English with Creative Writing (with Integrated Foundation Year)

If you have been out of education or do not have the required A-level qualifications for degree-level study, this four-year course can help you realise your academic potential.

Why study BA English with Creative Writing (with Integrated Foundation Year) at Goldsmiths

• Goldsmiths is dedicated to widening participation and supporting students from non-traditional backgrounds to transition to university-level study. If you do not have the required qualifications for degree-level study, this course offers an alternative entry route

• The Foundation Year is closely aligned with our undergraduate English programmes, teaching you a foundational knowledge of the subject, and helping you develop the academic skills necessary to progress to the first year of the BA

• You will select the undergraduate English degree you wish to study at the point of application but can change your choice as you progress through the foundation pathway if your interests change

• In your Foundation Year, you will learn about significant literary movements from distinct periods, including the English Renaissance, literature of World War I, post-war drama and poetry, feminist fiction, and themes of race and class in the late 20th Century

• You will develop your ability to identify characteristics of historical periods and significant developments in literature and be able to explain the relationship of literary works to the relevant historical periods studied

• You will hone vital skills in critical reading, analysis and written communication

• Following the Foundation Year, you will progress on to the BA English with Creative Writing. The degree is ideal if you are curious about literature, with the imagination to turn that curiosity into creativity.

• This flexible BA English with Creative Writing degree allows you to choose from a range of topics – comparisons of literature across different cultures and art forms (also known as comparative literature), American literature and culture, and diverse aspects of language use in linguistics modules.

• Goldsmiths has one of the most established and long-running creative writing centres in UK Higher Education, and many of our graduates are now leading writers and editors in their field.

• Our teaching staff of celebrated writers and scholars are ready to support you and your work as a Goldsmiths student.

• We’re regularly visited by literary guest speakers, and our students have recently enjoyed events with Ali Smith, George Saunders, Bernadine Evaristo, Nikesh Shukla, Michael Rosen, Eimear McBride and Howard Jacobson.

• Our forward-thinking approach to the fields of creative writing and literary studies is supported by our hosting and running of the Goldsmiths Prize, awarded annually to work that pushes the boundaries of the novel.

• Your literary and creative studies will be supported by lectures and seminars that will give you practical advice to help you improve your essay writing and refine your research strategies.

• Our location on the doorstep of central London means that you will have easy access to one of the most diverse, historic, and dynamic literary centres in the world.

Year 0 (Foundation Year)
Alongside direct preparation in the study of English Literature, you'll take two modules with our Centre for Academic Language and Literacies (CALL). These modules will help you develop the broader academic and research skills required for undergraduate study.

You will also learn how key social and political movements of the period have influenced the world we live in today through a cross-disciplinary module: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain.

Reading and Writing Your World
Building Your Research World
Culture and Society in Postwar Britain
English Literature From the Renaissance to the Late 20th Century

To progress onto the first year of BA English with Creative Writing, you will be required to submit an independently produced portfolio of five pages of original creative writing in any genre. The contents of this portfolio should be produced independently of the foundation-year modules within your own time. You will be required to submit this portfolio in the spring term of your foundation year.

Year 1
You'll take the following compulsory modules:
Explorations in Literature
Genre
Foundation Workshop in Creative Writing
Ideas in Practice
Creative-Critical Project

Year 2
You'll take these compulsory modules:
Creative Writing Workshop
Reading the Past
OR
The Long Nineteenth Century
Communicating the Climate Crisis (Goldsmiths Connected Curriculum)
OR
The Goldsmiths Elective
The Goldsmiths Project
OR
Work Placement (English)

Placements
You may also choose to take a work placement module as one of your option modules in your second year. This module allows you to undertake a work placement which will benefit your studies, your skillset and your CV.

Optional modules
You will also choose 2 optional modules worth 30 credits from a list provided by the Department of English and Creative Writing. Modules vary from year to year, but may include the following:
Homer and Contemporary Literature
Poetry since 1945
American Gothic
Language and Society
Aesthetics
Black British Literature
Music in Literature

Year 3
Compulsory modules
In your final year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:
Creative Writing: Project Development
Challenging World Literature: Diversity and Difference
OR
Modern and Contemporary Literatures

Optional modules
You will also take optional modules to the total of 60 credits, chosen from a list provided by the Department of English and Creative Writing. Modules may vary from year to year, and examples have included the below:
Caribbean Women Writers
Decadence
Writing Lives
Shakespeare’s Sisters: Contemporary Women’s Writing 1960s to the present
Contemporary Indigenous Literatures and Cultures
American Crime Fiction
Literary London
Language and Gender

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods that broaden your academic skillset and depend on your module choices. These include coursework assignments such as essays, critical commentaries, presentations and personal reflections, portfolios of original creative writing and critical commentaries on your work for each of the workshops, coursework portfolios, long essays and examinations (various timescales and formats).