Overview
If prose is your passion, this Journalism with Creative Writing degree lets you keep your options open while you transform your talent with the written word into a successful career.
You'll learn about and experience factual reporting and fictional writing, combining the complementary disciplines of journalism and creative writing. You might compile a news report about a local charity or review a concert on one day, then the next day work on a short story, poem or play script.
You'll also hone your research skills and learn about the structure and mechanisms of the industries you could find yourself working in – from the process of getting a script approved to legal issues surrounding publishing news stories.
You'll graduate ready to get stuck into writing professionally, equipped with the knowledge and experience you need to get started in whichever field of writing you choose.
What you'll experience
On this Journalism with Creative Writing degree course you'll:
- Combine the factual world of journalism with the fictional world of creative writing
- Learn how to research and write news stories and articles, and layout magazine pages
- Study modules from our BA (Hons) Journalism course, which was awarded the Best Performing Undergraduate Course for 2017–18 and 2018–19 by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ)
- Get to grips with video as a journalistic and creative medium
- Have the opportunity to take NCTJ exams, giving you further professional qualifications
- Be taught by published authors of novels, poetry and screenplays, and journalists with written and broadcast experience in local, regional, national and international journalism
- Learn about media law and industry code, and get a deeper understanding of the role of journalists in a democratic society
- Develop the techniques you need to write effectively across many mediums, including magazines, TV screenplays, theatre scripts, and poetry
- Have access to our industry-standard journalism newsroom, exclusively open to journalism students, which contains 25 Macs loaded with the Adobe Creative Cloud 2019 suite
- Have the opportunity to work alongside students from related courses in TV and broadcasting, photography, and fashion, benefiting from their expertise and perspectives
Transferable skills you'll learn, which you can use in all areas of your life, include:
- Writing skills
- Professional interview techniques
- Communication skills
- The ability to research and synthesise arguments and information
- Presentation skills
- Self-confidence
Teaching
Teaching methods on this course include:
- lectures
- seminars
- practical workshops in the newsroom
- group-based activities, such as magazine and web-page production
- one-to-one tutorials
You can access all teaching resources on Moodle, our virtual learning environment, from anywhere with a Web connection.
How you're assessed
You'll be assessed through:
- essays
- presentations
- in-class tests
- media artefacts (e.g. producing a video or magazine)
- practical and written exams
- short stories
- screenplays
- a collection of poems
- a public relations campaign
- final-year dissertation
You'll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
Careers and opportunities
When you finish this Journalism with Creative Writing degree course, our careers and employability service can help you find a job that puts your skills to work in the industry.
In the last DHLE (Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education) survey published in 2017, 100% of our creative writing graduates and 95% of journalism graduates were in work or further study 6 months after graduation.
What can you do with a Journalism with Creative Writing degree?
Areas that you could go on to work in include:
- broadcast, print and online journalism
- creative writing
- marketing
- public relations
- communications
- teaching
- advertising
- arts management
What jobs can you do with a Journalism with Creative Writing degree?
Previous graduates from our journalism and creative writing courses have gone on to work in roles including:
- trainee reporter
- social media editor
- digital marketing executive
- copywriter
- theatre manager
- editorial assistant
Other graduates have continued their studies at postgraduate level or set up successful businesses with help and support from the University.
After you graduate, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years from our Careers and Employability service as you advance in your career.
Work experience and career planning
To give you the best chance of securing a great job when you graduate, our Careers and Employability service can help you find relevant work experience during your course.
We can help you identify placements, internships, voluntary roles and freelancing opportunities that will complement your studies and build your CV.
