Course Catalogue

1. To provide students with a stimulating, research-informed programme that is concerned with the
production, reception, and interpretation of written texts in English from diverse literary and cultural
forms and genres from the sixteenth century to the present.
2. To enable students to produce clear, artistically coherent, and original creative work, which articulates a
combination of research and creative ideas and to understand the technical requirements of the form in which
they are writing.
3. To understand the role of readers and audiences in realising texts and performance/broadcasts as
imaginative experience.
4. To enable students to acquire skills in analysing a range of forms of writing and exploring ways in which
meanings and cultural identities are informed by historical, social, political, regional, and global processes.
5. To introduce students to the complexities of reading and issues of language, representation and meaning
through attention to the dynamics and histories of textual production, reception, and interpretation.
6. To equip students to read a as writer – with an ability to analyse texts, performances, and broadcasts, and
respond to the effective power of language using appropriate approaches, terminology, and creative strategies
and to apply scholarly bibliographic skills where and when necessary.
7. To enable students to become rigorous, critical, and analytical in their thinking, while nurturing their
intellectual and creative potential.
8. To develop students’ ability to contextualise their own work within the writing traditions that precede and
surround them and to gain a critical awareness of the context in which writing is produced and how individual
practice relates to that of predecessors and contemporaries, peers, and established practitioners.
9. To employ an imaginative and divergent mode of thinking which is integral to identifying and solving problems,
to the making of critical and reflective judgements, to the generation of alternatives and new ideas, and to engaging with the broader issue of value.
10. To use the views of others in the development and enhancement of practice; formulate considered
responses to the critical judgements of others, while developing a generous yet rigorous scrutiny in peer review
and workshop activities.
11. To interact effectively with others, in team or group work, for example through collaboration or in workshop
and seminar situations.
12. To edit their own work and that of peers with a high level of scrutiny, at the various levels of clause, line,
sentence, stanza, paragraph but also at the structural level of overall scene, chapter, collection, book.
13. To initiate and take responsibility for their own work and gain the ability to self-manage and show a distinct
ability to work independently, set goals, manage workload, and meet deadlines, viewing themselves as critical
and creative practitioners.
14. To encourage students to recognise the skills and insights they develop through the course and help them
identify career opportunities to use them.

English Literature and Creative Writing is essentially a degree about communication, storytelling and the possibilities of language, its impact and significance. All teaching and learning activities aim to develop these skills. The programme is centrally concerned with how meaning is produced through language. Students are therefore expected to use language sensitively and precisely. All teaching and learning activities involve opportunities for developing critical and communication skills. Lectures develop skills in active listening and assimilating ideas and information. Seminars provide an interactive forum to: expand on, investigate and debate issues raised in lectures and in a module overall; undertake detailed reading, original writing and discuss texts; grow confidence and skill in discussion/ideas exchange; develop articulacy, quickness of thought, ability to communicate with others and produce original ideas; learn ways of dealing with difference of opinion, particularly in workshops where ideas and original writing will be challenged. The amount of preparation needed for lectures and participation in seminars and workshops (reading texts/marking up drafts in advance/preparing ideas) is, in English Literature & Creative Writing, large in relation to the amount of class contact time. Private study (guided by tutors and supported by VLE) allows students to work independently, developing their own critical and creative ideas. It requires good time management and organisational skills. The acquisition of such skills is structured by tutor advice and suggestions provided in seminars, tutorials, personal development planning sessions and through online supported learning. ICT systems and digital humanities methods/tools are introduced to students through Induction, tutorials and seminars. Level 4 aims to bring the whole cohort to a comparable level of subject knowledge and competence using smaller, confidence-building assessment items and formative/summative feedback. This encourages students to engage with their programme and develop writing as regular practice. All students belong to tutorial groups where a tutor offers a series of discussions, advice and information sessions, skills teaching, and personal and academic development. Levels 5 and 6 provide different forums for learning: workshops where students take greater responsibility for selection/presentation of materials; individual tutorials/supervisions. Students are encouraged to widen their reading/writing range and develop individual specialisms as both practice and response become increasingly sophisticated. The final honours degree year is characterised by an increased focus on the seminar group/writers' workshop; a collaborative space that accelerates and consolidates student learning. In a workshop the participants critically respond to each other's work, with the role of the tutor to steer, inform and moderate discussion. The learning outcomes of a workshop include technically improved writing, an expanded critical vocabulary, and preparation for the work required of a professional writer. The students' skill in judging work-in-progress is both a means and an end in itself: independent or self-directed work, provides a strong foundation for employment, for postgraduate study, and for continuing creative work. Throughout the English Literature and Creative Writing programme, varied assessments are used to measure understanding/knowledge, including posters, blogs, essay writing, presentations, and creative work. Portfolios that consist of both practical creative work and a reflection on that work are used to promote critical analysis and deep learning. A wide range of assessment forms enable students to approach intellectual development more laterally, for instance through reflective journals, oral work, production of digital text, or participative group projects. Assessment practices take account of students with specific needs (SENDA Compliant).

Throughout the English Literature and Creative Writing programme many exciting opportunities will arise. We inform students of placements, volunteering and paid internship possibilities. All English Literature and Creative Writing modules have professional practice embedded through them – whether it is presenting work correctly so that an agent or editor will take it seriously or researching a ‘script bible’ and writing a pitching document. The Level 4 module ‘Professional Practice: The Writer in the World’ requires students to write reviews after cultural trips and experiences in a
public-facing series of blog posts, thus positioning the student writer as writing for a wider audience. This module also requires students to provide a research report exploring career opportunities in creative industries, reflecting on personal qualities and skills and areas for development. Level 5’s ‘Writing in Production’ requires students to work in teams to collate, edit, proof-read and design magazines (in print or online) or podcasts, producing budgets and marketing documents. In Level 6, ‘The Writer at Work Portfolio’ module requires student to research organisations that use creative writing in their practice and introduces students to alumni working across creative and communication industries, with guests from charities, arts organisations and publishing and production companies. Level 6 Advanced Prose Workshop networks students with editors and agents, providing tuition on how to pitch articles to online or print media. The Writer at Work Project provides the skills and knowledge to devise, plan and manage a writing-related project. The skills gain during your course are also in demand in such areas as public relations, advertising, corporate communications, cultural journalism, research and the film and television service industries. Alternatively, you may want to pursue postgraduate study at MA and PhD level or go into teaching. Our graduates have gone on to work in publishing, corporate communications and in the film and television industries as writers, directors, researchers and actors. Employers include the BBC, Channel 4, FACT, L.A. Productions and Lime Pictures.

Students have the opportunity to engage in work-based learning either via placements or via professionally set briefs – for example, writing a short script based on the current BAFTA funding criteria, or writing poems on a theme set by a magazine. Departmental staff offer support and make use of their extensive professional and industry contacts as needed to ensure that students are supported in their ambitions. The work placement coordinator agrees and monitors the placements and, along with the Screen School Student Development co-ordinator, ensures the placement programme complies with the LJMU Placement Learning Code of Practice. In addition, elements of study designed to assist students to learn about themselves and develop their employment skills are spread throughout the programme. Students are encouraged to apply for additional work-based learning opportunities as they arise. Recent examples include undergraduate involvement in paid internship projects interviewing and capturing the stories of staff and students at the University on the What’s Your Story? project.