Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts: English, Creative Writing Emphasis

This emphasis area is designed for students interested in writing, as well as literary study.

To graduate with a creative writing emphasis, students must take the following 36-hour program. At least 18 of the 36 required credit hours listed below must be taken within the English department at UMKC (a):

The following course (3 credits):
ENGLISH 323 Shakespeare

One of the following (3 credits):
ENGLISH 213 Introduction to Drama
ENGLISH 214 Introduction to Fiction
ENGLISH 215 Introduction to Poetry

One of the following sequences (6 credits):
ENGLISH 311/321 American Literature I/II
ENGLISH 317/327 British Literature I/II
ENGLISH 331/333 African American Literature I/II

One of the following (3 credits):
ENGLISH 310 Introduction to Linguistics Language Science
ENGLISH 320 Structure of English
ENGLISH 330 History of the English Language

One of the following (3 credits): 

ENGLISH 305WI Theory and Practice of Composition

ENGLISH 307WI Language, Literacy, Power

ENGLISH 308 Rhetorics of New Media

ENGLISH 309WI Rhetorics of Public Memory

ENGLISH 342WI Women and Rhetoric
ENGLISH 445 History and Principles of Rhetoric

One of the following (3 credits): 

ENGLISH 300 Clio & The Other Muses: Hist & Culture 5th-Century Athens

ENGLISH 300CD American Social Film: Silver Screen American Dream
ENGLISH 300CE Radical Changes Since 1945

ENGLISH 300CQ Race in American Film

ENGLISH 300CW Critical Issues in Women's and Gender Studies
ENGLISH 300CY Ancient World/Cinema
ENGLISH 318 Bible as Literature
ENGLISH 319 Myth and Literature
ENGLISH 325 Arthurian Legends
ENGLISH 326 Modern and Contemporary Irish Literature
ENGLISH 331 African American Literature I
ENGLISH 332WI African American Novel
ENGLISH 333 African American Literature II
ENGLISH 336 Contemporary American Literature
ENGLISH 340A Classical Literature in Translation
ENGLISH 342WI Women And Rhetoric
ENGLISH 344WI Women & Literary Culture: Genre Focus
ENGLISH 345WI Women And Literary Culture: Historical Focus
ENGLISH 350 The 18th Century Novel
ENGLISH 355 The Novel Before 1900
ENGLISH 356 Studies in Poetry
ENGLISH 360 The Modern Novel
ENGLISH 365 Contemporary Novel
ENGLISH 375 Colonial Literature
ENGLISH 378 Asian American Literature
ENGLISH 400CA Cluster Course: Images of the Human Body in Renaissance
ENGLISH 400CF Courts and Culture in the Middle Ages
ENGLISH 400CQ Sinai And Olympus: Two Views Of Man And God
ENGLISH 404 Old English
ENGLISH 408 Harlem Renaissance
ENGLISH 410 Black Women Writers
ENGLISH 412 Chaucer
ENGLISH 413 Renaissance Literature I
ENGLISH 414 Milton
ENGLISH 415 Restoration and Early 18th-Century British Literature
ENGLISH 416 The Romantic Period
ENGLISH 417 Modern Poetry
ENGLISH 418 19th-Century American Literature
ENGLISH 422 Medieval Literature
ENGLISH 423 Renaissance Literature II
ENGLISH 425 18th-Century British Literature II
ENGLISH 426 The Victorian Period
ENGLISH 427 Contemporary Poetry
ENGLISH 428 20th-Century American Literature
ENGLISH 431 Late 18th-Century British Literature
ENGLISH 433 Histories Of Writing, Reading, and Publishing
ENGLISH 434 Postcolonial Literature
ENGLISH 440 American Culture
ENGLISH 441 Girls And Print Culture
ENGLISH 451 Shakespeare Comedies and Histories
ENGLISH 452 Early English Drama
ENGLISH 453 Modern Drama, 1880-1945
ENGLISH 455 Studies in the Novel 1740-1900
ENGLISH 461 Shakespeare Tragedies and Romances
ENGLISH 462 Restoration and 18th-Century Drama
ENGLISH 463 Contemporary Drama II
ENGLISH 465 Studies In The Modern Novel

One of the following sequences (6 credits):
ENGLISH 312 / ENGLISH 432WI Creative Writing I Fiction and Advanced Creative Writing Prose
ENGLISH 312 / ENGLISH 437WI Creative Writing I Fiction and Prose Forms
ENGLISH 315 / ENGLISH 436WI Creative Writing Poetry and Poetic Forms
ENGLISH 315 / ENGLISH 435WI Creative Writing Poetry and Poetic Forms and Advanced Creative Writing Poetry

Two additional writing courses not included above (6 credits):
ENGLISH 312 Creative Writing I Fiction
ENGLISH 315 Creative Writing Poetry
ENGLISH 339 Introduction to Screenwriting
ENGLISH 429 Advanced Screenwriting

ENGLISH 432WI Advanced Creative Writing Prose
ENGLISH 435WI Advanced Creative Writing Poetry
ENGLISH 436WI Poetic Forms
ENGLISH 437WI Prose Forms
ENGLISH 438 The New Letters Writing Conference
ENGLISH 448 External Internship
ENGLISH 449A Publication Practicum

COMM-ST 339 Film Theory & Criticism

COMM-ST 351WI Fundamentals of Writing for the Media

The following may also qualify as additional writing courses (b):
ENGLISH 442 Playwriting I
ENGLISH 443 Playwriting II
ENGLISH 303WI Introduction to Journalism
ENGLISH 313WI Reporting
ENGLISH 316WI Literary Nonfiction
ENGLISH 339 Creative Writing: Screenwriting
ENGLISH 401WI Feature Writing
ENGLISH 429B Advanced Creative Writing: Screenwriting

Capstone experience - One of the following (3 credits):
ENGLISH 432WI Advanced Creative Writing Prose
ENGLISH 435WI Advanced Creative Writing Poetry
ENGLISH 436WI Poetic Forms
ENGLISH 437WI Prose Forms
ENGLISH 499 Senior Tutorial (c)


(a) English courses in which students receive a grade below C- will not count toward fulfilling this requirement.
(b) Requires approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Director of Creative Writing.
(c) Students must complete a poetry or prose sequence with distinguished work before applying to the instructor for permission to take this course. Permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Director of Creative Writing is required.

By the time a student completes the Program of Study in the Creative Writing Emphasis s/he should be able to demonstrate:

1. A thorough understanding of poetics or storytelling craft through the production of creative works that are structurally sound, polished, and complete.

2. Effective problem-solving and revision strategies in the composition of poems or stories.

3. A strong, deliberate command of style, grammar, and mechanics.

4. A general knowlege of literary history, especially the literary traditions of their chosen genre.

5. The ability to analyze texts critically and the ability to recognize how a text displays a writer's artistic decisions.

6. A working vocabulary with which to discuss the technical and aesthetic aspects of their craft.