Creative Writing

The minimum number of credits (exclusive of the University’s Core curriculum) required for the Writing Minor: 18.

The English Department offers a Minor in Writing for both English majors and non-majors. The minor consists of tracks in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and journalism. The goal of the Writing Minor is to direct student attention to writing offerings while recommending a productive sequence of writing courses and collateral craft-oriented textual studies courses.

Students must apply for entrance to the minor by submitting an application and a manuscript. Candidates must be eligible for preregistration and/or admission to upper-level workshops and should have completed six hours drawn from 200- or 300-level writing classes. Approximately 45 students will be writing minors during any given year. Students who are writing minors, English majors, or part of the Writing Concentration in Media Studies will have priority for registration in writing classes.

Each student’s program in the minor must meet the following specific requirements beyond ENG 100C/lOlC and ENG 120H or waivers:

I.       ENG 201 (3 credits)

II.      ENG 245, ENG 203, or one 200‑level course from one of the following categories: Genre and Form or Interdisciplinary and Cultural Studies (3 credits)

III.    One of the following courses (3 credits):

(Note: These courses are required for admission to writing workshops in their genre.)

Fiction Writing (ENG 300F)

Poetry Writing (ENG 301F)

Memoir and Autobiography (ENG 202)

Advanced Essay Writing (ENG 305)

Newswriting (ENG 309)

IV.     Workshops (6 hours):

Fiction Workshop (ENG 302F)

Poetry Workshop (ENG 303F)

Advanced Memoir (ENG 399)

Writing the Novel (ENG 399

Fiction Writing and Popular Culture (MES 399)             

The Writers’ Forum (ENG 499)

V.      Elective courses (3 hours): Selected from English department offerings (or from

offerings in other departments, such as Women’s Studies) with emphasis on literary texts in the genre those students are practicing. Courses elected should be 300‑ or 400‑level.

VI.     Thesis  The minor requires a thesis comparable to an M.F.A. application portfolio: Student enrolls in THESIS FOR THE WRITING MINOR, and works with thesis advisor on 10 to 15 poems or 25 to 50 pages of fiction or non-fiction.  Typically the thesis will be completed in the second upper-level workshop. 

VII.       Optional Internship (3 credits). Internships provide students the opportunity to earn course credit through professional experience in writing or editing for an organization, primarily in journalism or the arts. The English Department currently offers the Internship in Professional Writing (ENG 409).