English Literature and Creative Writing
Liverpool John Moores University
UCAS Code: WQ83 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Liverpool John Moores University
UCAS Code: WQ83 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Minimum number of A Levels required: 2 Maximum AS Level points accepted: 20 An English subject is preferred, e.g. English Language, English Literature, English Language/Literature or Creative Writing. Subjects such as Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Religious Education, History and Media Studies will also be considered.
Access to Higher Education Diploma acceptability: Acceptable on its own Further information: At least 24 Distinctions and 21 Merits, or any other combination that equates to 104 UCAS Tariff points in a relevant subject
International Baccalaureate: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications Additional information: 104 UCAS Tariff points from IB Composite parts to include a relevant subject at Higher Level (HL)
Irish Leaving Certificate: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications Grades / subjects required: 104 UCAS points to include a relevant subject at Higher Level
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
To obtain the required UCAS points from a related subject area. Contact the admissions team for details.
UCAS Tariff
About this course
**Why study English Literature and Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University?**
- Professional guidance and peer review to help you develop your work to publishable standard
- Regular literary events, readings, screenings and open mic nights to showcase your work
- Our acclaimed Writer at Work module provides an opportunity for you to pursue a work-based project
- LJMU ranked 7th university in the UK for Creative Writing (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)
- LJMU ranked 18th university in the UK for English (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)
- 97% of students surveyed said academic support on our English courses was good or very good (National Student Survey 2024)
- 96% of students surveyed said the teaching staff on our Creative Writing courses were good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024)
**About your course**
The BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University is designed to develop your writing skills with professional guidance and peer support from practicing writers, publishers and agents.
Towards the end of your course, you will specialise in a chosen genre and get a feel for the life of a professional writer by writing independently but with guidance from tutors and the support of peers to help you review and refine your work.
A residential writers' retreat in rural Wales also gives you a chance to perfect your skills and we host a number of literary events, readings, screenings and open mic nights to showcase your work at Liverpool arts venues such as FACT, The Everyman and Tate Liverpool.
Broadly speaking, you will spend a third of your time in formal study, a third reading, and a third writing or completing assessments and private study. The programme is constantly updated, which is why we have supplied only a sample of modules you may study.
Modules
Please visit the Liverpool John Moores University website for detailed module information.
Assessment methods
Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework.
We believe that all students perform differently depending on how they are assessed, which is why we use a combination of assessment methods.
All assessment in Creative Writing is by coursework and includes a creative portfolio (about 50% of the marks), plus class contributions, essays, treatments, pitches, learning logs, journals, peer critique, projects, commentaries, group work and presentations.
You will normally be given two or three different assessment tasks per module. Once you reach your final year, your creative work or project will account for 70% of the course, and the remaining 30% taking the form of critical commentary or reflective analysis.
In English Literature, assessments include essays, analytical exercises, portfolios of written work, an optional dissertation, peer presentations and formal exams. In your final year, you can even choose whether you want to be assessed by exam or written essay in some modules.
Throughout your course you will be given regular constructive feedback on draft creative work, but for assessments feedback is provided within 15 working days of submitting a piece of work. You will have opportunities to discuss feedback with your personal tutor and course lecturers; this is particularly useful in helping you to identify your strengths as well as the areas where you may need to put in more work.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Please see our Bursaries and Scholarships page for more information: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/discover/fees-and-funding/bursaries-and-scholarships
The Uni
Mount Pleasant Campus
School of Humanities and Social Science
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Creative writing
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
English studies (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Creative writing
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
The jobs market for this subject - which includes creative writing and scriptwriting courses - is not currently one of the strongest, so unemployment rates are currently looking quite high overall, with salaries on the lower side. But nevertheless, most graduates get jobs quickly. Graduates often go into careers as authors and writers and are also found in other roles where the ability to write well is prized, such as journalism, translation, teaching and advertising and in web content. Be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common is common in the arts, as are what is termed 'portfolio careers', having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - although graduates from this subject were a little more likely than many other creative arts graduates to be in conventional full time permanent contracts, so that might be worth bearing in mind.
English studies (non-specific)
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
English is one of the most popular degree subjects and in 2015, more than 11,000 students graduated with English degrees - although this does represent a fall from recent years. As good communication is so important to modern business, you can find English graduates in all parts of the economy, although obviously, you can't expect to get a job in science or engineering (computing is a different matter - it's not common but good language skills can be useful in the computing industry). There's little difference in outcomes between English language and English literature degrees, so don't worry and choose the one that suits you best. More English grads took another postgraduate course when they finished their degree than grads from any other subject - this is an important option. Teacher training was a common choice of second degree, as was further study of English, and journalism courses. But many English graduates changed course and trained in law, marketing or other languages -or even subjects further afield such as computing, psychology and even nursing. This is a very flexible degree which gives you a lot of options
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Creative writing
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£21k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
English studies (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£21k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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