university of lincoln english and creative writing

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BA (Hons) Creative Writing

Key Information

Part-time study is available.

Typical Offer

Brayford Pool

Validation Status

Subject to Revalidation

Academic Year

Course overview.

Live the Writing Life at the University of Lincoln. If you love to read and write and want to explore the boundaries of your own creativity, Creative Writing at Lincoln can provide you with a new appreciation of literature.

Students can develop their own distinctive voice as an author and philosophy of composition, as well as explore the theory and practice of building a diverse portfolio of work across forms and styles. As a Creative Writing student at the University of Lincoln, you have the opportunity to work with, and become part of, an international community of writers who will aim to help you develop your skills in genres as diverse as prose fiction, psychological thrillers, scriptwriting, poetry, creative non-fiction, audio dramas, young adult fiction, multi-modal writing and the graphic novel. Our aim is to help you to develop your writing in innovative and exciting ways, becoming the best writer you can be.

The course has a strong focus on employability and aims to prepare you for a professional writing or publishing career. Our teaching team consist of highly experienced and enthusiastic professional writers whose work has been internationally published, broadcast, and staged. They include science fiction writer Chris Dows, poet and literary translator Daniele Pantano, novelists Sarah Stovell, Guy Mankowski and Robert Weston, poet Fee Griffin, playwright Sue Healy, multi-modal author Sherezade Rangel, and copywriter Andrew Boulton, most of which are award-winning in their own genres and writing formats.

You may also have opportunities to take part in readings, workshops, masterclasses, and events; to serve as editors for 'The Lincoln Review' (www.lincolnreview.org), an international literary journal edited exclusively by undergraduate and postgraduate students; and to benefit from the experience of a range of writers, editors, dramaturges, producers, and directors who come to the University of Lincoln as visiting lecturers, such as Ann Cleeves, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Chris Packham, and the former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who became a Visiting Artist at the University in 2015 and regularly visits Lincoln to engage with students and read a selection of her works.

Why Choose Lincoln

Subject ranked in the top 20 in the UK for student satisfaction*

Staff include active professional authors in a variety of genres

Option to study abroad at a partner university

Active research community of staff and students

Hear from guest speakers including published authors

Build your portfolio of creative writing pieces

*Complete University Guide 2024 (out of 56 ranking institutions).

How You Study

The BA (Hons) Creative Writing programme concentrates on the practice and theory of developing a portfolio of work across a diverse array of forms and styles.

As well as discovering your own voice, you will have the opportunity to explore a range of techniques and practices which come from a wide range of historical and contemporary literature, both popular and classic, across poetry, prose, and scriptwriting.

Teaching and learning is centred on the writer's workshop, where there is a strong emphasis on participation. You will have the opportunity to learn the habits of a professional writer, including keeping a writer's journal, research and observation, redrafting and editing and presenting work to a high standard. The drafting process of creative texts and development of critical analyses will require a significant self-study commitment for the work to fulfil its potential. This is particularly true of the third-year Final Major Project, the most significant creative text a student will produce and worth a quarter of the entire degree classification.

Throughout the three years, you can build up your portfolio and discover the commercial and social contexts of publishing in the 21st Century.

Delivery is predominately via seminars where tutor feedback and peer review is actively encouraged. Second and third year modules feature lecture programmes on which workshops aimed at practising the creative, technical, and academic topics explored in the lectures are based.

While some modules include presentations, there are no examinations on this course at any level.

• Foundation Year
• Second Year
• Master's Level
• Doctoral Level

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, contact hours, and our return to face-to-face teaching.

How you are assessed

The way students are assessed on this course may vary for each module. Examples of assessment methods that are used include coursework, such as written assignments, reports or dissertations; but the greatest emphasis is on the production of a creative portfolio. The weighting given to each assessment method may vary across each academic year, and the University of Lincoln aims to ensure that staff return in-course assessments to students promptly. Please note this course has no examinations.

Guest Speakers

Teaching is enriched by workshops, readings, and masterclasses with visiting contemporary authors, editors and other industry professionals. Former Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a Visiting Artist and has visited the University to read a selection of her works. Students have also enjoyed masterclasses with TV presenter and author Chris Packham. The Creative Writing team were delighted to welcome award-winning science fiction writer Robert Shearman as a visiting senior fellow.

Staff Expertise 

Students have the opportunity to learn from active professional authors with interests in fields as diverse as psychological thrillers, creative non-fiction, and graphic novels. Their publications include novels, plays, short films, audio dramas, graphic novels, poetry, and prize-winning short stories.

I always look forward to the exciting, buzzing atmosphere that the start of each term brings. I can honestly say that studying Creative Writing at Lincoln has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Philip Dixon-Smith

Study Abroad 

An option exists for second-year students to study abroad for a semester at a partner institutions in North America. Students are responsible for travel, accommodation, and general living costs while studying abroad.

Great Central Warehouse Library

The University’s on-campus Great Central Warehouse Library is open 24/7 during key times of the academic year and provides access to more than 200,000 journals and 600,000 print and electronic books, as well as databases and specialist collections.

What Can I Do with a Creative Writing Degree?

Creative Writing graduates may choose to pursue careers in various literary and creative professions, such as publishing, journalism, advertising, public relations, marketing, the civil service, and communications. Students can choose to continue their studies at postgraduate level or take qualifications in teaching.

Entry Requirements 2024-25

United kingdom, international.

104 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels.

International Baccalaureate: Pass Diploma from a minimum of 2 Higher Level subjects.

BTEC Extended Diploma: Distinction, Merit, Merit, or equivalent

T Level: Merit

Access to Higher Education Diploma: 45 Level 3 credits with a minimum of 104 UCAS Tariff points

Applicants will also need at least three GCSEs at grade 4 or above, which must include English. Equivalent Level 2 qualifications may be considered.

The University accepts a wide range of qualifications as the basis for entry and do accept a combination of qualifications which may include A Levels, BTECs, EPQ etc.

We will also consider applicants with extensive and relevant work experience and will give special individual consideration to those who do not meet the standard entry qualifications.

Non UK Qualifications:

If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.

EU and Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/englishlanguagerequirementsandsupport/englishlanguagerequirements/

For further advice on IELTS and the support available, please contact the International College by email at [email protected].

For applicants who do not meet our standard entry requirements, our Arts Foundation Year can provide an alternative route of entry onto our full degree programmes: https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/course/afyafyub/

If you would like further information about entry requirements, or would like to discuss whether the qualifications you are currently studying are acceptable, please contact the Admissions team on 01522 886097, or email [email protected]

Contextual Offers

Fees and scholarships.

Going to university is a life-changing step and it's important to understand the costs involved and the funding options available before you start. A full breakdown of the fees associated with this programme can be found on our course fees pages.

Course Fees

For eligible undergraduate students going to university for the first time, scholarships and bursaries are available to help cover costs. To help support students from outside of the UK, we are also delighted to offer a number of international scholarships which range from £1,000 up to the value of 50 per cent of tuition fees. For full details and information about eligibility, visit our scholarships and bursaries pages .

Find out More by Visiting Us

The best way to find out what it is really like to live and learn at Lincoln is to visit us in person. We offer a range of opportunities across the year to help you to get a real feel for what it might be like to study here.

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Prioritising face-to-face teaching.

At the University of Lincoln, we strive to ensure our students’ experience is engaging, supportive, and academically challenging. Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, we have adapted to Government guidance to keep our students, staff, and community safe. All remaining Covid-19 legal restrictions in England were lifted in February 2022 under the Government’s Plan for Living with Covid-19, and we have embraced a safe return to in-person teaching on campus. Where appropriate, face-to-face teaching is enhanced by the use of digital tools and technology and may be complemented by online opportunities where these support learning outcomes.

We are fully prepared to adapt our plans if changes in Government guidance make this necessary, and we will endeavour to keep current and prospective students informed. For more information about how we are working to keep our community safe, please visit our coronavirus web pages .

BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing

University of Lincoln

Introduction

Scholarships and funding, program outcome, program tuition fee, career opportunities, about the school.

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Lincoln, United Kingdom

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Study world literature, explore your talents, and build a solid technical foundation as a writer with this joint honours degree.

BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing enables students to consider literature from a variety of theoretical, historical, and cultural perspectives. These include poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as less traditional literary forms, such as non-fiction, audio drama, and graphic novels.

Throughout their studies, students can develop their craft as authors, building their own portfolio of creative writing pieces across a wide range of popular formats.

Teaching on the programme is enhanced by workshops, readings, and masterclasses with visiting authors. This gives students practical experience and enables them to learn from experts in the field. Recent students have enjoyed visits from Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy, author and TV presenter Chris Packham, and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon.

"This information was correct at the time of publishing (July 2023)"

For eligible undergraduate students going to university for the first time, scholarships and bursaries are available to help cover costs. The University of Lincoln offers a variety of merit-based and subject-specific bursaries and scholarships.

Several scholarship options are available. Please check the university website for more information.

How You Study

This course introduces students to literary forms and theories, enabling them to explore texts and authors from past and present. They are able to study the various approaches to creative writing through the close reading of major contemporary authors, examining their techniques and applying them to the production of original, imaginative work.

In the third year, a wide range of optional modules enables students to pursue areas of particular interest and develop their portfolios while engaging in individual research. This reflects the programme's clear focus on employability, which aims to prepare students for a professional writing or publishing career.

• Introduction to Writing Formats (Core)
• Texts in Time: Medieval to Romantic (Core)
• Texts in Time: Victorian to Contemporary (Core)
• Writing Narrative (Core)
• Writing Poetry (Core)
• Writing Portfolio (Core)

Second Year

• Dis-Locations: the Literature of Late Capitalism (Core)
• Theory Wars (Core)
• Writing and Enterprise (Core)
• After The End: Reading the Apocalypse (Option)†
• American Literature I (Option)†
• American Literature II (Option)†
• British Medieval Literature (Option)†
• Classic and Contemporary Fantasy (Option)†
• Experimental Writing (Option)†
• Literature of the Fin de Siècle (Option)†
• Making It New: An Introduction to Literary Modernism (Option)†
• Postcolonialism (Option)†
• Renaissance Literature (Option)†
• Restoration Literature (Option)†
• Romanticism: Literature 1780-1830 (Option)†
• Study Period Abroad - English and Creative Writing (Option)†
• The Arthurian Myth (Option)†
• The Craft of Creative Non-Fiction (Option)†
• The Craft of Fiction (Option)†
• The Craft of Poetry (Option)†
• The Craft of Scriptwriting (Option)†
• Writing and Enterprise A (Option)†
• Writing and Enterprise B (Option)†
• American Detective Fiction and Film: 1930 to the Present Day (Option)†
• Gothic in Literature and Film (Option)†
• Growing Up and Growing Old: Youth and Age across the Nineteenth Century (Option)†
• Independent Study: Creative Writing (Option)†
• Independent Study: English (Option)†
• Irish Writing since 1900 (Option)†
• Life Writing (Option)†
• Literature and the Environment (Option)†
• Nineteenth-Century Women's Writing (Option)†
• Poetry and Innovative Form (Option)†
• Science Fiction (Option)†
• Sex, Texts and Politics: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (Option)†
• Shakespeare I (Option)†
• Shakespeare II (Option)†
• Single Author Study A (Option)†
• Single Author Study B (Option)†
• The Literature of Childhood (Option)†
• The Psychological Thriller and Crime Fiction (Option)†
• Twenty-First Century British Fiction (Option)†
• Womens Writing and Feminist Theory (Option)†
• Writing for Children and Young Adults (Option)†
• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy (Option)†

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

How You Are Assessed

The University of Lincoln's policy on assessment feedback aims to ensure that academics will return in-course assessments to students promptly - usually within 15 working days after the submission date.

The way students are assessed on this course may vary for each module. Examples of assessment methods that are used include coursework, such as written assignments, reports or dissertations; practical exams, such as presentations, performances or observations; and written exams, such as formal examinations or in-class tests. The weighting given to each assessment method may vary across each academic year. The University of Lincoln aims to ensure that staff return in-course assessments to students promptly.

In the third year, a wide range of optional modules enables students to pursue areas of particular interest and develop their portfolios while engaging in individual research. This reflects the programe's clear focus on employability, which aims to prepare students for a professional writing or publishing career.

English and Creative Writing graduates may choose to pursue careers in various literary and creative professions, such as publishing, journalism, advertising, public relations, marketing, the civil service, and communications. Students can continue their studies at postgraduate level or take qualifications in teaching.

Lincoln graduates have gone on to work at regional and national media outlets including the BBC, The Daily Mail, and Channel 4.

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English and Creative Writing BA (Hons) University of Lincoln

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Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Lincoln (Main Site)

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15,900 per year

Tuition fees shown are for indicative purposes and may vary. Please check with the institution for most up to date details.

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• UCAS Points
• Access to HE Diploma
• GCSE/National 4/National 5
• International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
• Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

104 UCAS points from a minimum of 2 A Levels or equivalent qualifications.

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University of Lincoln

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University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7TS, England

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11th out of 56 17

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University of lincoln: creative writing, doctor of philosophy - phd, full-time, 2 years.

The Lincoln School of Creative Arts offers advanced research opportunities within the subject of creative writing. This research programme aims to provide training for a career in writing, from fiction to screen and radio adaptation.

MPhil/PhD students have the opportunity to be supervised by published writers and to undertake research in areas including poetry, experimental fiction, the short story, the historical novel, television drama, film scriptwriting, and realism.

Regular research seminars and postgraduate study groups are designed to provide a stimulating environment in which to discuss and debate work. Creative Writing has strong links within the Creative Arts and with the Schools of Film, Media, and Journalism, and Humanities and Heritage.

The School of English and Journalism offers advanced research opportunities within the subject of Creative Writing.

As an MPhil/PhD student you will be supervised by published writers and be given the opportunity to develop skills so that you may produce work of a publishable standard and engage in creative practice at doctoral level.

Regular research seminars and postgraduate study groups aim to provide a stimulating environment in which to discuss and debate work being undertaken in the School and Creative Writing has strong links to English and Journalism as well as with the Schools of Film and Media, History and Heritage and Fine and Performing Arts.

Part-Time, 3 years

Full-time, 1 years starts sep 2024.

Our MA in Creative Writing is an innovative and exciting course that provides opportunities to work closely with practising creative writers and professionals from the publishing and creative industries. It is designed to encourage you to improve your craft as a writer, develop your philosophy of composition, and explore contemporary forms of literature and the creative industries. The course has a strong focus on employability and aims to prepare you for a professional writing or publishing career. There is an opportunity to gain hands-on experience working on The Lincoln Review, an international literary journal edited exclusively by postgraduate students.    You will have the opportunity to learn from an enthusiastic team of professional writers whose work has been widely published, broadcast, and staged. Our academic team includes poet, essayist, and literary translator Daniele Pantano; science fiction writer Chris Dows; novelists Sarah Stovell, Guy Mankowski, and Amy Lilwall; playwright and short story writer Sue Healy; YA author Robert Weston; and writer and podcaster Sherezade García Rangel.   Students may benefit from the experience of a range of writers, editors, dramaturges, producers, and directors who visit the University of Lincoln to deliver inspirational talks or masterclasses. Previous speakers include Patience Agbabi, Ann Cleeves, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Visiting Professor Chris Packham CBE, and the former Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who became a Visiting Artist at the University in 2015. Robert Shearman is a Visiting Senior Fellow and regularly visits Lincoln to engage with students. 

Part-Time, 2 years starts Sep 2024

Master of philosophy - mphil, full-time, 1.5 years, part-time, 2 years.

The University of Lincoln is rated among the top 20 universities in the UK for student satisfaction in the Guardian University Guide 2022 and we are ranked in the top 30 overall in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2022. We are the highest placed multi-faculty modern university in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022, which describes Lincoln as going “from strength to strength”.

We are featured among the world's top young universities in Times Higher Education’s (THE) Young University Rankings 2022, which recognises the world's finest universities under 50 years old.

We hold a top five-star rating …

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Creative Writing

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2024 creative writing award winners, april 11, 2024.

Quantá Holden | Duke English | Digital Communication Specialist

The English Department at Duke University is honored to announce the winners of the 2024 Creative Writing Contests and Creative Writing Scholarships. Annually, the department administers creative writing contests to recognize fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry works by English majors and non-major undergraduates. 

The English Department is honored to announce the winners of its 2024 writing contests. The department administers writing contests to recognize fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and critical writing by English majors and non-major undergraduates. 

Congratulations to all of this year's winners! 

Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry. 

Makee Gonzalez Anderson ’24  -  “Here, in the Past Tense” Second Prize: Emma Huang, ’25  -  "ABEL’S PLACE"

Reynolds Price Award for Fiction The Reynolds Price Fiction Award was established in memory of the distinguished novelist, essayist, poet, and public intellectual Reynolds Price, a graduate of Duke and professor in the English Department for over 50 years.  Tomas Esber, ’24  -  “Ridgewood” Second Prize: Matthew Chen, ’26  -  “ABC” & “Chair"

CREATIVE NONFICTION

George P. Lucaci Award for Creative NonFiction This award was created to encourage creative nonfiction writing and honor George P. Lucaci, a former Duke student who has actively supported undergraduate creative writing in the English Department for many years. 

Ruby Wang, ’24  -  “Blood Orison” Second Prize: Rowan Huang, ’24  -  “Arms Outstretched"

Academy of American Poets Prize Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization advocating for American poets and poetry.  Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and foster contemporary poetry appreciation.  Nima Babajani-Feremi, ’24  -  “Dreams to Persepolis” Honorable Mention: Tyler King, ’25  -  "NO QUARTER"

Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry   Family members and friends of former English student Anne Flexner (1945) established the Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing to recognize undergraduates for their work in fiction and poetry.   Jocelyn Chin, 24 -   “Endurance” Second Prize:   Arielle Stern, ’25  -  "The Poem as Event"

Terry Welby Tyler, Jr. Award for Poetry This award was established by the family of Terry Welby Tyler, Jr., who would have graduated with the class of 1997 to recognize and honor outstanding undergraduate poetry.  Arim Lim, ’26  -  "Archeopteryx"

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Creative Writing Program Director Roy Scranton wins Guggenheim Fellowship

Published: April 11, 2024

Author: Paul Cunningham

Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing Program Director Dr. Roy Scranton has been named a 2024 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation , and awarded a grant supporting his forthcoming book Ethical Pessimism: Climate Change and the Limits of Narrative . Now in its 99th year, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation recognizes & awards monetary prizes to the 2024 class of trail-blazing fellows across 52 fields.

“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. “The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”

In all, 52 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields, 84 academic institutions, 38 US states and the District of Columbia, and four Canadian provinces are represented in the 2024 class, who range in age from 28 to 89. More than 40 Fellows (roughly 1 out of 4) do not hold a full-time affiliation with a college or university. Many Fellows’ projects directly respond to timely issues such as democracy and politics, identity, disability activism, machine learning, incarceration, climate change and community. Since its founding in 1925, the Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows.

Dr. Roy Scranton is an essayist, novelist, literary critic, and climate philosopher, best known for his work on war, war literature, and the Anthropocene. He is the author of five books, and has written widely for publications such as the New York Times , Rolling Stone , MIT Technology Review , the Yale Review , and elsewhere. Dr. Scranton grew up in Oregon, dropped out of college, and spent his early twenties wandering the American West. He served four years in the US Army (2002–2006), including fourteen months in Iraq, then completed his bachelor’s degree and earned a master’s degree at the New School for Social Research, before earning a Ph.D. in English at Princeton. His essay “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene” was selected for the 2015  Best American Science and Nature Writing . He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences at Rice University, has been awarded a Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction, and held the inaugural Teaching Lab Fellowship at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study.

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M.a. program.

The Graduate Program in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers the M.A. for students interested in Literary and Cultural Studies , Creative Writing , and Composition and Rhetoric . In recent years, students who graduated with a Masters Degree from our department subsequently were accepted with fully-funded offers to Ph.D. programs at UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Riverside, University of Southern California, U Wisconsin, U Minnesota, U Illinois, U Oregon, Ohio State U, Penn State, U Pennsylvania, Brandeis, SUNY Buffalo, Loyola-Chicago, U Utah, Claremont Graduate College, U Kansas, among others; of those, students accepted the offers by U Wisconsin, USC, SUNY Buffalo, Ohio State, Penn State, U Pennsylvania, and U Minnesota.

Program Details

The M.A. in English is generally a two-year degree. M.A. students take coursework in a variety of areas of English Studies and develop expertise within one or more areas. For detailed information, please download the M.A. Handbook .

There are two options by which a student may earn the M.A. degree:

• 30-hour degree with a thesis (24 hours of coursework and 6 hours of thesis) and an oral examination. (See Sections V and VII of the M.A. handbook for more on creative and scholarly theses.)
• At least 8 credit hours, excluding the thesis, must be taken in graduate-only courses (900-level classes and 800-level classes with no 400-level counterpart).
• At least one-half of the credit hours required for the degree, including the thesis, must be taken in the English Department.
• May include a minor of at least 9 credit hours selected from and approved by the minor department or interdisciplinary area. (See Section IV of the M.A. handbook for more information).
• 36-hour degree with an oral examination but without a thesis.
• At least 15 credit hours must be taken in graduate-only courses (900-level classes and 800-level classes with no 400-level counterpart).
• At least one-half of the credit hours required for the degree must be taken in the English Department.

M.A. in Creative Writing

M.A. students in Creative Writing follow the same area requirements as other M.A. students, except that they substitute another writing course for one of the areas. Students can choose from courses offered by our nationally-recognized faculty in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. All Creative Writing students write a thesis, guided by three faculty members.

M.A. with a Concentration in the Teaching of English

Students with established careers in K-12, community college, state college, and liberal arts college English teaching, or who envision careers in such teaching, may elect to complete an M.A. with a Concentration in the Teaching of English. The Concentration in the Teaching of English may be completed through Option A (Thesis Option) or B (Non-Thesis Option). However, instead of completing the area requirements for MA students, students pursuing an M.A. with a Concentration in the Teaching of English must complete 9-12 hours through three courses focused on teaching English. (See Section VI of the M.A. handbook or the Nebraska Writing Project website for more information.)

Interdisciplinary Certificates

The Department of English also offers interdisciplinary graduate certificates at the master's level in the following areas of specialization: Ethnic Studies , Great Plains Studies , Nineteenth-Century Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies . Additionally, we offer two graduate certificates: one in Teaching of Writing and one in Digital Humanities .

Financial Aid Deadline

December 1 is the deadline for admission and assistantship consideration for the following academic year (August through May).

There are no additional materials required to apply for departmental assistantships. Simply check the box on the admissions application! All of our assistantships provide tuition remission, access to health insurance benefits, and a competitive stipend.

Teaching & Assistantships

Department assistantships.

Students admitted into the M.A. program are eligible for up to 2 years of funding. They are not required to teach their first year, but are normally awarded Research Assistantships which give them the opportunity to work with the Prairie Schooner , the Walt Whitman Archive , or the Creative Writing Program , or to assist faculty on their research, plan national conferences, or arrange visits by nationally known writers. We also offer an Advising Center assistantship, which gives one M.A. or Ph.D. student the opportunity to work in the department’s undergraduate advising office. As much as possible, we match up students with professors and projects according to their interests in making these assignments. The second year of M.A. funding is a Teaching Assistantship. Students teach 2 sections of first-year composition each semester. We support new TAs with a required week-long teaching workshop the week before classes begin, and a seminar in Composition Theory and Practice during the fall semester.

Assistantship Package

For 2020-2021, the stipend for Research Assistants was $13,155 plus tuition remission (either out-of-state or in-state) for 12 hours each semester and 6 hours in the summer. For 2020-2021, the stipend for Teaching Assistants was $17,640 plus tuition remission (either out-of-state or in-state) for the regular academic year and summer. The assistantships cover a large portion of the student health insurance premium, but do not cover books and student fees. We expect our 2021-2022 stipends to be at these levels with possibilities for slight increases.

Research Assistantship sponsored by the Cather Project and the Cather Archive

The Willa Cather Project and the Willa Cather Archive are pleased to offer one Research Assistantship to an incoming M.A. student in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln each year. This assistantship provides students with full funding for two years—stipend, benefits, and tuition remission—at the same level as other funded M.A. students in the department. Those selected will be welcomed to the collaborative research team behind the digital humanities project, the Willa Cather Archive . The team is currently finishing work on a scholarly edition, The Complete Letters of Willa Cather , and will begin work on A Digital Library of Willa Cather’s Literary Manuscripts in early 2023. The student may also be assigned to duties in support of the work of the Cather Project , the English department unit that produces the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition and Cather Studies and supports research and teaching on Cather.

Applicants who wish to be considered for this Research Assistantship should check the designated box in the graduate application and indicate their interest in their application statement. The successful applicant will have a demonstrated interest in the life and work of Willa Cather and/or a closely related field such as early twentieth century women’s writing, LGBTQ literature, or Western American literature. No prior experience is necessary as extensive training and mentoring will be provided, but we welcome applicants with experience in digital humanities, textual studies, and historical research.

Other Assistantships and Fellowships

Our M.A students have also obtained assistantships that include tuition remission plus a stipend in the Advising Office of the College of Arts and Sciences , Student Involvement , Women’s and Gender Studies , and Ethnic Studies . Still others teach at local colleges. Each year the English Department awards several fellowships to graduate students. M.A. students are eligible for the following recruitment fellowships: Chancellor's Fellowships, Centennial Fellowships, Pulos Fellowships (awarded to students in nineteenth-century literature), Stuff Fellowships, McPhee Fellowships, and Edgren Tuition Fellowships. M.A. students are also eligible for the Van Sickle Fellowship in creative writing and Stuff Retention Fellowships. In their second year M.A. students are eligible for fellowships through Graduate Studies.

M.A. Program Timeline

General recommendations for the M.A. in English