BA Dissertation in Creative Writing and English

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Steve Willey
• Assessment: a 2000-word critical preface plus 5000 words of creative writing (100%)

The dissertation is the culmination of your studies on the BA Creative Writing and English. You will propose, treat, research, develop, edit and refine an extended independent original writing project in the field of fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, creative non-fiction or an interdisciplinary area agreed with your designated tutor.

This piece of creative writing will critically situate your work either within a literary tradition, a literary genre, or within the landscape of contemporary writing (or all three). As such, the module equips you with experience and strategies to continue to produce work after completing your degree and gives you a sense of how to critically position the creative work you do as a writer.

This not only leads to the development of a piece of work that serves as a ‘calling card’ for potential publishers or producers, or to further your studies at postgraduate level, it also replicates the reality of working life for a creative/critical writer.

This module will enable you to:

• demonstrate your control of elements of the writer’s craft
• sharpen your awareness of the practices of redrafting and editing
• maintain a regular writing habit and produce effective creative work independently
• strengthen your confidence and fluency in your own writing
• develop your intellectual independence
• explore style and form in your chosen literary field
• produce a viable extended writing project in consultation with a supervisor
• consolidate and develop research skills acquired in your course
• identify, discuss and assess the secondary literature and contemporary literary landscape relevant to your topic, and position your own creative writing in relation to it.