BA Creative Writing and Journalism Studies

Overview & facilities

Many creative writers earn part of their living from writing articles, reviews and columns, while many journalists work on novels and screenplays in their spare time. The BA CreativeWriting and Journalismdegree with Honours gives you a unique opportunity to develop as a creative writer, while focusing on practical journalistic skills and a close understanding of the industry. You will explore and improve your skills as a writer in a wide variety of forms including fiction, drama and poetry, while focusing in-depth on the journalism profession and the publications it produces.

BA Creative Writing and Journalism with Honours takes the term 'journalism' to include digital media and magazines as well as newspapers, and combines theory with practice. You'll not only learn how to examine writing and media critically and analytically, but also develop practical skills and experience to prepare you for a career in areas such as newspapers, magazines, television, publishing, PR, advertising, and freelance writing. This course stretches your writing and editing skills while giving you a good understanding of the way the journalism and writing industries are developing.

Content & modules

Modules

• Year 1

  Introduction to Journalism (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  The module introduces students to the skills, practices and institutions of journalism. It will give students a practical and historically contexted grounding in journalism as a legally constrained, culturally shaped and stylistically informed practice, governed by economic and political imperatives. Students will be given the opportunity both to sharpen their own journalistic abilities as well as their knowledge and understanding of newspaper, magazine and online journalism industries.

  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.

  Issues in Media, Politics and Culture (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  The course will complement the theoretical learning on MCS1100 by providing students with the knowledge and skills to investigate, discuss and critically evaluate contemporary issues in media, politics and culture. Students will learn about current social issues, and how these are mediated through press and broadcasting, and in culture. The course will provide a foundation in cognitive and practical skills relevant to the MCS programme, and provide students with transferable graduate skills.

• Year 2

  Campaign Journalism and Critical Writing (30 Credits) - Optional

  Note: Not running at TPK in 2008/9. JCM3001 aims: 1.To develop an analysis of a rich strain of critical journalistic practice and to explore the history of scattered and sporadic journalistic writing profoundly engaged in crucial social and political issues of its day. 2. To cultivate an appreciation of the dynamic potential of forms of writing and message production in other media forms , that is to say, the practical, pragmatic ways in which writing seeks to do something. 3. To give students some of the conceptual and practical tools which would enable them to develop and extend their own work as critical practitioners.

  Core Issues in Journalism and Communication (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module has three aims. Firstly, to enable students to develop an understanding of journalism and communication which allows them to produce a contextually and conceptually adequate framework within which to situate themselves as developing practitioners. It encourages students to ask the question what is journalism within the broader scheme of things . Secondly, to encourage students to develop a set of speculative - but theoretically rigorous - tools to understand the critical implications of being a communications practitioner in the 21st century and the possibilities for creative change of which it is still susceptible; Thirdly, to help students develop the independent research skills they will need to flourish in academic and vocational contexts and to appreciate the importance of thinking critically.

  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.

  Critical Feature-Writing and Editing (30 Credits) - Optional

  The overall aims of this module are: 1. To equip students with a critical, theoretical and practical understanding of editing and feature writing with a focus on an applied knowledge of relations between editing, journalistic writing and its contexts, in particular considerations of genre, market and readership. 2. To help students to develop and demonstrate an inquiring, critical and reflective approach to the complex interaction between writing, readers, the role of editing and the editor in the production, circulation and reception of texts. 3. To be of more general application in developing skills in the practice of researching and writing clearly and concisely to a brief: in relation to specific markets and editorial contexts.

  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.

  International Journalisms and Global News Media (30 Credits) - Optional

  The module aims to give students a thorough understanding of institutions and processes of news production, circulation and consumption within a local as well as a global context. It examines the languages specific to TV, radio and digital journalism, and the way such languages generate symbolic resources through which we define the world around us. The module discusses the role of broadcasting in general, and news circulation in particular, for the production of national identities and, more recently, the effects both cultural and economic of the privatisation and diversification of news provision. Finally, the module develops a critical analysis of how theories of the information society and globalisation might help us understand the current landscape of news provision.

  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

  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 and Publishing Online and Electronic Media (30 Credits) - Optional

  To introduce students to a variety of disciplinary methodologies through which to develop a critical approach to both desktop and online publishing; Provide a critical and practical framework within which students can engage with the study of editorial design, content creation and creative implementations for the digital network and print media; and the application of this to the production of practical projects.

  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

  Campaign Journalism and Critical Writing (30 Credits) - Optional

  Note: Not running at TPK in 2008/9. JCM3001 aims: 1.To develop an analysis of a rich strain of critical journalistic practice and to explore the history of scattered and sporadic journalistic writing profoundly engaged in crucial social and political issues of its day. 2. To cultivate an appreciation of the dynamic potential of forms of writing and message production in other media forms , that is to say, the practical, pragmatic ways in which writing seeks to do something. 3. To give students some of the conceptual and practical tools which would enable them to develop and extend their own work as critical practitioners.

  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.

  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.

  Photojournalism and Visual Culture (30 Credits) - Optional

  JCM3100 seeks: Firstly, to help students investigate the history and institutional frameworks of photojournalism. Secondly, to provide contexts for the understanding of the practice of photojournalism as a genre of photography as well as a genre of journalism. Thirdly, to develop the tools for a critical appreciation of the debates and methods specific to the analysis of visual culture. Finally, to facilitate students explorations of the complexities of meaning production through a guided experimentation with the production of their own photographic messages.

  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.

  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.

Covering fiction, poetry, and scripts, Creative Writing emphasises the development of craft skills. Journalism covers feature writing, the internet, desktop publishing and design, and analyses how the industry works. You'll do individual projects and may do work placements with publishers, magazines, newspapers or media production companies.There are no exams on this course, all assessment is done by portfolio work.

Entry & applying

We normally make offers on a minimum of 240 UCAS tariff points, 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 internet based 72 (with at least 17 in listening & writing, 20 in speaking and 18 in reading).

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. 

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 if you want to develop your creative writing while gaining skills and insights into journalism. Graduates from this course have gone into all kinds of newspapers and magazines. Last year one graduate co-won the prestigious national News of the World graduate bursary, alongside a graduate from Cambridge.

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.