English Literature and Creative Writing (BA)

You will be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, with all modules including seminar or small-group teaching. In Creative Writing the small-group teaching takes the form of workshops based on peer review of student writing.

Teaching stresses the importance of the way texts interact with their contexts, and each module is designed to encourage you to focus on a number of specific texts and to prepare carefully a considered answer to specific topics dealt with in the module, while the workshops in Creative Writing ask you to engage with the critical creative process through evaluative discussion of peer writing.

Learning activities will vary from module to module as appropriate, but may include such activities as: interactive lectures, seminar discussions of prepared texts/topics, student individual or group presentations, small-group work within seminars, peer review in workshops, translation classes, formative writing exercises, journal entries, and film viewings.

You are expected to do the reading and other relevant preparation to enable you to participate fully in these activities. You are encouraged to explore the resources of the library as appropriate. For the workshops, peer work is previously circulated and you are expected to bring prepared comments as part of the exchange of ideas informing the sessions.

How will I be supported?

You will be assigned a personal tutor and will meet him/her for regular academic progress meetings (one per semester). There is a form to fill in before each Academic Progress meeting which is designed to help you reflect on the written feedback and the reasons for the marks you have received from the previous round of assessment. You will discuss this feedback and your reflections on it with your personal tutor.

In addition, all staff have weekly office hours during teaching weeks and you may make appointments to see your personal tutor or module leaders on a one-to-one basis about any issues. Staff may also be contacted by email.

Key information for each module will be available on our Virtual Learning Environment, Learning Central, together with appropriate additional learning resources, such as lecture notes and slides.

The University offers a range of services including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service, and excellent libraries and resource centres.

Feedback

Written feedback is provided on both formative and summative assessment and you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with module tutors in seminars and, where appropriate, on a one-to-one basis in office hours.

Your achievement and progress are also discussed in regular progress meetings with personal tutors.

How will I be assessed?

All English Literature modules offer you the opportunity to undertake unassessed formative work appropriate to the module. Most modules are assessed by essay and/or examination, but some include other forms of assessment such as journal entries, a portfolio, or presentations.

Creative Writing modules are assessed by short portfolios of creative work that include a critical commentary. The assessment strategy is structured to lead you from formative thinking throughout the module towards the production of an informed critical/creative response.

Your final year project consists of a substantial, independently-researched and original portfolio of creative work, produced under the guidance of a member of staff, in the field of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, or screenwriting. The portfolio includes a critical commentary on the work produced.

What skills will I practise and develop?

Knowledge and understanding

• Awareness of different literary periods, movements and genres and of the variety of English literature.
• Understanding of the importance of historical and cultural contexts.
• Ability to sustain a critical argument that is responsive to the workings of language and literary styles.
• Awareness of the bibliographic conventions of the discipline and their role in communicating information.
• Knowledge of the critical issues and/or debates surrounding or raised by texts.
• Understanding of the shaping effects of historical and cultural circumstances on the production and meaning of texts.
• Knowledge of appropriate critical vocabulary and terminology.
• An awareness of editorial approaches and processes.
• Understanding, through reading and your own practice, of the key elements of different forms of writing.
• Ability to produce original literary work in a variety of forms and genres.
• An awareness of tone, register, structure, genre and audience in your own writing.

Intellectual skills

• Ability to handle complex ideas with clarity.
• Ability to analyse and interpret material drawn from a diversity of literary periods.
• Ability to apply high level critical skills of close analysis to literary texts.
• Ability to select and organise material purposefully and cogently.
• Ability to use the views of others in the development and enhancement of practice; formulate considered practical responses to the critical judgements of others, while developing a generous yet rigorous critical scrutiny in peer review and workshop activities.

Professional Practical Skills

• Advanced communication skills (written and oral).
• Ability to give an efficient critical evaluation of documents in various styles.
• Ability to give oral and written feedback on others’ work.
• Ability to access, use and evaluate electronic data.
• Ability to interact effectively with others, in team or group work situations.

Transferable skills

• Ability to handle complex ideas with clarity.
• Ability to select and organise material purposefully and cogently.
• Plan, organize, and deliver work to a deadline.
• Initiate and take responsibility for independent projects.
• Respond creatively and imaginatively to research tasks.