Research & Creative Writing

Students in the Bell Reading Room

Research & Creative Writing

The Department of English is unique in linking literary production (creative writing), critique (literary scholarship), and presentation/dissemination (publication and teaching).

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Creative Writing and Research Opportunities

The Creative Writing Program offers an MFA degree and an undergraduate minor. Creative Writing faculty are known for their award-winning work in the genres of poetry, fiction and literary nonfiction; they also produce criticism, human rights and journalistic writing, and blended genres.

The research interests of our innovative English literature faculty range from from Medieval Islamic culture to digital humanities, from Renaissance marriage diplomacy to mid-20th century pulp novels. Approaches may be disciplinary or interdisciplinary, and the scope is international. In 2013, the department was ranked 13th nationwide in literary theory and criticism (US News and World Reports).

The department offers students opportunities to research alongside faculty. Through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), students receive a scholarship while pursuing a research project with a faculty mentor; in addition, undergraduate honors students research and work with faculty members as part of the honors thesis. As a graduate student in English literature, your original research is supported by fellow graduate students and professors in research subfields. The department offers fellowships for summer research collaborations with faculty to both creative writing and literature graduate students.