A career in writing enables you to explore the world through your work – discovering people and places, exploring unfolding events, influencing debate, and shaping your own creative voice. On this course, you’ll write for blogs, websites, print, video, audio and multimedia contexts, developing the skills to research your subject and really engage your readers.
Together, these subjects give you exciting opportunities to develop your voice as a writer and discover ways to publish your work. In journalism, you’ll learn about ethics, target audiences and the journey from interview to finished article. You’ll produce work on a variety of platforms from blogs to print and report on international stories and ones guided by your interests.
In creative writing, you’ll learn important skills for devising, editing, revising and submitting your work. You’ll analyse texts, explore the effects of the author’s choices and create short stories, drama, poetry and creative nonfiction of your own. You’ll also have opportunities to work with schools or museums, attend guest lectures, study abroad or take a year’s work placement.
All our lecturers are active researchers, so you’ll share the excitement of doing original work in a supportive and highly rated academic community.
You’ll have the opportunity to meet a wide range of authors, journalists and media practitioners through our speaker series. Our Media Matters guest lectures are given by a range of media speakers from top journalists to our recent graduates. You'll have the opportunity to network with inspirational and well-known screen writers, biographers, poets, novelists, nonfiction authors and playwrights at our Creative Conversation events.
What's the course about?
In your first year, you’ll explore the basics of journalism, learning about how to tell factual stories in written form, through blogs and podcasting and video. You’ll also reflect on how journalists should and do behave and their relationship with government. In Creative Writing you’ll start learning how to become a writer and how to write for films, as well as gaining a deeper insight into genre.
In your second year, you’ll start to broadcast, brainstorm ideas for a magazine concept, learn about how journalism changed the world and gain insights into the fast-paced world of news, while in Creative Writing, you’ll learn about the art of telling non-fiction stories, in a wide range of genres from memoir to food to travel, and how to write for the stage.
Work placement/study abroad option*: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or complete a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about, but it will also give your CV a boost. If you would rather go straight to your final year, that’s fine too. You can decide in your second year with us, so there is still plenty of time to think about this.
In your final year, you’ll get a wide range of options. In journalism you will report on international stories, create your own website, have work experience, freelance or create your own media business. You will also practice writing for a variety of audiences. In Creative Writing, you’ll get the chance to specialise in either poetry, prose or script writing and look at popular fiction genres and writing TV drama.
For a full list of modules, see the section under ‘What will I study?’
Guest speakers and networking (Media Matters and Creative Conversations).
Each year the School of Humanities hosts a range of industry professionals, giving talks on their experience in the media and publishing industry. These lectures are recorded by our final-year students and available on our Taster Hub. Some of our previous speakers have included:
Andrea Thompson, Editor in Chief of Marie Claire
Richard Keith, Journalist for Edge Magazine and Publisher, PCGamer
Georgina Lawton of online ezine Gal-Dem for women and non-binary people of colour
Damian Barr, writer, literary editor and TV host
Steve Swann, investigative journalist, BBC
Inua Ellams, poet
Nell Leyshon, novelist and playwright
Tom Edge, screenwriter
Applying for this course is easy. Simply add us to your UCAS account by using the institution and course code mentioned in ‘Key information’. There is no interview for this course. We’re just interested to hear why you want to study this subject at degree level.
