English and Creative Writing

Studying

Welcome to the Department of English and Creative Writing! I am Professor Sinéad Moynihan, the Director of Education and Student Experience, which means that I oversee all the taught programmes in the Department, both undergraduate and postgraduate. The curriculum at Exeter covers all periods from the Middle Ages to the contemporary moment with the “literary text” conceived in the broadest possible terms.

We aim to create a supportive environment in the classroom to ensure that our students are empowered to explore their ideas and develop into open-minded critical thinkers. Every member of our large Department brings their particular research expertise into lectures and seminars, and we believe that the breadth of their scholarship and methodological approaches helps students to negotiate their own paths as independent researchers. I look forward to welcoming you to Exeter in the not-too-distant future!

Read more from Professor Sinéad Moynihan

Professor Sinéad Moynihan

Director of Education and Student Experience

Our programmes

Undergraduate

The undergraduate programmes we offer span Single Honours English and various Combined Honours (including Flexible Combined Honours) programmes. English and Creative Writing is also home to the University of Exeter’s Liberal Arts programme. Single Honours English students typically undertake a number of core modules in their first year, focusing on foundational texts of English literature, critical theory and literary genres. As you proceed through the programme, there is increasing flexibility (for both Single and Combined Honours students) in terms of what you select: you can choose to follow an informal pathway, depending on your burgeoning interests; or you can maintain a breadth of study across different historical periods and geographical settings. Many of our students undertake a four-year programme, incorporating a year of employment experience, employment experience abroad or study abroad. We also offer a bespoke three-year English with Study in North America programme.  

Programmes

English and Creative Writing may also be studied under the Flexible Combined Honours scheme or within our Liberal Arts degree programme.

Postgraduate Taught

Our English department has an outstanding reputation and is recognised as one of the best in the country. We are a world leader for research, with strengths in diverse areas and periods of literature and culture, including particular expertise in American Literature and Culture, Film Studies, Critical Theory, World and Postcolonial Literatures, Medical Humanities, Victorian Studies, Renaissance Studies, Romanticism, Modernism and Creative Writing.

Programmes

Postgraduate Research

Our research is characterised by world-leading and internationally excellent research centres over a wide range of sub-disciplinary fields.