To give students the chance to work independently on a project of their own devising, under the supervision of an appropriate member of staff. This may include group projects, including the Middlesex Literary Festival. To enable students to develop skills from previous learning e.g. prose fiction, poetry or apply their skills to new areas e.g., production of a video . To produce work informed by a market knowledge which will demonstrate a student s skills to potential employers or commissioners of work. Builds in particular on CMW1001, CMW1002, CMW2001, CMW2002, but also on all CMW work undertaken during the degree. NOTE: This 30 credit module is normally for students doing degrees combined with other subjects, as BA CMW students must compulsorily do the 60 credit double weight version, CMW3001. However, students on BA CMW wishing to be part of the team for the Middlesex Literary Festival may enrol in CMW3002 if they are already doing work experience in CMW3003 and hence are unable to pursue the Literary Festival option on that module.

  Literature and Otherness: Empires and Animals, 1880 to the Present (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module focuses on novelistic and theoretical representations of the Other as constructed as belonging to another race , ethnicity, nation or species. It begins at the end of the nineteenth century with Joseph Conrad s Heart of Darkness and Robert Louis Stevenson s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and comes up to the present with John Coetzee s Disgrace and Yann Martel s Life of Pi. Otherness is explored in terms of the boundaries of self and other, human and non-human; the place of scientific knowledge and races , ethnicities, nations, and animals; and how representations of racial and animal others intersect with questions of class, gender and sexuality.

  Proposition Module (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  The Proposition Module allows students to select an area for specialised study in order to develop interests not covered elsewhere, or to further interests developed in previous study. To deepen and extend each student s knowledge and understanding of a particular aspect of English literature. To develop generic research skills including the ability to discover and assimilate information and the ability to communicate that information in writing in a coherent and balanced way.

  Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module studies texts by Shakespeare and contemporary dramatists in the context of Renaissance England, and as manifestations of some important concerns of the culture of the time: the theatre and theatricality; identity and self-fashioning; masculinity and femininity. The plays chosen are a representative selection, and will offer students a broad knowledge of the writings of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as some of the most significant cultural and intellectual movements of the period. Each play will be studied in relation to relevant contextual, critical and theoretical materials.

  Writing and Publishing for Children (30 Credits) - Optional

  To gain an understanding of writing and publishing for children by critical examination of texts written for children and by the production of a children s story, aimed at children in a local school. To examine your process by production of a critical statement.

  Writing and Publishing Genre (30 Credits) - Optional

  To provide students with a knowledge of the codes and traditions of different modes of genre fiction romance, historical, horror, crime, fantasy, sf and support their writing in these modes. To provide students with a knowledge and understanding of an expanded definition of reading in order to critically consider a range of texts such as art, radio, film and tv, gaming and eventually the emergence of cult video/DVD; the aim of which is to critically explore the ways in which different genres adapted to new media in distinctly different ways. To enable students to critically discuss the context of these works within the market and traditions of the genres, exploring the development of genre writing, publishing and marketing in the context of relevant social and cultural developments from the end of the nineteenth century.

  Writing in Practice 2 (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module helps you prepare yourself for employment after university, and improve your CV by either a undertaking work experience which allows you to gain a thorough understanding of a particular branch of the media and cultural industries within the sector. You will make contacts and develop a clear understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses within this industrial setting; or b organising a practical group project which will equip you with skills and knowledge which will be useful in the workplace: eg running the Middlesex University Literary Festival now in its 12th year as a student run festival ; running a student newspaper, making an on-line magazine. NOTE: BA CMW students wishing to take work experience but also to be part of the team for the Middlesex Literary Festival may enrol in CMW3002 Independent Project Single Weight and do the Literary Festival under that module, as appropriate.

You will develop analytic and imaginative skills that are valuable for many careers through creative writing in fiction, non-fiction poetry, and scripts, and critical reflection on your own writing as well as classic and contemporary texts. Some specialisation is possible in later years.

Entry & applying

We normally make offers on a minimum of 240 UCAS tariff points, including C at A level English Literature or Language plus GCSE English Language at grade C. BTEC National Diploma/International Baccalaureate/Advanced Progression Diplomas at equivalent tariff. Access to HE - Pass. Applications from candidates without formal qualifications are welcomed. Additionally overseas students whose first language is not English will need a qualification that demonstrates competence in English, eg IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL 550 paper-based or 213 computer based.

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Qualifications accepted

For a comprehensive list of qualifications accepted by Middlesex, see further information under entry requirements

English language requirements

You must have competence in English language and we normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification. The most common English Language requirements for international students are IELTS 6.0 (with minimum 5.5 in all four components) or TOEFL paper based 550 (no less than 4 in test of written English) or TOEFL internet based 80 (with no less than 17 in each component). Middlesex also offers an Intensive Academic English course (Pre-Sessional) that ranges from 5-17 weeks, depending on your level of English. Successful completion of this course would meet English language entry requirements. For more information on applying for the pre-sessional please email english@mdx.ac.uk. For details of other equivalent English language requirements that Middlesex accepts see international entry requirements. 

Entry into year two or three (transfer students)

If you have achieved a qualification such as a foundation degree or HND, or have gained credit at another university, you may be able to enter a Middlesex course in year two or three. For full details of how this works see transfer students

UK/EU applicants with existing higher education qualifications

If you have already been awarded a qualification at the same level as the course you are applying for, you may not be eligible for a tuition fee loan, see fees and funding for more information.

Applying

Applications for UK and EU students should be made to UCAS – the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. The institution code for Middlesex is M80, and the code name is MIDDX. You also need the code for the course you wish to apply for – this is found in the 'at a glance' box above.

International students from outside the EU can make a direct application.  We have a network of regional offices across the world to assist you with your application.  They have worked with people from your region coming to Middlesex before and can help. Read more on international applications

Fees & funding

The tuition fee for the 2012/2013 academic year for UK/EU students is £9,000.
The tuition fee for the 2012/2013 academic year for International students is £10,400.

Click here to find out more about fees, funding and our scholarships in 2012.

Careers & placements

Choose this course if you want to develop as a creative writer, but also want to explore other peoples writing in depth. Graduates from this course are welcomed into a wide range of industries wherever good writing and critical thinking are valued.

Placements

Work placements are proven to increase your success in the job market – as well as being a fantastic experience. Media is a highly competitive field so we encourage as many students as possible to grasp this opportunity. As part of your third year you will have the possibility to carry out a short placement of a minimum of 20 days.  This will provide you with first-hand experience and a thorough understanding of a particular branch of the media and cultural industries. We have a Placement Office which will support you through the placement process.