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Creative Writing and Journalism BA Honours

Whether you want to specialise in creative writing or journalism, this unique course will help you flourish as a writer across a number of exciting fields
Code
WP85
Start
September 2024
Duration
3 years full-time
Attendance
Full-time
Fees
£9,250 (UK)
£16,600 (INT)*
Course leader
Ariel Kahn

This course prepares you to enter the industry as a professional journalist or go on to work in all sorts of creative industries, from creative writing to comedy.

Why choose BA Creative Writing and Journalism at Middlesex?

Our journalism and creative writing course offers the unique experience of combining both subjects, so you can develop your skills as a writer across different styles.

You'll learn alongside professional authors, playwrights, scriptwriters, and journalists. You'll also get plenty of opportunities to showcase your work at events like the North London Story Festival.

What you will gain

During the course, you'll cover everything you'll need to know about journalism – from shorthand to digital media. You'll also learn about the life of a journalist, whether you want to write for a newspaper, magazine, or online platforms.

On the creative writing side, you'll learn how to critically examine different types of writing and be able to experiment with language, styles and formats.

This course prepares you to enter the industry as a professional journalist or to go on to work in all sorts of creative industries, from creative writing to comedy.

3 great reasons to pick this course

  • Student satisfaction
    98% of students were positive about the quality of learning resources and facilities on their course (National Student Survey 2023)
  • Strong links with the publishing industry
    Every year we host the North London Story Festival, which has included appearances by writers such as poet laureate Carol-Anne Duffy, novelist David Nicholls and Booker Prize shortlisted author Stephen Kelman
  • Put your new skills to practice in a work environment
    Previously, students have taken up placements with some of the most prestigious media outlets in the UK, such as BBC London and The Guardian

What you will learn

Our Journalism and Creative Writing course uniquely combines both subjects, allowing you to develop your writing skills across different fields.

You'll cover everything you'll need to know about journalism – from shorthand to digital media and writing for newspapers or magazines.

On the creative writing side, you'll learn how to critically examine different types of writing and have the chance to experiment with language, styles and forms.

This course is taught by professional writers and journalists who’ll prepare you for a career in journalism or other creative industries. You’ll also be able to take part in events like the North London Story Festival.

You'll study all forms of writing, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as drama and screenwriting. You'll also take an in-depth look at the way the journalism and writing industries are developing today.

Some of the skills you’ll develop include:

  • Communicating digitally in professional contexts
  • Presenting and pitching effectively using video-conferencing software
  • Conducting efficient meetings and collaborating online
  • Digital storytelling, researching and interviewing
  • Digital and multi-platform content production and dissemination
  • Mobile journalism and sourcing third-party content
  • Understanding legal and ethical considerations.

Keep informed

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The BA Creative Writing and Journalism will give you a solid grounding in language and communication across a range of creative and journalistic genres and through a variety of media. It will also link you with the worlds of media, journalistic and literary employment.

Year 1

The first year of the course introduces you to essential journalism skills and creative writing skills that you can apply across a range of media, including narrative storytelling, finding your voice and exploring character, dialogue and conflict.

Year 2

In the second year, you'll have the opportunity to develop your creative strengths in such fields as fiction and digital storytelling for a multi-media world as well as deepen your specialist journalistic knowledge and skills across print, broadcast, online, mobile and emergent technologies.

Year 3

The third year gives you the opportunity to work in-depth on an independent project, as well as to boost your employability through our innovative Making It In The Creative Industries module, as well as developing your Creative Non-Fiction skills and making the most of our cutting-edge Newsroom resources.

In addition, throughout your degree, you will be able to act as part of the annual North London Story Festival, giving you direct experience in every aspect of setting up, planning and running a festival. This will deepen your connection to the MDX Creative community, and enhance and broaden your professional skills.

Modules

  • Year 1 - Compulsory

    • Writing Creatively (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This module explores the different ways in which we make sense of the world and communicate with others through creative or professional writing. On this module, you will develop your reading and writing skills through exploration of a wide range of literary or journalistic forms and through writing practice in these forms. It introduces the importance and practice of reflective evaluation of your own and other’s creative work through self and peer review.

    • Character, Conflict and Dialogue (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This module will introduce you to key elements in the field of imaginative writing – building characters, writing dialogue, creating and building conflict situations. You will investigate the appropriate forms of character, dialogue and conflict writing for different media – stage, page, screen and radio and develop your skills in collaborative writing for radio and other media. You will also develop your research skills appropriate to the imaginative work in hand.

    • What is Journalism? (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This module introduces you to key journalism theories, concepts, codes and conventions, both historic and current, and develops your understanding of the news media industry. You will develop your own views and versions of journalism, bridging the link between theory and practice.

    • Journalism Skills (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This module will teach you the core journalism skills, techniques and knowledge that will lay the foundation for your degree and journalism career. Providing a firm grounding in news gathering, research, news and feature writing, these skills will be applicable to print, broadcast, online, mobile and emergent technologies.

    • Storytelling (30 credits)

      This module introduces students to theories and aspects of storytelling that are common to prose fiction, creative non-fiction, journalism, media and communications. It will equip students with the knowledge and skills to complete various forms of storytelling in different formats. It will allow students to critically assess the relative success of examples of creative writing and journalism, critically reflect upon their own work and take constructive/developmental feedback on board for improving their writing.

    • Professional communication in creative careers (30 credits)

      The module develops students' abilities in a range of industry-relevant professional communication tasks related to the creative industries. It builds awareness as well as practical ability, a range of communication approaches and activities are used to illuminate discourse strategies appropriate to a range of situations. In addition, this module introduces students to career opportunities in the creative industries and to enable them to plan, reflect on and collate evidence for their own personal and professional development.

    • Practising Journalism (30 credits)

      This module introduces students to key journalism theories, concepts, codes, and conventions. It will enable students to think critically and reflexively about journalism as a discipline and news media as an industry. It will equip students with the core journalism skills, techniques and knowledge that will lay the foundation for their degree and journalism career.

    • Reading as a Writer (30 credits)

      This module will give students a firm grounding in the analytical, research and communication skills that will be essential for progression through the rest of the programme. Students will develop these skills through investigations both of different critical and academic approaches to creative-writing texts and of the contexts (commercial, social and historical) in which texts are produced and consumed.

  • Year 2 - Compulsory

    • Multimodal Journalism (30 credits) - Compulsory

      Building on skills learned during the first year, this module enables you to apply your skills in news gathering, production and distribution in print, broadcast, online, mobile and emergent technologies across multiple platforms individually and collaboratively. It considers how factors such as monetisation, non-linear design, audience interaction and mode of dissemination affect the journalistic editorial and production process.

    • Innovation, Science and Technology (30 credits) - Optional

      The module enables you to develop a critical understanding of the journalistic and media coverage of modern innovation, science and technology. You will learn to reflect on the current state of this coverage, its social and political consequences and the challenges of improving it. You will develop research, writing and fact-checking skills for covering this specialist subject, and learn to identify areas for investigation and reporting.

    • Investigative techniques (30 credits)

      This module will develop students’ capacity to evaluate and appreciate good research practices, and how they inform and advance the production of social knowledge. Students develop their understanding of research methods and processes, and how these could be applied for both academic and storytelling purposes. The modules emphasizes the transferability of academic research skills and concepts to practical creative work and prepares students for CWJ3001 Independent Project, whether that takes the form of a written dissertation (academic research), or a creative project.

    • Digital storytelling (30 credits)

      The digital storytelling module builds on core storytelling skills developed in year one, and aims to develop skills in digital, multimodal and hypertext production of creative writing and journalism stories. It also develops understanding of how factors such as monetisation, non-linear design, audience interaction and mode of dissemination affect the storytelling editorial and production process, as well as enable students to practise effectively as ethically-astute digital and multimodal creators, managing different types of outputs, while maintaining focused professional objectives in the process of taking digital storytelling from concept to consumption.

    • Specialist journalism (30 credits)

      This module introduces students to the knowledge, skills and techniques needed to be a journalist on a specialised beat. It explores the role and breadth of journalism specialisms in the modern media and encourages students to pursue a specialism and acquire the in-depth knowledge and reporting skills required to report on that beat. Students further develop core journalistic skills (research, reporting, storytelling) and the more specific techniques and approaches required for different specialisms.

    • Writing Bestsellers (30 credits)

      Writing Best Sellers introduces students to the literary traditions, theories and technical aspects of a variety of genres of commercial fiction. It equips students with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to produce creative writing that successfully fulfils genre-specific requirements. Students critically analyse the relative success and merits of published examples of genre writing, and explore the nature, debates and trends in the contemporary commercial market(s) for different genres of fiction. Student also develop and practise their skills in providing and taking on board feedback, and pitching work for the realisation of commercial and industry-related opportunities.

  • Year 2: Choose two optional modules

    • Screen Writing for Shorts (30 credits) - Optional

      This module will help you to understand the particular demands, constraints and potentials of the short film form. It will help you to understand the significance of story structure, visual storytelling and characterisation in conveying meaning and affect, and how screenplays are written on the page. You will conceive, research and develop a short screen story, write and rewrite a short dramatic script, taking account of and evaluating feedback, including peer group feedback, and evaluate the completed work critically and analytically, formatting your screenplay to industry standards.

    • Fiction: The Short Story (30 credits) - Optional

      In this module you will develop your fiction-writing skills in the context of the distinctive aesthetics of the short story, with group study of seminal texts in the history of the modern short story forming a context for work-shopped exercises. You will explore such techniques of fiction as voice, setting and atmosphere, narrative tension, character and dialogue, as foregrounded by the short form, and you will also learn about the distinctive publishing environment for short fiction.

    • Storytelling for Games (30 credits) - Option

      This module will provide you with a knowledge of the principles of storytelling in relation to games design as well as the ability to use narrative structures in the design of game worlds. You will develop your ability to apply both game and storytelling knowledge to the creation of an interactive story and develop story language for games design.

  • Year 2: Choose one optional module

    • Arts, Lifestyle and Sports Journalism (30 credits) - Optional

      Teaching you the knowledge, skills and techniques needed to be an arts, lifestyle and/or sports reporter, this module explores the role of these journalism specialisms in the modern media. You will further develop core journalistic skills (research, reporting, storytelling) and the more specific techniques and approaches required for different specialisms as well as build an understanding of the context and pressures under which arts, lifestyle and sports journalism is produced in the modern media.

    • Political Communication (30 credits) - Optional

      This module will introduce you to a range of debates and discussions about the relationship between the media, political actors and audiences/citizens in contemporary society. You will develop your skills in political communications practice, including presentational and deliberative skills, working both independently and as a team.

  • Year 3 - Compulsory

    • Independent project (30 credits)

      This module provides the student with the opportunity and support to plan and develop a major independent project that can either (a) be in any of the genres of creative writing or journalism that they have studied on the programme (e.g. fiction, film/play script, creative non-fiction (e.g. life-writing), long-form journalism, portfolio of feature articles), or (b) take the form of an academic dissertation. Students will produce work that explores their own particular interests, that draws on and develops skills acquired on previous modules, and that can be used as a summation of their capabilities (a “calling card”) beyond university. Also, students explore the place of the project within the publishing/media/academic environment and reflect critically on the processes by which the project is developed.

    • Working as a Writer (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This module enables you to develop skills and practices at an appropriate professional level for the workplace, in industries relevant to the rest of your work in the BA Creative Writing and Journalism programme. It aims to prepare you for possible future career paths in such fields as publishing, the media and journalism, as well as being preparation for the professional publishing and media environment that will form the context for your future activity as writer and journalist.

    • Entrepreneurship (30 credits) - Compulsory

      This unique module enables you to understand and develop an awareness of and capacity for innovation and enterprise through the initiation and exposition of a proposal and business plan with creative and commercial potential. You will develop your core entrepreneurial skills, including networking, negotiation, presentation, pitching, skills, project planning, time management and market research. You are encouraged to apply your acquired knowledge of journalism, media industries, and new and emerging media processes and techniques to opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship and business start-ups

    • Journalism, Money and Power (30 credits) - Optional

      Providing you with the knowledge and the tools to analyse the relationship(s) between journalism, money and power, this module will deconstruct the ways in which the news media industry is shaping, framing, (re)presenting, and even influencing, the ways in which we view our own power structures. You will interrogate these issues to better understand the role journalism plays at the centre of mediating power: shaping it, supporting it, representing and framing it, and holding it to account.

    • Work Placement (30 credits) - Optional

      This module helps you to develop your skills and practices at an appropriate professional level in the workplace, in industries relevant to the rest of your work on the programme. It enables you to locate and reflect on your academic learning in the day-to-day operation of industries and institutions and to prepare for carrying forward the outcomes of your studies into professional life.

    • Making it in the creative industries (30 credits)

      This module enables students to develop skills and practices at an appropriate professional level for the workplace, in industries relevant to the rest of their work in their BA Creative Writing and Journalism programme. It aims to prepare them for possible future career paths in such fields as publishing, the media, journalism, copywriting, advertising and public relations, social media management, marketing, and branding, as well as being preparation for the professional publishing and media environment that will form the context for their future activity as writers and journalists.

    • Newsroom (30 credits)

      This module builds on the journalism skills developed in years 1 and 2, enabling students to produce multi-platform and digital media output. Students will develop skills in operational procedures and best practice in a professional newsroom environment, which remains the main venue for content generation. They will also develop the practice of reflection on performance through sessional debriefs and constructive criticism.

    • Creative Non-Fiction (30 credits)

      This module equips students with a critical understanding of defining works of Creative Non-Fiction within a range of specific genres. Students develop, receive feedback on, and edit their own synopsis and sample chapter(s) relating to a piece of written Creative Non-Fiction. Students gain the knowledge, skills and opportunities to produce creative writing that successfully fulfils genre-specific requirements. They also hone their skills in providing and acting on feedback and pitching their work for commercial purposes.

  • Year 3: Choose two optional modules

    • Genre Fiction (30 credits) - Optional

      This module will provide you with knowledge and practice of the tropes and subjects of popular fiction, including romance, historical, horror, crime, fantasy, science fiction, with the specific genres covered being agreed in accordance with staff expertise. You will consider a range of texts, such as literature, radio, film and TV and include the emergence of cult video/DVD, developing your ability to recognise the characteristics and requirements of each genre.

    • Popular Non-Fiction (30 credits) - Optional

      This module develops your understanding of how close reading of non-fiction, including forms such as travel and history writing, biography and memoir, can help develop your own creative writing abilities within these genres. It explores the nature of the self, its presentation in text, and the depiction of other lives, with the aim of helping you use different narrative structures and styles in your own work. The module explores the notion of place and voice in non-fiction writing and aims to give an understanding of how research informs practice.

    • Long Form Journalism (30 credits) - Optional

      This module enables you to identify and apply relevant critical frameworks to the concept of long-form journalism. You will demonstrate your high level practical skills in the execution of a complex and large-scale project relevant to the field of journalism and develop professional competence in researching, planning and producing long-form journalism.

    • Global Journalism and News Culture (30 credits) - Optional

      This module will introduce you to global journalism as a concept, a way of researching the expanding news media landscape, and of practicing journalism. Throughout the module, you will explore the ethics and nature of journalism that is being created in, and exported by, different countries and compare the approach of journalists, as well as the quality and style of reporting of global news media outlets.

To find out more please download the Creative Writing and Journalism BA Honours specification (PDF).

  1. Teaching and independent learning
  2. Coursework and assessment

Facilities

  • Bespoke newsroom with a dedicated studio, green screen and professional software including Avid, NewsCutter and iNews
  • Two sound-proofed studios with the ability to broadcast live shows. They are equipped to the same standard as independent local radio stations

The Sheppard Library

Our library is open 24 hours a day during the term and includes:

  • Over 1,000 study areas with rooms for group study and over 600 computer spaces
  • 350,000 books and e-books and more than 24,000 online journals
  • Free laptop loans, Wi-Fi and printing

Two female students sitting in a radio broadcasting studio

Student support

We offer lots of support to help you while you're studying including financial advice, wellbeing, mental health and disability support.

Additional needs

We'll support you if you have additional needs such as sensory impairment or dyslexia. And if you want to find out whether Middlesex is the right place for you before you apply, get in touch with our Disability and Dyslexia team.

Wellness

Our specialist teams will support your mental health. We have free individual counselling sessions, workshops, support groups and useful guides.

Work while you study

Our Middlesex Unitemps branch will help you find work that fits around uni and your other commitments. We have hundreds of student jobs on campus that pay the London Living Wage and above. Visit the Middlesex Unitemps page.

Financial support

You can apply for scholarships and bursaries and our MDX Student Starter Kit to help with up to £1,000 of goods, including a new laptop or iPad.

We have also reduced the costs of studying with free laptop loans, free learning resources and discounts to save money on everyday things. Check out our guide to student life on a budget.

How will our BA Creative Writing and Journalism support your career?

Our course will prepare you to go on to careers in creative writing and/or journalism, and across a wide range of industries wherever good writing and critical thinking are valued.

Middlesex graduates include comedian and writer Russell Kane, playwright Rosa Connor, and performance poet and writer Laura Dockrill.

Transferable skills

The course is also particularly useful in areas where work on analysing and producing language is central including journalism, copywriting, advertising, website management, politics, PR, teaching, marketing and branding.

MDXworks

Our employability service, MDXworks will launch you into the world of work from the beginning of your course, with placements, projects and networking opportunities through our 1000+ links with industry and big-name employers in London and globally.

Our dedicated lifetime career support, like our business start-up support programme and funding for entrepreneurs, has put us in the top 20 UK universities for business leaders and entrepreneurs – Business Money 2023 and a top 10 university for producing CEOs (Novuana, 2023).

MDXcelerator Student Start-Up Support

Want to be your own boss? You'll have the chance to pitch your business to gain mentoring and grants of up to £15,000.

Global network

You’ll study with students from 122 countries who’ll hopefully become part of your global network. And after you graduate, we'll still support you through our alumni network to help you progress in your chosen career.

Work placements

The compulsory year 3 module 'Making it in the Creative Industries' will prepare you for future career paths in publishing, the media, journalism, copywriting, advertising and public relations, social media management, marketing and branding. In addition to making a strong application for an appropriate work placement role you will also create a freelance profile across a range of platforms.

Most recently, students, as part of the module, have secured placements as writers, journalists, editorial assistants and teaching assistants, focusing on writing and creativity tasks. Latest employers include the online magazine Tru, which focuses on topics such as the environment, sustainability, nature, health, and human and animal rights, Barnet Post, a not-for-profit local newspaper that is part of Social Spider CIC, Disgraceful Magazine which focuses on women, their lives and achievements, local infant and primary schools and the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture.

Our specialist employability service will help you find placement opportunities.

  1. UK entry
  2. International entry
  3. How to apply

The fees below are for the 2024/25 academic year:

UK students1

Full-time: £9,250

International students2

Full-time students: £16,600

Additional costs

The following study tools are included in your fees:

  • Free access to resources, learning materials and software you need to succeed on your course
  • Free laptop loans for up to 24 hours
  • Free specialist software for your course
  • Free printing for academic paperwork
  • Free online training with LinkedIn Learning.

The following course-related costs are not included in the fees, and you will need to budget for these:

  • London transport cost to attend study visits and field trips
  • Costs for any additional books you might want to buy (all resources in your reading lists will be freely available via the library)

Scholarships and bursaries

To help make uni affordable, we do everything we can to support you including our:

  • MDX Excellence Scholarship offers grants of up to £2,000 per year for UK students
  • Regional or International Merit Awards which reward International students with up to £2,000 towards course fees
  • Our MDX Student Starter Kit to help with up to £1,000 of goods, including a new laptop or iPad.

Find out more about undergraduate funding and all of our scholarships and bursaries.

Fees disclaimers

1. UK fees: The university reserves the right to increase undergraduate tuition fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions. The tuition fees for part-time UK study are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

2. International fees: Tuition fees are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

Any annual increase in tuition fees as provided for above will be notified to students at the earliest opportunity in advance of the academic year to which any applicable inflationary rise may apply.

  • Scott Cresswell

    Scott Creswell

    BA Creative Writing and Journalism graduate

    Before attending university, I didn’t know where life would lead me. However, studying at Middlesex University unleashed my passion for creative writing, journalism, and politics. On a very diverse and practical course, I sharpened my skills and transformed creative ideas into reality. The outstanding tutors inspired me to achieve my best and to step out of my comfort zone to create my best work. Middlesex University is a fantastic community where everyone is given the chance to perform their best and work towards their dream career. Soon after graduating, I have accepted an offer to work in Parliament. In this role, I will educate students and visitors about the history of Parliament and its purpose.

  • Russell Kane

    BA Creative and Media Writing graduate

    I am eternally grateful for my education at Middlesex. It was the defining moment, the switching on; an explosive charge that still burns brightly.


We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.

Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.

Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.

At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.

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Code: PGP500

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