Program Overview

Professional Writing MA

Overview

The Professional Writing MA is designed for those who want to turn their love of words and writing into a dynamic and fulfilling career. It will give you the skills, motivation, networks and connections to work across a wide variety of industries – in publishing, journalism, public relations, advertising, as literary agents, copywriters and copyeditors. It will also allow you to explore the history and future of writing and the writing industries from a variety of perspectives, and to develop your own interests and specialisms.

Course Structure

• Duration: 1 year
• Attendance: Full-time - September 2025, Part-time day - September 2025, Full-time - January 2026, Part-time day - January 2026, Full-time - September 2026, Part-time day - September 2026
• UK Fees: £9,700 *
• International Fees: £17,500 *
• Alumni Discount: See details
• Campus: Regent, Central London

Course Summary

The Professional Writing MA takes a broad, holistic view of writing, because writing is not just about writing. It is about editing, about working with the words of others and with other languages, it is about the reader, it is about the form into which the words are packaged. It is about essays and tweets, novels and headlines, criticism and advertising, prizes and publicity. As a result, the course brings together the combined expertise of English, Creative Writing, Media, Communication, and Film and Cultural Studies to offer a truly interdisciplinary MA.

Core Modules

• The Story and the Book: You’ll be introduced to apparently familiar concepts – the story and the book – to interrogate their meaning, history and evolution. In doing so, you’ll gain critical knowledge that will help you develop your writing practice across a range of media and forms, as well as encourage you to constructively challenge established norms.
• The Writing Business: This module focuses on employability and professional development through a blend of lectures and the management of the student-led magazine, The Wells Street Journal. Being a part of the journal, you’ll be introduced to various departments of magazine publishing: editing, typesetting, design, marketing, finance and many more.
• Working with the Words of Others: This module sets out the critical framework for, and practical demands and issues in relation to, working with the words of others across a range of settings and media. Opportunities to put this into practice will be provided through practical workshops throughout the module.
• MA Dissertation or Professional Writing Project: You’ll take either the Dissertation or the Professional Writing Project:
  • MA Dissertation: Development, execution, and writing-up of an independent research project on a topic of your choice. You’ll be required to attend regular research seminars as part of preparation for the dissertation. You’ll also benefit from individual supervision, which will provide topic-specific guidance.
  • Professional Writing Project: The Independent Project is an extended piece of practice-based research work. It is designed as an opportunity for you to pursue, with supervision, a topic of personal interest in the broad field of professional writing.

Option Modules

• English Worldwide: The primary focus of the module is on English as a lingua franca, the language variations and creole linguistics. This module aims to examine in detail English in its multiple varieties and multiple uses across the world: native, nativised and non-native varieties, regional variation within larger speech communities, use by monolinguals and multilinguals, and register differences according to use and user.
• Digital Magazine Publishing: This explores the digital tools that are used to build and design compelling interactive content. You will work in editorial teams to produce content for a new digital magazine edition, content-driven app or CMS-based website.
• Mapping and Imagining the City: Non-Fiction and Poetic Writing: This module focuses on the methodological approaches and aesthetic preoccupations that underpin creative practices in non-fiction and poetic writing. This dual approach will enable students to develop simultaneously their own research methods, and experiment with imaginative ways of representing the city.
• Multi-Media Journalism Skills: This module involves a comprehensive study of the concepts, multimedia skills and techniques used in contemporary convergent journalism. You’ll explore news values to help develop a professional ‘news sense’ and a critical understanding of the news agenda through the relationship between newspapers, broadcast and online news organisations.
• Persuasion, Propaganda and Influence: Persuasion, propaganda and influence are contested terms at the heart of public relations activity at all levels. This module aims to develop a clear understanding of these concepts and how a compelling message within a campaign or stand-alone communication can stimulate, persuade, mobilise and ultimately influence human behaviour.
• Podcast Production: In this module, you will learn about the different facets of podcast making, exploring genres (e.g. journalistic/investigative, personal storytelling, fictional narrative, sports, comedy, interest groups) and the production techniques required for specific formats.
• The Small Press and Professional Writing: Small presses have played an important part in the cultural life of the UK publishing for over a hundred years. Since about 2010, small and independent presses have again become prominent and now publish some of the most influential and innovative work, in particular transforming the publishing of translated works in the UK.

Careers

Graduates will have the knowledge, skills and experience to work in a variety of positions within and beyond the literary and arts sectors, including in publishing, journalism, public relations, advertising, as literary agents, or as copywriters and copyeditors.

Entry Requirements

• UK: A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2).
• EU and International: A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2). If your first language is not English, you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.5 in writing and no element below 6.0.

Fees and Funding

• UK tuition fee: £9,700 (Price per academic year)
• International tuition fee: £17,500 (Price per academic year)
• Alumni discount: This course is eligible for an alumni discount.
• Funding: There is a range of funding available that may help you fund your studies, including Student Finance England (SFE).

Teaching and Assessment

• Teaching methods: Teaching methods across all our postgraduate courses focus on active student learning through lectures, seminars, workshops, problem-based and blended learning, and where appropriate practical application.
• Assessment: Our postgraduate courses include a variety of assessments, which typically fall into two broad categories: practical and coursework.