Creative Writing, B.A., Specialization in Literary Nonfiction

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The program’s description is noted below:

Requirements for the liberal arts major in creative writing, B.A., specialization in literary nonfiction

The creative writing major with a specialization in literary nonfiction requires a total of 44 credit hours, including five creative writing workshops (20 credits), two cognate courses (8 credits), and either four English electives or three English electives and an additional creative writing workshop (16 credits). One of the creative writing workshops must be a 4000-level course; this class will provide a capstone experience and require a creative thesis. Students are encouraged to take at least three of their five required workshop classes before taking the capstone.

Students must earn at least a B- in each creative writing workshop course and earn a grade of C in each literature course to have it count toward the major. Students who don’t earn at least a B- in a creative writing workshop course must retake that course to earn that grade minimum before proceeding on to the next course in the sequence. Only one 1000-level course will be accepted for credit in the major. The 44 credits (exclusive of composition courses used to satisfy the university writing proficiency requirement) are distributed as follows:

1. Introductory course

CW 2100 - Introduction to Prose and Poetry Writing (4) or CW 2500 - Intro to Literary Nonfiction (4)

5. Sixteen elective credits

8 of these elective credits must be taken at the 3000 level, and cannot include CW courses.
12 of these elective credits must be from the following group: CIN 2100 , CIN 2320 , all ENG courses.
Students may use the remaining 4 elective credits to take: another CW course, or another ENG course.
ENG 2100 can replace one of these 3000-level electives.

6. At least twenty credits in English courses must be taken at Oakland.

7. An introductory two-semester sequence in a foreign language, or one semester of a foreign language at the 1150 level or higher with a minimum grade of C

Note

Students majoring in creative writing may not use the ENG rubric to satisfy the College of Arts and Sciences exploratory requirement. Students using this catalog to meet creative writing major requirements may also use any course subsequently approved as satisfying requirements under the various workshop and cognate elective course options that is published in a later catalog.

Additional Information

In addition to these major requirements, students must complete the Oakland University General Education Requirements , the College of Arts and Sciences College Exploratory Requirement , and an appropriate number of free elective classes to meet the overall credit requirement for the degree (in most cases 124; some degrees may require a greater number). As a general rule, no more than eight credits of course work used to satisfy one major, minor or concentration may be applied toward another, but exceptions to this rule may be allowed with the written approval of the program coordinators.