Objectivesto provide an attractive and distinctive approach to postgraduate writing for professional purposes; to explore a range of professional writing genres with an emphasis on London as a writing environment, venue and outlet for production; to provide you with the means to enhance your writing and communication skills through advanced writing workshop activities; to promote independent learning and research activity for the purposes of extended professional and/or creative writing. Students gain experience in many different kinds of writing, from fiction and poetry to journalism and arts criticism.
Entry requirementsThe minimum entry requirement will normally be a lower second class Honours degree, which should preferably include modules or courses in either creative writing or journalism. Applicants will also be considered who have a relevant professional qualification and/or extensive relevant professional experience.
Academic titleMA Professional Writing
Course descriptionCourse structure
The course consists of six essential modules and a core dissertation or extended writing project of around 20,000 words.
The core modules include:
-Writing and Editing
-Writing London
-Research Methods
Optional modules include:
-Technical Writing
-Advanced Use of English
-Feature Journalism
-Scriptwriting
-Creative Writing
Assessment
A range of coursework including: original articles, stories, features, scripts; reflective and analytical commentaries, reports; extended research dissertation (which may be substantially creative work).
Career opportunities
The course aims to equip you with a sufficient range of advanced writing skills to allow you to perform across a wide number of writing options within such areas as journalism, short stories, magazines and journals, editing, media writing, writing for performance. This is very much in line with the increasing emphasis on freelance work within the creative and cultural industries in London, nationally and internationally.
Attendance & duration
-Full-time: 1 year
-Part-time (day): 2 years minimum