Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing Roadmap
120 Total Units Required
Minimum Number of Units in the Major: 42
This roadmap is a suggested plan of study and does not replace meeting with an advisor. Please note that students may need to adjust the actual sequence of courses based on course availability. Please consult an advisor in your major program for further guidance.
| First Semester | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ENG 114 | Writing the First Year: Finding Your Voice (A2) 1 | 3 |
| GE Area A 2 | 3 | |
| GE Area B: Quantitative Reasoning (B4) 3 | 3 | |
| Complementary Studies or SF State Studies or University Elective - Take Two 4 | 6 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Second Semester | ||
| GE Area A | 3 | |
| GE Area B: Physical Science (B1) and Laboratory Science (B3) 5 | 3-4 | |
| GE Area C | 3 | |
| GE Area E | 3 | |
| Complementary Studies or SF State Studies or University Elective 4 | 3 | |
| Units | 15-16 | |
| Third Semester | ||
| GE Area B: Life Science (B2) and Laboratory Science (B3) 5 | 3-4 | |
| GE Area C | 3 | |
| GE Area D | 3 | |
| Complementary Studies or SF State Studies or University Elective - Take Two 4 | 6 | |
| Units | 15-16 | |
| Fourth Semester | ||
| GE Area C | 3 | |
| GE Area D | 3 | |
| Complementary Studies or SF State Studies or University Elective – Take Three 4 | 9 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Fifth Semester | ||
| C W 301 | Fundamentals of Creative Writing (Major Fundamentals) | 3 |
| C W 302 | Fundamentals of Creative Reading (Major Fundamentals) | 3 |
| Literature Course (12 units) - Take One 6 | 3 | |
| GE Area F ± | 3 | |
| GE Area UD-B: Upper-Division Physical and/or Life Sciences | 3 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Sixth Semester | ||
| Craft Course - Select One: | 3 | |
| Craft of Poetry - GWAR | ||
| Craft of Fiction - GWAR | ||
| Craft of Playwriting - GWAR | ||
| Literature Course (12 units) - Take One 6 | 3 | |
| Select One (Major Core): | 3 | |
| The Creative Process | ||
| Special Topics in Writing | ||
| GE Area UD-D: Upper-Division Social Sciences | 3 | |
| U.S. and California Government | 3 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Seventh Semester | ||
| Literature Course (12 units) - Take One 6 | 3 | |
| Creative Process Area and/or Workshop Area (12 units) - Take Two 7 | 6 | |
| GE Area UD-C: Upper-Division Arts and/or Humanities | 3 | |
| Complementary Studies or SF State Studies or University Elective 4 | 3 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Eighth Semester | ||
| C W 601 | Work in Progress (Major Capstone) | 3 |
| C W 606 | Art of Revision: from Draft to Manuscript (Major Core) | 3 |
| Literature Course (12 units) - Take One 6 | 3 | |
| Creative Process Area and/or Workshop Area (12 units) – Take Two 7 | 6 | |
| Units | 15 | |
| Total Units | 120-122 | |
- 1
ENG 114 can only be taken if you complete Directed Self-Placement (DSP) and select ENG 114; if you choose ENG 104/ENG 105 through DSP you will satisfy A2 upon successful completion of ENG 105 in the second semester; multilingual students may be advised into alternative English courses.
- 2
To avoid taking additional units, it is recommended that you meet the SF State Studies (AERM, GP, ES, SJ) requirements within your GE or major.
- 3
To determine the best B4 course option, students should complete the online advising activity at mathadvising.sfsu.edu. Questions? Contact Gator Smart Start.
- 4
Complementary Studies
Bachelor of Arts students must complete at least 12 units of Complementary Studies outside of the primary prefix for the major. (Note: Students may not use an alternate prefix that is cross-listed with the primary prefix for the major.)
Creative Writing majors will satisfy this requirement from within the major by taking 12 units of literature classes required in the major, which are recognized in the major list of any or all of the following prefixes: ENG, AFRS, CWL, LTNS, WGS, HUM, AAS, MGS, or AIS.
Students who have earned AA-T or AS-T degrees and are pursuing a similar B.A. degree at SF State are required to fulfill the Complementary Studies requirement as defined by the major department. Students should consult with a major advisor about how transfer units and/or SF State units can best be applied to this requirement in order to ensure degree completion within 60 units.
- 5
Consider taking a class combined with a laboratory or a separate lab to fulfill B3 if not already satisfied.
- 6
Literature (12 units)
AA S 322 Chinese American Language and Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
AA S 332 Japanese American Art and Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
AA S 352 Filipina/o American Literature, Art, and Culture (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
AA S 372 Vietnamese American Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM)
AA S 512 Asian American Children's/Adolescent Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
AA S 582 Asian American Women's Literature and the Arts (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
AFRS 400 Black Arts and Humanities (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
AFRS 411 African and African American Literature (3 units)
AFRS 645 Literature of the Harlem Renaissance (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
AFRS 646 Frantz Fanon's Psychology of Violence, Negation, and Liberation (3 units)
AIS 360 Modern American Indian Authors (3 units) (AERM)ARAB 400/RRS 400 Islam and Fiction in English (3 units)
CHIN 600 Topics in Chinese Language, Literature, and Culture in English (3 units)
CHIN 601GW The Poetic Tradition - GWAR (3 units) (GP)
CHIN 602 The Narrative Tradition (3 units)
CHIN 611GW The Revolutionary Tradition in Modern Chinese Literature - GWAR (3 units) (GP)
CLAS 410/HUM 401 Ancient Greek Literature (3 units) (UD-C)
CLAS 415/HUM 402 Ancient Roman Literature (3 units) (UD-C)
C W 465/CWL 465/MGS 465 Modern Greek Poetry in Comparative Perspective (3 units)
C W 497/MGS 497 Modern Greek Literature (3 units)
CWL 420 Studies in Comparative Literature (3 units)
CWL 421 Celtic Literature (3 units) (UD-C)
CWL 423/HUM 423 Going Medieval: Medieval Literature and Contemporary Adaptations (3 units) (UD-C)
CWL 424/HUM 424 Multicultural Middle Ages (3 units) (UD-C)
CWL 432/HUM 532 From Ghost Stories to Short Stories: Japanese Fiction in Comparative Contexts (3 units) (UD-C, GP)
CWL 440 "Typical American": Narratives of Multiculturalism in the Americas from 1492 to the Present (3 units) (UD-C, GP)
CWL 450 Literary Crossings (3 units) (UD-C, GP)
CWL 520 Modern Prose of the Americas (3 units) (GP)
ENG 398/MGS 397 Greek American Literature (3 units) (GP, SJ)
ENG 401 Introduction to Writing Studies (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 418 Grammar for Writers (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 420 Introduction to the Study of Language (3 units) (UD-C, GP)
ENG 422 History of the English Language (3 units)
ENG 429 Stylistics (3 units)
ENG 460 Literature in English to 1800 (3 units)
ENG 461 Literature in English Since 1800 (3 units)
ENG 465 Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (3 units) (UD-C, ES)
ENG 495 Digital Humanities and Literacies (3 units)
ENG 501 Age of Chaucer (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 510 The Age of Wit (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 514 Age of the Romantics (3 units)
ENG 524 Contemporary American Short Story (3 units)ENG 525 Studies in American Literature (3 units)
ENG 526 Age of the American Renaissance: 1830-1860 (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, SJ)
ENG 527 American Literature: 1860-1914 (3 units)
ENG 528 American Literature: 1914-1960 (3 units)
ENG 535 Literature and Ecology (3 units) (UD-C, ES)
ENG 546/JS 546/WGS 546 20th Century American Jewish Women Writers (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP)
ENG 550 The Rise of the Novel (3 units)
ENG 552 Modern British Novel (3 units)
ENG 553 Classic American Novel (3 units)
ENG 554 Modern American Novel (3 units)
ENG 555 The Short Story (3 units)
ENG 558 Early Twentieth Century Poetry in the United States (3 units)
ENG 559 Middle and Late Twentieth Century Poetry in the United States (3 units)
ENG 570 Medieval and Renaissance Drama (3 units)
ENG 571 Shakespeare's Rivals (3 units)
ENG 573 American Drama (3 units)
ENG 574 Modern British Drama (3 units)
ENG 580 Individual Authors (3 units)
ENG 581 Jane Austen (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 583 Shakespeare: Representative Plays (3 units)
ENG 584 Shakespeare: Selected Plays (3 units)
ENG 589 Milton (3 units)
ENG 600 Theory of Literature (3 units)
ENG 601 Literature and Psychology (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 602 Literature and Society (3 units) (UD-C, AERM)
ENG 611 Modern Criticism (3 units)
ENG 612 Serial Narrative (3 units)
ENG 614 Women in Literature: Authors and Characters (3 units)
ENG 615 Imagery, Metaphor, and Symbol (3 units) (UD-C)
ENG 630 Selected Studies (3 units)
ENG 633 Queer(ing) Narrative Literature (3 units) (AERM)
ENG 658 South African Literature (3 units)
GER 613 Weimar Literature (3 units)
GER 616 Postwar German Literature: The Past as Present (3 units)
HUM 390 Images of Eroticism (3 units) (UD-C, GP)
HUM 410 The Modern Revolution (3 units)
HUM 415 Thinking the Present: Comparative Arts and Culture (3 units)
HUM 425 Thought and Image: Humanities (3 units)
HUM 432/PHIL 432 Nietzsche and Postmodernism (3 units) (UD-C)
HUM 470 American Autobiography (3 units)
HUM 550 The Art of Autobiography (3 units)
JS 437/CWL 437/ENG 533 Holocaust and Literature (3 units) (UD-C, GP, SJ)
JS 451/CWL 451/ENG 451 Jewish Literature of the Americas (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP)
JS 480/CWL 480 European Jewish Writers (3 units) (UD-C, GP, SJ)
JS 485 Modern Israeli Literature (3 units)
JS 546/ENG 546/WGS 546 20th Century American Jewish Women Writers (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP)
LTNS 305 Latina/o Studies Creative Writing Workshop (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP)
LTNS 455 Resistance Literature of the Americas (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
LTNS 560 Contemporary Latina/o Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
LTNS 679 Central American Literature: Roots to the Present (3 units) (UD-C, GP, SJ)
MGS 452/CWL 452/ENG 452 Forster, Durrell, and Cavafy (3 units) (GP)
MGS 555 Introduction to Modern Greek Literary Texts (3 units)
RRS 360 Our Stories: Literatures of Race and Resistance (3 units) (UD-C, AERM)
RRS 450/ARAB 450 Contemporary Arabic and Arab American Literature (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP)
WGS 541 Women Writers and Social Change (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
WGS 548 Literature by U.S. Women of Color (3 units)
WGS 551/SXS 551 Queer Literatures and Media (3 units) (UD-C, AERM, GP, SJ)
WGS 564 Women Writers and the Politics of Decolonization (3 units)
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Creative Process Area and/or Workshop Area (12 units)
C W 506 The Business of Creative Writing (3 units)
C W 507 Writing on the Body (3 units)
C W 508 Introduction to Environmental Literature (3 units) (UD-C, ES)
C W 514 Contemporary World Poetry (3 units)
C W 520 Writers on Writing (3 units)
C W 550 Poetry Center Workshop (3 units)
C W 602 Playwriting (3 units)
C W 603 Short Story Writing (3 units)
C W 604 Poetry Writing (3 units)
C W 605/TH A 605 Writing and Performing Monologues (3 units)
C W 609 Directed Writing for B.A. Students (3 units)
C W 640 Transfer Literary Magazine (3 units)
C W 675 Community Projects in Literature (3 units)
C W 685 Projects in the Teaching of Creative Writing (3 units)
C W 699 Independent Study (1-3 units)
- ±
Given catalog rights, fall 2023 transfer students do not need to complete an Area F course.