English with Creative Writing BA

Course overview

For this degree, you will devote two thirds of your time to the area of English and one third to creative writing. The two strands of the course are strongly connected: your developing knowledge and understanding of the various aspects of English will inform your creative writing practice, and vice versa. The English strand of the course is varied and wide-ranging, including literature, language and drama. The first year parallels the core modules for the other English single honours programmes; in the second and final years you will have increasing flexibility to choose your preferred areas of specialisation. The creative writing strand of the course is designed to develop your writing skills, and your insight into the process of writing.

During the course, you will have contact with a variety of creative writing professionals and practitioners, including a recently-appointed writer in residence, so that you can benefit from their professional skills, knowledge and experience.

You will also have the opportunity for hands-on editing and collating experience in the development of a new literary journal for creative writing, The Letters Page. 

Year one

You will study core modules which introduce you to prose, poetry and drama from the medieval period to the modern day, and to aspects of English language from the beginnings of English to contemporary and applied aspects of linguistics. This will give you a solid grounding in each of the different areas which make up 'Nottingham English'.

The first year module, Beginning Creative Writing, acts as a foundation, introducing you to the process of writing poetry and fiction by engaging in a variety of forms of reading and writing practice. The focus in poetry includes emphasis on imagery, line and metre, and poetic form; the fiction content includes looking at character, narrative and point of view.

You will be encouraged from the outset to experiment with a range of techniques and strategies, to create new work and to develop the capacity to reflect on this work in a disciplined and rigorous fashion - an essential skill in creative writing.

Year two

You will have the opportunity to choose from a range of options which will either enable you to continue study in all the areas of English encountered in year one, or to begin to specialise according to your particular interests in literature, language or drama and performance.

Creative writing will be taught within two specialist modules: Prose and Poetry Writing, and Writing for Performance. These will expand on the work done in year one, including such elements as finding/shaping/ reworking material; adaptation; research and the archive; location and setting; characterisation and representation; registers of language, rhythm and speech; mood and atmosphere; and dramatic dialogue and dramatic action. You will build up a portfolio of work over these two years through a variety of assignments.

Final year

You will choose three options from a very wide selection of specialist modules: at this stage, you may wish to concentrate entirely on one area of literature, language or drama, or continue to study any combination of these - the choice is yours.

You will also take the module, Advanced Writing Practice, in which you will be able to focus on the areas of writing which are of most interest to you.

Your final module will be a 40 credit creative writing Extended Project, which will allow you to concentrate on an extended piece of creative work in your chosen medium - either fiction, poetry or drama – with the help of regular supervisory sessions with your creative writing tutor.

Entry requirements

A levels: AAA-AAB, including A in English literature or English language (or combined) at A level; 4 GCSE passes at grade A, including English.

English language requirements 

IELTS 7.0 (no less than 6.0 in any element)

TOEFL iBT 100 (minimum 19 with 20 in Speaking)

Pearson test of English (Academic) 67 (minimum score 67)

Alternative qualifications 

For details please see the alternative qualifications page

Flexible admissions policy

We may make some applicants an offer lower than advertised, depending on their personal and educational circumstances.

Modules

Year-one modules

• Language and Context
• Beginnings of English
• Studying Literature
• Introduction to Drama
• Academic Community 
• Beginning Creative Writing

Year-two modules

 Core modules

• Prose and Poetry Writing
• Writing for Performance

Optional modules

You will choose four modules to cover a range of areas of English, from the wide range of options below:

Literature 1500 to the present 

• Shakespeare and Contemporaries on the Page
• From Talking Horses to Romantic Revolutionaries: literature 1700-1830
• Victorian and Fin de Siècle Literature
• Modern and Contemporary Literature
• Literature and Popular Culture

Each of these modules will offer a comprehensive introduction to the changes in the genres of prose, poetry and drama across the period studied, placing the works encountered in the context of key aesthetic, social and political/historical contexts. 

English language and applied linguistics 

• Language Development
• Discourse, Communication and Society
• Literary Linguistics

Building on the study of language undertaken in year one, these modules provide the exciting opportunity for you to explore aspects of language use in the mind, in society and in literature. 

Medieval languages and literatures 

• Ice and Fire: Myths and Heroes of the North
• Sisters, Sex and Scribes: Writing Women in Early Medieval Britain
• Old English: Reflection and Lament
• Names and Identities
• Chaucer and his Contemporaries

Each of these modules will enable you to develop your understanding of language change and variety, registers, styles, modes and genres, as they appear in medieval texts, and become expert in reading with reference to wider medieval cultures. 

Drama and Performance 

• Twentieth Century Plays
• Performance Practices: From Stanislavski to Stelarc
• Shakespeare and Contemporaries on the Stage

These modules provide the opportunity to develop approaches from year one by studying 20th and 21st century theatre; by exploring key critical approaches to drama in theory and practice, and by focusing on a key period in the development of our nation's theatre. 

Final year modules

Core modules

• Advanced Writing Practice
• Creative Writing Extended Project

Optional modules

The modules we offer in final year are inspired by the research interests of our staff. The following list is therefore subject to change each year but are examples of the scope of modules that will be open to you.

Literature 1500 to the present 

• Enduring Realism
• D H Lawrence
• Romanticism: Writing in Britain
• Blake and his Legacy
• Modern Urban Fictions
• Literature of British India
• Modern British Fiction
• James Joyce
• Oscar Wilde
• Shakespeare
• Sex and Society
• Literature and Place from 1500 to the Present
• Representing Slavery
• Twentieth-Century Literary Utopianism

English language and applied linguistics   

• Sociolinguistics
• Language and Creativity
• Introduction to English Language Teaching
• Exploring Health Communication
• Discourse Analysis
• Stylistics
• Texts in a Digital World
• Language and the Mind
• Patterns, Functions and the Description of English

Medieval languages and literatures   

• Arthurian Literature
• Burning Desires
• Chaucer and his Legacy
• English Place-Names
• Literature of the Anglo-Saxons
• Outlaws, Ghosts and Heroes
• Dreaming the Middle Ages
• Love in a Cold Climate

Drama and Performance   

• Twentieth-Century Theatre: Memory, History, Performance
• Awakenings and Arguments: Twentieth-Century Plays
• Contemporary Performance
• Language in the Limelight
• Screen Shakespeares
• Performance: Theory and Practice
• Riotous Performance 

For further details of the content of all the modules offered by the School of English please see the University module catalogue. 

Careers

A degree in English from the University of Nottingham fosters many vital skills in communication and professional practice. Researching and presenting your work involves a high degree of creativity, and you will also learn how to be careful and precise in carrying out analysis of a range of subjects.

You will learn to plan your work, and develop the qualities of self-discipline, self-motivation and initiative that are essential to any form of graduate employment. We will help you develop your ability to research and process a large amount of information quickly, and to present the results of your research in an articulate and effective way.

Work-related learning and other extra-curricular activities

In addition, you will also have the opportunity to develop your employability profile further through innovative work-related learning projects in your final year. One such opportunity will be offered by the new Literary Journal for students to learn key writing and publishing skills, working alongside our writer in residence, Jon McGregor, and other visiting professionals, on the commissioning, assessing, editing, design, publication and promotion of the journal.

Another option is to pursue the co-curricular Nottingham Advantage Award. For more information, see the Undergraduate Careers and Employability section of the School website.

Graduate career destinations

Graduates in English, as with many arts graduates, find themselves faced with many choices when it comes to selecting a career. No matter what your initial choice may be, you will find that the skills and knowledge that you have developed during your degree will have equipped you for the demanding and often highly changeable nature of the 21st-century workplace. Careers of our recent graduates have included:

Careers of our recent graduates have included:

• accountancy, banking and finance
• acting, television, film editing and related creative industries
• business, consultancy and management
• civil service and local government administration
• events/exhibition management
• human resource management
• insurance
• journalism - periodicals and broadcasting
• law
• librarianship, museum and archive and collection work
• marketing, advertising and public relations 
• management in the charitable sector
• politics
• primary and secondary school teaching
• public relations
• publishing and editorial work
• social work
• teaching English as a foreign language
• tourism and heritage
• writing  - as authors, poets, playwrights
• university administration
• university lecturing

Some students may decide that another year (or more) of study may give them an edge when it comes to seeking out a career and may, for example, choose to undertake postgraduate study or teacher training.

Many of our graduates remain in touch with us; we invite some of them to return to give talks and provide advice at our School-organised Undergraduate Careers Days, while others act as mentors to current students.

Careers support and advice

We have a Careers and Employability Service on campus, with a dedicated careers adviser who works with the School of English to deliver an extensive range of careers services. As well as helping students individually, the centre also hosts regular group events for English students. The School also has a careers advisor who is happy to meet students to talk through their career ideas.

School Careers Events

The School organises annual Careers Events and invites graduates from the School to come and talk about their career choices. Previous careers events have included talks from recent alumni working in management at BT, BBC journalism, the RSC, the University’s graduate trainee scheme as well as providing information on PGCE (teacher training), law conversion and postgraduate study. Podcasts of recent talks are available.

Average starting salary

The average starting salary for 2010/11 full-time graduates of the School of English was £17,645.*

*Average starting salary from known destinations of first-degree leavers who studied full-time, 2010/11.

KIS