Course overview
Where will your words take you? English graduates have a cultural impact on the world we live in through their writing, from books and films to TV and news.
English graduates produced A Handmaid’s Tale and Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, both books of profound cultural impact.
English produces key cultural figures, e.g. broadcasters, filmmakers and novelists, so cinema trips we go on, news and current affairs we watch, and satirical TV and sitcoms we enjoy, owe much to English and Creative Writing.
About this course
This programme offers an opportunity to develop your creative writing skills, and imaginative flexibility, and study literary texts in English from different historical periods and a variety of genres.
You can develop your key skills in English and Creative Writing, with options to study English Language and Linguistics.
Working with published writers and subject specialists, you'll learn how to communicate and create for both professional purposes and pleasure. Our creative writing workshops will teach you how to give and receive constructive criticism about writing. And you’ll be introduced to speech-writing and the power of words, as well as learning how to write your own life story and the stories of others.
You will develop your knowledge of writing in English as you read, and discuss and respond creatively to a range of great literary texts. We’ll teach you how to read and analyse poetry and short stories, as well as how to compare past and modern texts in the same genres.
You'll have the opportunity to work with an experienced writer on a final-year writing project and, beyond the curriculum, you’ll be part of Leeds Trinity's acclaimed writing culture, taking part in events like our annual Writers' Festival and monthly open mic nights.
Why study with us?
- Combine your passions. You'll study literary texts while developing your own creative writing skills.
- Learn from the experts. You'll work with published writers and creative writing specialists.
- Feel supported. You'll be part of an exceptionally supportive and encouraging literary environment, with links to the publishing world.
- Increase your confidence, with student-led presentations and debate.
Modules
You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Year 1
Core modules (students are required to take):
- English Skills and Employability
Read and analyse stories and poems, and then reflect on how academic skills are applied to employability, for example preparation, attention to detail, clear and precise communication. - Writing and Expression
Based on writing in prose and poetry, and reading different types of writing, you will develop into skilled manipulators of style, voice, structure, editing and presentation. - Writing, Performance and Persuasion
Students will acquire skills in how to create a character’s voice; in speaking; articulating argument; making a case; and the importance of language and style in persuasion. - Understanding Literary Genres
Develop awareness of genre (e.g. detective fiction, fantasy, vampire novels, school stories) and analyse contemporary fiction in terms of particular genres and their historical development.
Year 2
Core modules (students are required to take):
- Literature, Empowerment and Employment
Study a range of literary theories that address issues of empowerment, e.g. feminist theory, masculinities, postcolonial theory, intersectionality, and encourages you to apply these to a range of texts and to how this prepares you for graduate employment. - Life Writing
Explore ‘writing the self’ with a portfolio of original autobiographical writing, learn about writing the lives of others. All students, including BAME students, international students, students of different sexualities, students with disabilities, and students from different class backgrounds, will bring your experiences to autobiography and perspectives to biography. - Writing and Theme
Students will study, discuss and respond by writing creatively to a range of poetry and prose dealing with myth, childhood, love and loss.
Students are required to choose up to two option modules from:
- Language: Gender and Sexuality
Study language, gender and sexuality, key theories and approaches, applying this to e.g. education and the media, taking an informed and critical stance towards current issues. - Medieval and Victorian Literature
Examine Chaucer, Beowulf, Jane Eyre and Sherlock Holmes, in relation to socio-cultural and political debates, and the continuity and appropriation of specific narratives. - Postcolonial Literature
Develop an understanding of postcolonialism as a political, critical, theoretical and literary concept, with literature from postcolonial countries after WW2 in relation to cultural identity and nationhood, political resistance, hybridity, liminality, diaspora, migration and exile, intertextuality. - America: Voices from the Counterculture
Explore the beatniks, hippies, and the influence of the civil rights movement, thinking about diversity in American writing in the treatment of big social themes, literature as a means of countercultural, social protest.
Year 3
Core modules (students are required to take):
- Writing Project
Drawing on your learning in other modules, work with tutor and peers on your own writing project, prose fiction, poetry, drama, a short film, a serious article or a blog post. - Writing: Breaking the Rules
Experiment with innovations in prose and poetry and explores such techniques as chance, substitution, and fractured narrative and time structures, drawing on diverse writers outside the cultural mainstream. - Experiments: Modernism and Postmodernism
Explore the modernist preoccupation with ‘newness’ and the development of literary forms that ‘break’ with earlier artistic conventions. Find out about experimentation and innovation found in postmodern literature, in relation to social, political and cultural upheavals of the twentieth century.
Students are required to choose one or two option modules from:
- Austen, the Brontës and Woolf
Develop your research skills by studying a substantial body and range of writings by Austen, the Brontës and Woolf, putting these into historical and biographical contexts, engaging with critical responses and theoretical approaches, and international reception. - Literature of Enchantment
Read fairy tales from around the globe, and then study contemporary novels drawing on the fairy tale. - Multilingualism and Identity
Explore bilingualism and multilingualism as an individual and a social phenomenon by examining different situations around the world and related social and political issues, using key theoretical and methodological approaches. - Sexuality Studies
Using an interdisciplinary approach, the course conducts a critical inquiry into the historical precedents and theoretical frameworks necessary to understand the role of sexuality in shaping personal, social, economic, and political life. - Fantasy and Gender
This interdisciplinary module uses texts, films and graphic novels to explore the genres of medieval fantasy and utopian/dystopian literature. Analysing fantasy texts alongside psychoanalytic and cultural theories will enable you to engage with questions in relation to ideological, cultural, and historical contexts.
Professional work placements
Experience matters. That's why we include professional work placements with every undergraduate degree.
How does it work?
Careers and Placements will work with you to find your perfect placement or help you arrange your own, whether that's in Leeds, another part of the UK or even abroad. You will be able to take part in a series of workshops, events and live ‘employer challenges’ to boost your confidence and prepare you for your placement.
During your placement, you will have an opportunity to gain degree-relevant work experience, build your knowledge of career sectors and secure valuable employer references and industry contacts. This experience will help you to shape your career decisions and find the right path for you.
You'll complete your placements in a variety of settings, including schools, museums, local councils, charities, and media outlets, experiencing the types of careers that your degree could lead to.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:
Learning and Teaching
At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.
Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:
- high quality teaching
- an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
- a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.
We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.
We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:
- Student Involvement and Engagement
- Inclusion
- Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
- Digital Literacy and Skills
- Employability and Enterprise
To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.
We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:
- Personalised support
- Expert lecturers
- Strong connections with employers
- An international outlook
- Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development
Programme delivery
Your time on campus, learning through in-person teaching, is at the heart of your academic experience and the way we deliver our programmes. This is supported and further enhanced by additional engagement activities and opportunities provided online and through digital teaching materials. This blended approach seeks to ensure a positive learning and teaching student experience.
Your programme of study has been carefully designed around a three-phase model of delivery:
- Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live teaching. This could include watching a short-pre-recorded lecture, reading a paper or text chapter or preparing other material for use in class.
- Live: All your live teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks, interact with staff and peers, and surface any misunderstandings.
- Post: Follow-up activities will include opportunities for you to check understanding, for staff to receive feedback from you and your peers to inform subsequent sessions, and for you to apply learning to new situations or context.
Preparation, Live and Post teaching and learning and the digital materials used will vary by course, but will be designed to help you structure your learning, take a full and active part in your course, and apply and test your developing knowledge and skills.
Assessment
A variety of assessment methods are used, matched to the learning outcomes for your programme, allowing you to apply and demonstrate the full range of knowledge and skills that you have developed.
For more details on specific assessment methods for this course contact hello@leedstrinity.ac.uk
Entry Requirements
Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.
Information about the large range of qualifications we accept, including A-Levels, BTECs and T Levels, can be found on our entry requirements page. If you need additional advice or are taking qualifications that are not covered in the information supplied, please contact our Admissions Office.
| Qualification | Grade |
|---|---|
| UCAS tariff | 104-128 |
| GCSE requirements | GCSE English language at grade C or 4 (or higher) will be required |
Fees and finance
Funding
UK Home Students:
Tuition fees cost £9,250 a year for this course in 2023/2024.
Part-time tuition fees will be prorated accordingly to the number of credits you're studying.
Depending on government policy, tuition fees may change in future years.
Tuition fees for 2024/25 entry will be set in summer 2023.
Living costs, e.g. accommodation, travel, food, will also need to be taken into consideration.
Leeds Trinity offers a range of bursaries and scholarships to help support students while you study.
International Students, including EU Students:
Visit our webpage for international students.
Part-time study is not available for international students on a Student Route Visa.
Additional costs
We advise students that there may be additional course costs in addition to annual tuition fees:
- Recommended and required reading lists will be provided at the start of your course. All the books and e-books are available from our Library to borrow but you may choose to purchase your own.
- On some courses there may be additional costs, such as field trips, equipment, accreditations, that may be part-funded by the University. More details will be provided at the start of the course.
- You'll need to include placement/s travel and associated costs too, however the University will contribute a standard amount towards your total expenditure.
- The University provides students with a £6 printing credit each academic year which can be topped up either on campus or online.
How to apply
For full-time undergraduate courses, you apply through UCAS. That's the University and Colleges Admissions Service.
On your application form, you'll need to know our institution code - it's L24 - and the course code. If you click through to the UCAS website using the button below, it'll take you to the right place with all the information you need.
You'll need to write a personal statement - we've prepared a guide to help you.
If you require a Student Route Visa in order to study in the UK, then you must meet all the conditions of your offer and present all supporting documentation required for the visa application no later than Friday 28 July 2023.
Although the main UCAS deadline has passed for 2023 entry, you can still apply until 30 June if you haven’t applied yet or haven’t used all five choices on UCAS. After this date, all applications will go through Clearing.
Alternatively, if you’ve used all your five choices, but received no offers or declined your offers, you may be eligible to add another choice through UCAS Extra. UCAS will send you information on UCAS Extra if you’re eligible.
UCAS Extra opened on Thursday 23 February 2023 and closes on Tuesday 4 July 2023.
Applications are not yet open for courses starting in September 2024. You can register and start your application for 2024 from 16 May 2023, although you cannot submit it until later in the year. The UCAS application deadline for courses starting in September 2024 is 31 January 2024
There's lots more information about the application process on the UCAS website, or you can get in touch with our admissions team who will be happy to help:
- call 0113 283 7123 (Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, or Friday 9.00am to 4.00pm)
- email admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk
Graduate opportunities
Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.
Our students have gone on work in a wide range of organisations – from film production companies and recording studios, to local newspapers and MPs' offices and to teaching, after further study. Some graduates go on to complete the MA in Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity.
After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:
Chat with our students
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It helps you make sense of all the information out there by linking to other quality resources and explaining what can be found where. It also allows you to search for and compare information and data for individual undergraduate courses across the UK.