Creative Writing Concentration

The Creative Writing concentration offers English majors the opportunity to focus on the craft and art of writing, editing, and analyzing their own original

Professor Warren Rochelle and a student writer

Professor Warren Rochelle and a student writer

work and the work of established writers and peer writers within a selected genre. The concentration offers three different levels of workshops: introductory, intermediate, and advanced. The concentration may be completed by pursuing a fiction or poetry track, and eventually, a creative non-fiction track.

Upon successful completion of the program, students are prepared for further studies in literature and/or writing and editing, as well as the more traditional post-graduate careers. Students who satisfy the departmental requirements for honors can achieve honors in creative writing through work in a senior seminar or individual study.

The concentration requires thirty-six credits in English and linguistics courses as follows.

 Concentration requirements:

  • Linguistics 101
  • English 295
  • 15 hours in writing courses, including 302A, Introduction to Creative Writing; 314, The Literary Journal: Professional Practice in Publishing and Editing; and a 400-level Creative Writing Seminar
  • One 300-level course in linguistics
  • Three 300-level literature courses in literature
    • The three 300-level literature courses must include at least:
      • one course in pre-1900 literature,
      • one course in post-1900 literature, and
      • one course in literature of historically marginalized groups.
  • One elective course in the major from the following: ENGL 200 or any 300- or 400-level English and linguistics courses, including department-sponsored internships and individual studies.

Students who begin the concentration their junior year will have at least one semester in which they take two writing courses, unless they choose to take a summer course in the concentration.

Course offerings:

English 302A: Introduction to Creative Writing

English 304: Creative Writing: Poetry

English 305: Creative Writing: Fiction

English 312: Creative Writing: Non-Fiction

English 313: Special Topics in Creative Writing

English 470: Seminar in Creative Writing

English 472: Seminar in Praxis

English 314: The Literary Journal: Professional Practice in Publishing and Editing

Please note: Not all courses are offered every semester.