BA (Hons)
English and Creative Writing
Reflect on current literature and develop your own writing style
Course Overview
Why take this course?
This course is more than just working with words on a page. Not only will you develop the tricks and techniques to produce short stories, poetry and play scripts but you’ll learn to dissect, criticise and even perform writing.
Become an informed and diverse writer with an array of abilities that will transport you onto your chosen career path.
What will I experience?
On this course you can:
- Publish your work in our yearly anthology, get your stories out in the open
- Post reviews online or speak at open-mic nights along with many other opportunities to showcase your skills
- Learn from professional novelists, poets and playwrights
What opportunities might it lead to?
Do you see yourself as a budding Andrew Lloyd Webber or the next J. K. Rowling? Have you always dreamed about writing your own novel, or perhaps you picture yourself doing the publishing of great novels? On completion of the course, you will have the necessary knowledge, skills and market awareness to enter a range of exciting careers.
Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:
- creative writing (prose, poetry, script)
- copywriting
- publishing
- advertising and marketing
- arts and events management
- local and community broadcasting
- teaching
I never thought I’d be able to write things like stage plays or even poetry. But the variety on the course is just brilliant. I feel more prepared for going into a professional job, because of the analytical skills that I’ve gained and the self-discipline.
Bryony Noble, BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing student 2013
Key Facts
- UCAS Course Code:
- QW38
- Duration
- 3 years full time, 4 years sandwich with work placement
- Entry
240-300 points from 3 A levels or equivalent, to include 100 points from A level English.
Other qualifications- Fees
UK/EU/Channel Islands and Isle of Man full-time students: £8,750 p/a*
International full-time students: £10,500 p/a*
*Please note that all fees are subject to annual increase.- Contact
- create.admissions@port.ac.uk
+44 (0)23 9284 2421 - Department
- School of Creative Arts, Film and Media
Subject:
English, Film, Journalism and Media
Find out what our students say about studying at Portsmouth, including:
- Getting the chance to develop practical skills alongside learning the theory
- The high-quality teaching and flexibility of options that enables you to tailor your course to your own interests
- The passion and knowledge of the lecturers that makes studying so enjoyable
Visit us at our open day
Wed 10 Jul
Structure & Teaching
Year one
Your first year explores the beginnings of storytelling itself; you’ll learn the techniques of myth and epic poetry and use ancient tricks to create your own new work. This is the start of your training in the skills and techniques you’ll be using throughout your course.
Core units in this year include:
- Introduction to Poetry
- Literary History 1: 16th Century to 19th Century
- Literary Theory
- Telling Tales
- Tips, Tricks, Techniques
- True Stories
Year two
This year allows you to start to specialise in the areas that interest you most. Choose to focus on specific writing forms such as prose, scripts or poetry and also spotlight on certain topics.
Core units in this year include:
- Literary History 2: 19th Century to the Present Day
- Literary Prizes and Public Acclaim
- The Short Story
Options to choose from in this year include:
- American Literature
- Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults
- Early Modern Drama
- Eighteenth Century and Romantic Literature
- Music: Practice, Performance and Research
- Nation and Travel
- Poetry for Page and Stage
- Professional Experience
- Student Enterprise
- The Magazine
- The Script
- Victorian Literature and Visual Culture
Year three
The final year allows you to put into practice your creative work as you become a specialist writer in prose, poetry or philosophical modes. Depending on your interests, you also have the choice between a dissertation, a writing project or undertaking a special exercise that boosts your professional writing skills.
Options to choose from in this year include:
- Charles Dickens
- Consuming Fictions: Food and Appetite in Victorian Culture
- Early Modern Literature and the Bible
- Ecocritical Perspectives
- Enlightenment: Literature, Culture and Modernity
- European Literary Decadence
- Fact and Fiction
- Holocaust Literatures
- Margaret Atwood
- Postmodern Historical Fiction
- Renaissance Poetry: Ben Jonson to Katherine Philips
- The Literary Journalist
- Tracing Borders: Women and Writing 1890-1940
- Travel Writing
- Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Fiction
- US Masculinities
Teaching and Assessment
The greatest feature of our course is that it allows for your intellectual freedom and choice. By attending workshops, seminars, lectures and one-to-one tutorials, you’ll develop a range of skills that will be tailored to your planned career path.
How are you assessed?
Assessment takes many forms on the course enabling you to demonstrate the variety of your skills and talents. Here’s how we assess your work:
- short stories
- a novel in progress
- a screenplay
- a collection of poems
- a video production
- presentations
- reports
- a research portfolio
- examinations
- dissertation/project
Visit us open day
Facilities & Features
The Study Centre
There are several study rooms where you can rehearse
Borderlines
Showcase your innovative writing abilities
University Library
Our library offers a wealth of information including 400,000 books
The Study Centre
A suite of rooms with a comfy seating area, desks where you can work, a printer, Mac workstations and access to the wireless network so you can log in using your own laptop. There are also several study rooms where you can rehearse or work on group projects.
Borderlines
Our acclaimed anthology is an exciting literary project allowing our creative students to feature their work and showcase their innovative writing abilities. You’ll be given the opportunity to contribute to our annual creative writing anthology and year after year, it is filled to the brim with your imaginative and inspiring poetry and stories.
University Library
Modern, comfortable and a great learning environment, our library offers a wealth of information including 400,000 books, DVDs, maps and thousands of online ejournals and newspapers. Many electronic resources are available anywhere, 24/7 and our friendly staff are always on hand to help.
In the past year we have had guest speakers from publishing houses etc, which were really informative and helpful.
Laura Wilson, BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing student
Careers & Opportunities
Career prospects
Once you’ve completed this degree, you will possess all the skills to succeed in an array of creative and professional industries. It could be film and television, print and online media or public relations and advertising, all welcome the creative graduate who possesses the relevant professional skills for their industry.
Alternatively, you can pursue postgraduate study and continue research into a specialised area of your choosing.
Roles our graduates have taken on include:
- editor
- publishing assistant
- copywriter
- information abstractor
- narrator
- projects administrator
Work experience
This course allows you to take the Learning From Experience (LiFE) option, which lets you earn credits toward your degree for work/research placements, volunteer roles or internships undertaken alongside your studies. The option gives you the opportunity to enhance your employability skills, to reflect on the ways in which you've done so, and to learn to express this to potential employers.
Career planning
6.04 minutes
Finding a job is a competitive business, but the statistics show that 89 per cent of our 2011graduates went into employment, further study or training within six months of finishing their degrees.
To make sure you take the right steps on your career path, we’re here to give you help, support and advice throughout your study. Even after you’ve graduated, we continue to give you support for up to five years.
Employers tell us that they want graduates to be able to demonstrate certain skills when they come out of university. Our courses take account of this. We make sure we prepare you for employment through work-related learning, projects, placements and working in simulated environments that are designed to prepare you for the working world.
Open Day
Our next open day is Wed 10 July
VISIT US! Have a look around and get a feel for what it’s like to live and study here. We’ll be on hand to talk to you about your course interests and show you all of our amazing facilities. You’ll also get to meet tutors and other students…
Application, Fees and Funding — find out more