Program Overview

Creative Writing Undergraduate Major (BA, HBA)

The creative writing major's disciplinary foundations are the study of the craft of creative writing combined with rigorous study of literature. Students develop their expertise in reading literature in conjunction with their development of writing craft.

Program Objectives

The program objectives are to produce majors who can think and write creatively and with imaginative power. They'll have highly trained analytical, critical, technical, and editorial skills, preparing them for graduate work in a range of fields, from the MFA to law school, or for a job market with an increasing demand for imaginative thinkers and skilled writers who can construct masterful, meaningful narratives.

Major Code

Major Code: 092

BA Requirements

• Major: 53 credits
• Baccalaureate Core: 51 credits
• College of Liberal Arts Core: 15 credits
• Foreign Language: 24 credits
• General Electives: 37 credits
• Total Credits: 180

Major Requirements

Lower Division (17 credits)

• WR 224: Introduction to Fiction Writing (3 credits)
• WR 240: Introduction to Nonfiction Writing (3 credits)
• WR 241: Introduction to Poetry Writing (3 credits)
• Select two 200-level ENG courses: (8 credits)
  • ENG 201: Shakespeare
  • ENG 202: Shakespeare
  • ENG 204: Survey of British Literature: Beginnings to 1660
  • ENG 205: Survey of British Literature: Restoration to Romantic Era
  • ENG 206: Survey of British Literature: Victorian Era to 20th Century
  • ENG 207: Literature of Western Civilization: Classical-Renaissance
  • ENG 208: Literature of Western Civilization: 18th Century to Present
  • ENG 210: Literatures of the World: Asia
  • ENG 211: Literatures of the World: Africa
  • ENG 212: Literatures of the World: Meso/South America, Caribbean
  • ENG 213: Literatures of the World: Middle East
  • ENG 214: Literature of the World: Europe
  • ENG 215: Classical Mythology
  • ENG 220: Topics in Difference, Power, and Discrimination
  • ENG 221: African-American Literature
  • ENG 222: Children's Literature
  • ENG 225: The Art, Science, and Literature of Fly Fishing
  • ENG 240: Introduction to Environmental Literature
  • ENG 253: Survey of American Literature: Colonial to 1900
  • ENG 254: Survey of American Literature: 1900 to Present
  • ENG 260: Literature of American Minorities
  • ENG 275: The Bible as Literature
  • ENG 295: Feminism and the Bible
  • ENG 299: Special Topics

Upper Division (36 credits)

• Select two courses from the following: (8 credits)
  • WR 324: Short Story Writing
  • WR 340: Creative Nonfiction Writing
  • WR 341: Poetry Writing
• Select two courses from the following: (8 credits)
  • WR 424: Advanced Fiction Writing
  • WR 440: Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing
  • WR 441: Advanced Poetry Writing
• Select one pre-1800 course from the following: (4 credits)
  • ENG 412: Studies in British Theater and Society
  • ENG 425: Studies in Medieval Literature
  • ENG 426: Studies in Chaucer
  • ENG 430: Studies in Early Modern Literature
  • ENG 433: Studies in the Long Eighteenth Century
  • ENG 435: Studies in Shakespeare
  • ENG 490: History of the English Language
• Select one post-1800 upper-division ENG course: (4 credits)
  • ENG 317: The American Novel: Beginnings to Chopin
  • ENG 318: The American Novel: Modernist Period
  • ENG 319: The American Novel: Post-World War II
  • ENG 320: Studies in Page, Stage, and Screen
  • ENG 321: Studies in Word, Object, and Image
  • ENG 322: Studies in Globalism, Text, and Event
  • ENG 330: The Holocaust in Literature and Film
  • ENG 360: Native American Literature
  • ENG 362: American Women Writers
  • ENG 374: Modern Short Story
  • ENG 418: The English Novel: Victorian Period
  • ENG 434: Studies in Romanticism
  • ENG 436: Studies in Victorian Literature
  • ENG 438: Studies in Modernism
  • ENG 440: Studies in Modern Irish Literature
  • ENG 450: Studies in Short Fiction
  • ENG 482: Studies in American Literature, Culture, and the Environment
  • ENG 485: Studies in American Literature
  • ENG 489: Writing, Literature and Medicine
  • FILM 452: Studies in Film
• Electives:
  • Select three upper-division courses in ENG, WR or FILM (if not used above): (12 credits)

Plan of Study Grid

First Year

• Fall:
  • ENG 204: Survey of British Literature: Beginnings to 1660 (4 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • WR 121: English Composition (3 credits)
  • Bacc Core (3 credits)
• Winter:
  • ENG 253: Survey of American Literature: Colonial to 1900 (4 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • Communication (3 credits)
  • Bacc Core: Western Culture (4 credits)
  • ENG 200: Library Skills for Literary Study (1 credit)
• Spring:
  • WR 241: Introduction to Poetry Writing (3 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • MTH 105: Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics (or higher) (3 credits)
  • Bacc Core: DPD (3 credits)
  • PAC XXX: Physical Activity Course (1 credit)

Second Year

• Fall:
  • WR 224: Introduction to Fiction Writing (3 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • Cultural Diversity (3 credits)
  • Bacc Core: Physical Science (4 credits)
• Winter:
  • WR 240: Introduction to Nonfiction Writing (3 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • Bacc Core: SPI (4 credits)
  • Bacc Core: Biological Science (4 credits)
• Spring:
  • Bacc Core: Literature & The Arts (4 credits)
  • Language (4 credits)
  • WR II (4 credits)
  • HHS 231: Lifetime Fitness for Health (2 credits)

Third Year

• Fall:
  • WR 340: Creative Nonfiction Writing (4 credits)
  • Pre-1800 upper division (4 credits)
  • Social Science (3 credits)
  • Bacc Core: Biol Lab (4 credits)
• Winter:
  • WR 341: Poetry Writing (4 credits)
  • Fine Arts (3 credits)
  • Non-Western Culture (4 credits)
  • CLA Core (3 credits)
  • General Elective (4 credits)
• Spring:
  • WR 424: Advanced Fiction Writing (4 credits)
  • Post-1800 upper division lit (4 credits)
  • Bacc Core: STS (3 credits)
  • Humanities (3 credits)
  • PAC XXX: Physical Activity Course (1 credit)

Fourth Year

• Fall:
  • WR 440: Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing (4 credits)
  • Bacc Core: CGI (3 credits)
  • General Elective (4 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)
• Winter:
  • Upper division ENG, WR or FILM elective (4 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)
  • Upper division ENG, WR or FILM elective (4 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)
• Spring:
  • Upper division ENG, WR or FILM elective (4 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)
  • General Elective (4 credits)
  • General Elective (3 credits)

Total Credits

Total Credits: 180