BA (Hons) English Language and Creative Writing (Placement Year)

Lancaster’s degree in English Language and Creative Writing combines the in-depth study of the English language with the writing of original and imaginative fiction, poetry or plays. These two different focuses reinforce and complement each other.

Your Creative Writing courses are taught through a combination of lectures, readings, practice and discussion in regular tutor-led workshops. You’ll have the opportunity to develop your writing skills and cultivate a strong feeling for words with an appreciation of the tones, weights, nuances and registers of the English language. You’ll be encouraged to stretch your own boundaries and to extend yourself technically, to develop the motivation and drive you’ll need to thrive in your future career.

You’ll begin your degree with core courses including Creative Writing and English Language. You’ll move on to subjects such as Stylistics and Intermediate Creative Writing before completing your degree with advanced Creative Writing and English Language modules.

You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 on placement with a public, private or voluntary organisation in the UK or overseas. This experience will boost your employment prospects and will help you to decide on your career direction and the kind of organisation in which you want to work once you graduate. You will be doing a real, responsible job – with all the satisfaction that brings. Our Placements Team will support you in finding and applying for a suitable placement that will support your professional development. Applying for a placement is a competitive process and the preparatory modules you will complete in years one and two are designed to give you the best chance of success in your placement applications. You will also be provided with dedicated workshops, 1:1 appointments with careers professionals as well as opportunities to speak with employers here on campus.

During the placement year you will remain a Lancaster University student which means that you will still be eligible for a student loan, have access to facilities such as the library and receive discounts on transport and council tax. Your tuition fee will be reduced to 20% during the placement year.

The placement will enhance your understanding of the connections between theory and practice and this will benefit your final year of study. This is an exciting opportunity to build up experience and transferable skills, as well as to make contacts with potential employers which will place you a step ahead in the graduate recruitment market.

Careers

Your degree encourages you to cultivate a highly creative approach to projects and fosters a keen sense of imagination. Developing skills such as these will allow you to contribute fresh new ideas in any career you choose.

Our English Language and Creative Writing degrees are of particular benefit if you wish to work in education, translation, information technology, management, the mass media, creative arts, social work and counselling.

Recent graduates have gone to work or train as speech therapists; teachers of English overseas; teachers of English as a mother tongue; computer programmers and consultants; bankers; chartered accountants; personnel managers; journalists; and social workers.

A sizeable proportion of our graduates take up employment overseas.