Literature and Creative Writing New York University

Overview

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Literature and Creative Writing BA program offered at New York University, students are expected to be able to:

• An understanding of literature interpreted within a framework that includes aesthetics, culture, history, self, and society.
• The ability to apply a variety of theories and methods, including close reading, to analyze literary text in a variety of genres.
• An interdisciplinary understanding of the ways in which literary texts belong to networks of texts and ideas and in which the study of literature is related to other fields of scholarly endeavor.
• The ability to explain the characteristics and development of diverse literary genres (drawn from prose, poetry, and drama), traditions (canonical, marginal, emergent, and non-literary), and productions (elite, folk, mass, popular culture).
• The ability to conduct literary research, including the use of library resources, archives, and relevant new technologies.
• The ability to formulate and present original critical arguments in rhetorically efficient forms—both written and oral—manifesting effective use of evidence, organizational skill, and, where appropriate, new technologies.
• A specialization in one particular field of literary scholarship or creative writing, culminating in the production of a senior Capstone project.
• Sufficient expertise to compete effectively for places at elite doctoral, MFA, or professional programs in literature or other fields in the U.S. and around the world.

Employment and Graduate Studies

A major in Literature and Creative Writing prepares students for careers that require critical thinking, forceful and lucid writing, and the ability to undertake discerning research, to read deeply and creatively, and to be receptive to the perspectives of others. The major might lead to graduate school in literature or form a strong foundation for work in fields such as:

• advertising
• education
• international relations
• journalism
• law
• media
• public policy
• publishing