Professional Writing MA

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. Interactive workshops will be held during key points of your study, helping you put theory into practice. The module, along with Working with the Words of Others, forms the spine of the MA Professional Writing, which will help you pursue more focused interests through the option modules. 

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. This will help you develop critical practical knowledge of the professional world you’ll be graduating into. Lectures will be delivered through a series of seminars and independent work-based learning sessions, where you’ll explore key areas of writing business, how to edit, find a literary agent and use social-media for self-promotion. 

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. Mixing discussion of key critical works with talks by practitioners and practical workshops, the module, along with The Story and the Book, forms the spine for the MA Professional Writing, on the basis of which students will pursue more focused interests through the option modules. 

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. The project will have a practical and/or professional focus, for example, the creation of a written artefact with a short accompanying essay or a business proposal for a publishing venture. 

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. Furthermore, it gives students the opportunity to carry out original empirical work relating to the concepts and methods they are acquiring.

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. You are also invited to select the best tools for the output and get instruction in the design of interactive magazine digital editions, app development and website creation.

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. Besides workshops and tutorials based on campus, the module includes site visits to various locations in London, including archives and libraries.

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. You’ll also learn the tools and techniques used as a professional online, multi-platform journalist – like story research, interviewing, note-taking. Besides, you’ll also explore a range of sources used by journalists both on and off record - government announcements, official briefings, other media, databases, experts, eyewitnesses and whistle-blowers. 

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. The module explores a range of different models and perspectives on these themes, examining the tensions between theoretical models and their practical application. Throughout, the module focuses on the importance of context and culture in developing persuasive communications. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on a variety of perspectives in preparation for your final 60-credit unit, and to participate in a series of debates intended to encourage further research into the topics discussed and help develop critical advocacy skills.

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. You will also learn about idea incubation, pitching, marketing and monetisation.

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. This module focuses on the work shortlisted by the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses each year to explore the variety of writing and work with writing that is involved in small press publishing, from the production of newsletters to the creation of websites. It will use a combination of case studies, text-based work and practical exercises to explore the relationship between modes of production and the work produced.