English and Creative Writing
Entry requirements
A level
112-120 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, including a relevant subject.
112-122 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma in a relevant subject.
Cambridge Pre-U score of 46-50, to include a Principal Subject in a relevant subject.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
3 GCSEs at grade C or above to include English/3 GCSEs at grade 4 or above to include English.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
25 points from the IB Diploma, to include 3 Higher Level subjects, including a relevant subject.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H3,H3,H3,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H3
To include a Higher Level relevant subject.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications. Must be with a qualification in a relevant subject.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications. Must be with a qualification in a relevant subject.
112-120 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers, including a relevant subject.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
UCAS Tariff
112-120 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent, including a relevant subject.
112-120 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level in a relevant subject, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
You may also need to…
Present a portfolio
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**This is a Connected Degree**
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.
**Overview**
Take your love of literature to a higher level and refine your writing skills with academic rigour on our English and Creative Writing degree course.
Explore literature through an academic lens in theory and in practice, enhancing your understanding of each through participation in the other.
You'll learn to analyse literature as a critic, historian and linguist, and from the perspective of future creators, storytellers, playwrights and poets – all of which will transform your writing skills. Develop techniques for producing short stories, poetry and plays, and learn to dissect, critique and perform your own writing.
By the end of your degree, you’ll open up professional career paths and postgraduate routes eager for writing and literary expertise, including editing and publishing, teaching, and broadcasting.
**Course highlights**
- Take part in Portsmouth's annual Comic Con for the latest developments in creative writing and literature, popular culture, fan communities, and technology – course lecturers and students are panelists
- Build your writing portfolio by contributing to our course blog The Eldon Review and our local news zine Star & Crescent
- Contribute to cultural preservation projects with staff members, such as the Portsmouth Literary Map and the Writing Literary Portsmouth blog, to enhance your research practice
- Learn from experts in both creative writing and English literature: from published novelists and industry-active writers, to renowned specialists of 19th to 21st-century literature and culture
- Gain valuable professional experience by taking an optional placement
- Spend a year or a semester studying abroad to discover another culture and way of learning
- Take advantage of our extra-curricular Institute-Wide Language Programme to improve your linguistic skills and earn credits
**Careers and opportunities**
An excellent writer and speaker will prosper in a vast field of career opportunities.
You’ll graduate from this course with outstanding writing and speaking skills, as well as proofreading and grammar proficiency. All of these qualities will help you from the moment you write your first job application.
You’ll also have developed excellent skills in imagination, empathy, and research, which are valuable assets to any employer.
Graduate areas
Areas graduates from our Creative Writing courses have worked in include:
- creative writing (prose, poetry, script)
- advertising and marketing
- arts and events management
- local and community broadcasting
- teaching
- stand-up comedy
- travel industry
Graduate roles
Roles graduates from our Creative Writing courses have gone onto include:
- novelist
- poet
- playwright
- teacher
- copywriter
- journalist
- theatre manager
- editorial assistant
Graduate destinations
Some of our graduates have landed spots in big companies and organisations, including:
- BBC Radio 1
- Red Magazine
You'll get help and support from our Careers and Employability service in finding your first role and for 5 years after you graduate.
Modules
Year 1
Core modules in this year include:
- Body Politics
- Telling Tales
- the Short Story: Murder, Madness and Experimentation
- Tips, Tricks, Techniques
- True Stories
There are no optional modules in this year.
Year 2
Core modules in this year include:
- Literary Prizes and Public Acclaim
Optional modules in this year include:
- Film, Media and Communication Study Exchange
- Finding Form - Fiction
- Finding Form - Nonfiction
- Creative Writing For Film
- Crime Writing
- Dystopian and Apocalyptic Environments: Ecocrisis in the Literary Imagination
- Finding Form - Fiction
- Finding Form - Nonfiction
- Women's Writing in the Americas
- Creative Writing and Critical Thinking
- Research in Practice
- Bloody Shakespeare: the Politics and Poetics of Violence
- Creative Writing and Critical Thinking
- Engaged Citizenship Through Interdisciplinary Practice
- Finding Form - Speculative Fiction
- Modern Foreign Language
- Press and Public Relations
- Professional Experience
- Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature
- Research in Practice
- Space, Place and Being
- Student Enterprise
Placement year (optional)
On this course, you can do an optional work placement year between your 2nd and 3rd years to get valuable experience working in industry. We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You’ll get mentoring and support throughout the year.
Year 3
There are no core modules in this year.
Optional modules in this year include:
- Creative Writing Dissertation
- Dissertation (English Literature)
- Advanced Screenwriting
- Fact and Fiction
- Fan Fiction
- Holocaust Literatures
- US Masculinities
- Consuming Fictions: Food and Appetite in Victorian Culture
- Magical Realism
- Time, Temporality, Contemporary Fiction
- Travel Writing: Global and Local Engagements
- Writing Project (with Publishing)
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed through:
- short stories
- a novel in progress
- a screenplay
- a collection of poems
- a video production
- presentations
- reports
- a research portfolio
- examinations
- dissertation/project
You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
The way you’re assessed may depend on the modules you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows:
- Year 1 students: 8% by written exams, 17% by practical exams and 75% by coursework
- Year 2 students: 8% by written exams and 92% by coursework
- Year 3 students: 100% by coursework
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction 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)
Literature in english
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.
Literature in english
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
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
£22k
£26k
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.
Literature in english
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
£22k
£26k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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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?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here