English and Creative Writing (MA)

Program Overview

The University of Regina's Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing provides students with a versatile graduate education in English literature and creative writing. Students can pursue a course-based, thesis-based, or project-based degree path. This program prepares graduates for a diverse range of careers in academia, publishing, writing, and other fields that require critical thinking, research, and communication skills.

Program Outline

It caters to students with a passion for literature and a desire to hone their writing skills. The program emphasizes critical thinking, research, and communication skills, preparing students for diverse career paths.

• Objectives: The program aims to cultivate:
• Critical writers and readers
• Accomplished researchers
• Skilled public speakers
• Creative writers in verse, fiction, and creative non-fiction
• Description: The program offers various degree paths, allowing students to tailor their learning experience:
• Course-based:
10 seminar courses providing a broad understanding of English literature and current developments.
• Thesis-based: 5 courses plus a thesis requiring in-depth research in a specific area of English literature.
• Project-based: 7 courses plus an academic project equivalent to a scholarly journal article, culminating in a public presentation.
• Creative Writing and English (thesis-based): Includes a creative writing workshop requirement, with at least 2 graduate courses in creative writing.
The thesis is a substantial manuscript of poems, short stories, or creative nonfiction, accompanied by a critical introduction.
• Creative Writing and English (project-based): Emphasizes creative writing and requires an extended creative work (e.g., chapbook of poetry, short stories, or creative nonfiction excerpt).
Includes a public presentation of the completed project.

Teaching:

• Teaching Methods: The program utilizes seminar courses, workshops, and individual supervision for thesis and project work.
• Faculty: The faculty is diverse, renowned, and committed to mentoring graduate students.
They include award-winning creative writers, scholars, and teachers.
• Unique Approaches: The program offers a choice of degree paths, allowing students to focus on coursework, research, or creative writing projects.
It also emphasizes professionalization through the project route and provides opportunities for intensive research through the thesis route.

Careers:

• Potential Career Paths:
• Published author
• Professor
• Teacher
• Librarian
• Composer of hit pop songs
• Senior policy analysts
• Consultant
• Publisher
• Opportunities: The program prepares students for a wide range of careers in academia, publishing, writing, and other fields.
• Outcomes: Graduates are equipped with critical thinking, research, and communication skills, making them highly competitive in the job market.

Other:

• Student Support: The English department provides strong professorial availability and mentoring, particularly for Master's students.
• Faculty Research Interests:
• Renaissance, Romantic, and Modernist periods
• Post-colonial literature
• Prison writing
• Fantasy literature
• Literary and political theory
• Canadian Indigenous literature
• Creative writing in prose and verse
• Film adaptation
• University Library Resources: The University Library offers extensive holdings for Master's research in all traditional areas of literary study, with particular strengths in:
• Victorian writers and periodicals
• Romantic poets and novelists
• Literary theory
• American fiction and periodicals 1741-1910
• Hemingway and Fitzgerald
• Canadian Institute for Historical Microproductions archive
• Utopian literature
• Criticism of fantastic literature (science fiction, fantasy, horror)
• North American Indigenous Literature
• Literature and religion, e.g.
Patrologiae Cursus Completus
• Library Databases: The library provides access to extensive primary and secondary materials for literary research, including:
• Shakespeare in Quarto
• Women Writers Online
• Nineteenth Century Collections Online
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online
• Early English Books Online
• British Library Manuscripts Online
• Gale Primary Sources
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Artemis Literary Sources
• JSTOR
• Literature Criticism Online
• MLA Bibliography
• University Archives: The Dr. John Archer Library houses the University Archives, with archival staff to facilitate primary research using archival materials.
• Research Support: Graduate students have access to hands-on personal research support from the English Librarian, opportunities for digital humanities research supported by the Research & Scholarship Librarian, and more.