Creative Writing and Contemporary Literature

Students who choose the creative writing English major or minor explore their creative potential through fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction courses. These courses offer the intensive training in language and analytical skills that careers in business, the professions, and publishing demand. Courses are taught by faculty members who have published in well known literary journals and reviews. Students are encouraged to submit work to Odradek, the university literary magazine, and to take positions on the magazine's staff for practical, hands-on experience in producing and editing a magazine. Students also have the opportunity to present their work to the public at quarterly readings sponsored by the Department of English.

The following educational outcomes will be achieved by students in the creative writing English major. Creative writing majors will

• develop a comprehensive understanding of the English language and British, American, and world literature, both traditional and contemporary, including a familiarity with key facts, concepts, and values; a sensitivity to the contexts in which that literature was and is written and read; and an ability to interpret that literature in appropriate ways;

• develop their ability to write and to speak with clarity, precision, and sophistication;

• develop their ability to research carefully and systematically, utilizing the appropriate computer technology, and to apply that research to the study of language and literature;

• develop their ability to produce poems, stories, and/or essays blending knowledge of literary forms and techniques;

• develop the ability to evaluate and discuss critically their own writing and writing of their peers in a workshop environment. 

  Creative Writing Major (Semester System)

  Core curriculum: 60 hours
  Courses required for the major: 40 hours
   

  • ENGL 3110: British Literature I ENGL 3120: British Literature II (3 hours)

  • ENGL 3210: American Literature (3 hours)

  • ENGL 3060: Introduction to Literary Criticism and Research (3 hours)
    (prerequisite or corequisite to all 4000-level courses)

  • One of the following courses (3 hours):

    • ENGL 3080: Grammar and Editing

    • ENGL 3090: Advanced Composition

  • One British period course (ENGL 4110-4150) (3 hours)

  • One 20th-century American literature course (3 hours)

  • One 4000-level ENGL course (3 hours)

  • ENGL 3600: Introduction to Professional Writing (1 hour)

  • ENGL/CRWR 3400: Introduction to Creative Writing (3 hours)

  • One three-course CRWR sequence (9 hours):

    • Poetry ( CRWR 3440, 4440, ENGL/CRWR 4410 )

    • Prose Fiction ( CRWR 3460, 4460, ENGL/CRWR 4420 )

    • Prose Non-Fiction ( CRWR 3420, ENGL/JOUR 4520, ENGL/CRWR 4420 )

  • ENGL 4900: Senior Seminar (3 hours)

  Minor and/or elective courses: 20 hours
  (Must include at least 6 hours of courses numbered 3000 or above in a single discipline outside of CRWR, ENGL, JOUR, & LING)
  Total hours: 120 
  Online Undergraduate Checklist

  Online Track Checklist for Creative Writing

  Creative Writing Minor (Semester System)

  Courses required for the minor: 15 hours
   

  • CRWR/ENGL 3400: Introduction to Creative Writing (3 hours)

  • One two-course CRWR sequence (6 hours):

    • Poetry ( CRWR 3440 , 4440 )

    • Prose Fiction ( CRWR 3460 , 4460 )

    • Prose Non-Fiction ( CRWR 3420 , ENGL/JOUR 4520 )

  • Two ENGL courses at 3000 level or above (6 hours)

The Department of English offers four undergraduate tracks leading to a Bachelor of Arts in English as well as minors in each track: