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Education Master's and PhD degree programmes Literary Studies Writing, Editing and Mediating
Header image Writing, Editing and Mediating

Writing, Editing and Mediating

What makes a text a good or captivating text? How do you recognize repetitions, inconsistencies, faulty logic and other problems in texts? What does it take to guide a text from writer to reader?

Working with texts in a professional setting involves a special set of skills. The Writing, Editing and Mediating Master's track (often abbreviated to WEM), offers students a choice of courses that focus on non-fiction writing for specific audiences, the history of texts in their various forms (from manuscript to digital book), proof-reading and correcting English texts, and producing texts for publication. Topics addressed include censorship, copyright, scholarly editions, and social issues in contemporary literature.

Students on the course typically have a BA in English or in an Anglophone culture (e.g. American Studies). Some students with other humanities qualifications and a sufficient level of academic English are accepted by the admissions board. In all cases, a good background in literary studies is required (60 ECTS)

The one-year Master's track in Writing, Editing and Mediating (WEM) is a track within the Master's degree in Literary Studies and is run by the Department of English Language and Culture. It is taught and assessed wholly in English.

Facts & Figures
Degree
MA in Literary Studies
Course type
Master
Duration
12 months (60 ECTS)
Croho code
60813
Language of instruction
English
Start
September
Faculty
Arts
Why study this programme in Groningen?
  • Training in writing about literature for non-academic audiences
  • Correcting and editing written English of various kinds
  • Modules that address issues related to modern publishing
  • Teaching in small groups (typically 15-20 students)
  • International staff
Programme

An up-to-date version of the programme can be found in the online course catalogue.

For Writing, Editing, and Mediating, you must complete a minimum of 30 ECTS of WEM modules, 10 ECTS of English Literature tutorials or interdisciplinary seminars or a work placement, and a 20-ECTS thesis.

Semesters
CoursesCourse Catalog >1a1b2a2b
WEM 5: Towards the Digital Text, Part A: Book History (5 EC, optional)
WEM 6: Creative Writing, Part A: A Practical Introduction to Poetic Form (5 EC, optional)
WEM 1: Modern Literature and Mediation (10 EC, optional)
WEM 2: Modern English Language (10 EC, optional)
WEM 3: From Manuscript to Printed Book (10 EC, optional)
English Literature Tutorials (one or two modules)* (5 EC, optional)
  • A full list of tutorials on offer is published each year in Ocasys. Recent offerings include Travel Writing, Poetry After Chaucer, Transformative and/or Fan Fiction, Children's Gothic, The World of Women in Early Medieval Literature, and Virginia Woolf: Beyond the Lighthouse.
Master's Thesis (WEM) (10 EC, optional)
Masterlanguage (English) (one or two modules) (5 EC, optional)
WEM 5: Towards the Digital Text, Part B: Digital Remediation and Publishing (5 EC, optional)
WEM 6: Creative Writing, Part B: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction (5 EC, optional)
Interdisciplinary Seminar (Literature) (10 EC, optional)
MA Placement in Writing, Editing and Mediating (10 EC, optional)
WEM 4: Translating and Editing (20 EC)

Curriculum

For information about the variety of areas in which students can write their dissertations, click the Research tab below. As part of their WEM programme, students can opt to complete a 10-credit work placement (a.k.a. internship). At the Faculty of Arts, students are responsible for finding a placement for themselves and having it approved by the placement coordinator for their programme: Tekla Mecsnóber, who can be reached at t.d.mecsnober rug.nl.

The following can help you find a placement:

  • WEM placements are typically at publishing houses, translation agencies and libraries.
  • Recent placements have taken students to Noordhoff Uitgevers, Malmberg BV, Boom Uitgevers, Staal & Roeland, Uitgeverij Deviant, Uitgeverij Nobelman, Koninklijke Brill NV, Xander Uitgevers, Global Textware, Uitgeverij Boekscout, Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff, Uitgeverij De Fonteijn, Uitgeverij Cossee Amsterdam, Universiteit Utrecht Universiteitsbibliotheek, Koninklijke Bibliotheek Den Haag, and the Poetry International Festival, Rotterdam.
  • Within the University of Groningen, the Special Collections department of the UG Library and the University Translation and Correction Service (Universitaire Vertaal- en Correctiedienst, UVC) have shown interest in working with English Literature and WEM master's students.
  • In addition the webpage of the Faculty of Arts Career Services provides links to a range of current placement opportunities.
Programme options
Master's placement (specialization)

This master's track includes an optional work placement for which you are awarded ECTS credit points.

It is your responsibility to find a placement yourself, but the Mobility Office can offer help with this where necessary.

Study abroad

  • Study abroad is unaccommodated
Entry requirements

Transfer options

Transferring from...

Study programmeOrganizationTransition
Engelse Taal en CultuurAll Research universitiesNo additional requirements
Study programmeOrganizationTransition
English Language and CultureUniversity of GroningenNo additional requirements

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
previous education

Students with a Bachelor's degree in English Language and/or Literature or in another literature or culture area taught in English (e.g. American Studies) showing at least 60 ECTS or equivalent in literary studies (literary analysis, literary theory, genres, periods) are admissible to this Master's track.

language test

Additional English language requirement: a TOEFL iBT with a score of 110 (min. of 25 on all items); an IELTS, Academic Module, with a score of 8 (min. of 7.5 on all items); ERK level C1. Cambridge C1 Advanced (level A) or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 200. If your BA does not certify this, you may have to take an appropriate language test.

other admission requirements

To assess whether your educational/academic background meets the specific programme requirements, we will consider the level and curriculum of your previous studies. This evaluation is carried out by our Admissions Office and the Admissions Board.

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students15 August 202401 September 2024
15 August 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202401 September 2024
01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202401 September 2024
01 May 202501 September 2025

Admission requirements

Specific requirementsMore information
previous education

Students with a Bachelor's degree in English Language and/or Literature or in another literature or culture area taught in English (e.g. American Studies) showing at least 60 ECTS or equivalent in literary studies (literary analysis, literary theory, genres, periods) are admissible to this Master's track.

language test

Additional English language requirement: a TOEFL iBT with a score of 110 (min. of 25 on all items); an IELTS, Academic Module, with a score of 8 (min. of 7.5 on all items); ERK level C1. Cambridge C1 Advanced (level A) or C2 Proficiency with a minimum score of 200. If your BA does not certify this, you may have to take an appropriate language test.

other admission requirements

To assess whether your educational/academic background meets the specific programme requirements, we will consider the level and curriculum of your previous studies. This evaluation is carried out by our Admissions Office and the Admissions Board.

Students with an international diploma should fill in the checklist. This checklist needs to be uploaded via the Progress Portal when applying for this programme.

Application deadlines

Type of studentDeadlineStart course
Dutch students15 August 202401 September 2024
15 August 202501 September 2025
EU/EEA students01 May 202401 September 2024
01 May 202501 September 2025
non-EU/EEA students01 May 202401 September 2024
01 May 202501 September 2025
Tuition fees
NationalityYearFeeProgramme form
EU/EEA2023-2024€ 2314full-time
non-EU/EEA2023-2024€ 16000full-time
EU/EEA2024-2025€ 2530full-time
non-EU/EEA2024-2025€ 18700full-time

Practical information for:

After your studies

Job prospects

Upon graduation students hold a (60 ECTS) MA degree in Literary Studies with a track in Writing, Editing and Mediating from the UG. A student's career after that depends on the kind of person they are. Writing and editing skills can be applied in many settings. Language is central to studying human behaviour and activities. Proper communication through writing in a correct and organised way provides a challenge to many people, and you could assist them or guide them in this process.

Many of the skills a Literary Studies MA teaches are transferable. You will probably find that your analytical competence, ability to write, and capacity to solve problems will significantly improve after completing an MA degree. Although the programme is taught and assessed in English, many of its skills are generic but significant—such as punctuality, attention to detail, self-motivation, written communication etc.—and students have gone on to work in non-Anglophone settings.

We encourage our students to complete a 10 ECTS internship in a field of their interest. In the first term of the MA, a career event is organised to give students information and resources to realise their internship (though be aware that an internship may prolong your registration at university since it may not always be possible to organise it in the best period for you).

With your MA-degree you could work in publishing houses, for magazines as well as books publishers. You could also become a policy consultant (Dutch: Beleidsmedewerker), or an advisor to (inter)national governmental organizations and NGOs. You could also become an expert on dealing with writing in education, companies, or government agencies. You may also choose to pursue a career as lecturer or researcher in higher education.

Through a combination of a research-driven approach and knowledge of applying theory to real life situations, our programme prepares students for the following jobs:

Job examples

  • Publisher
  • Editor
  • Technical Writing expert
  • Copyrighter
  • Journalist
  • Translator
  • Project manager
  • Policy maker/ advisor
  • Civil servant
  • Consultant
  • Communication specialist
  • Lecturer at a University (of applied sciences)
  • Researcher
Research

Student Dissertations & Staff Expertise

English Department Research
English Department Research

Research in the department covers all areas of English literature and linguistics. Our particular strengths include premodern culture, modernism, contemporary literature, and language development, and we publish widely on such topics as critical theory, visual culture, travel literature, women's writing, multi-ethnic US and postcolonial literatures, medieval learning, and language acquisition and loss. Our staff members run or participate in a number of international research projects, including the Language Attrition project.

Dissertations in the Writing, Editing and Mediating track should reflect the nature of the WEM courses. Possible topics include:

  • the function of literary works in their social contexts;
  • an edition of a text;
  • theoretical reflection on an aspect of the history of the methods used in writing, editing, translating and mediating texts;
  • an examination of the ways in which literary texts are mediated to a particular social group or groups (e.g. reading groups, book-reviews, school syllabi, censorship);
  • any aspect of Book History;
  • institutions and practices associated with literary texts (e.g. libraries, copyright, literary prizes);
  • ways of disseminating texts involving historical or modern technologies (e.g. internet platforms, e-books).

Dissertations may be supervised by any appropriate member of staff. The following list indicates some of the areas in which dissertations can be written.

Dr David Ashford: Modernism, Post-Modernism, the Enlightenment, Theory and Philosophy, Post-Humanism, Imperialism, Cultural Geography, Poetry, Poetics and Publishing.

Dr Kees Dekker: textual editing; manuscript studies; Old English literature and language; Middle English literature and language.

Dr John Flood: Renaissance/Early-Modern literature; Romantic and Victorian literature; Christianity and literature; modern Irish literature; science-fiction; J.R.R. Tolkien; literature and war (especially World War I); twentieth-century British, Irish and American poetry; history of the book; textual editing; philosophy and literature.

Dr Ann Hoag: women’s writing; travel literature; contemporary American fiction; modernism.

Dr Hans Jansen: translation; textual correction and editing; Shakespeare, English drama.

Dr Ashley Maher: the novel, periodical culture, modern literature and the visual arts, text and image.

Dr Suzanne Manizza Roszak: Modern and contemporary US literature, multi-ethnic US and transnational American literature, world literatures in English, Italian American literature and culture, children's and young adult literature, the twentieth- and twenty first-century Gothic, diaspora studies, gender studies, critical race theory, trauma studies.

Dr Tekla Mecsnober: typography; modernist writing (especially James Joyce, modernist magazines and experiments with language); eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British fiction; Gerard Manley Hopkins; Victorian poetry.

Dr Karin Olsen: Anglo-Saxon literature and culture; comparative studies in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and early Irish literature and culture; Middle English literature.

Dr Kees de Vries: literary theory; nineteenth-century literature; Oscar Wilde; humour and literature; music and literature.

Here are some sample topics of WEM dissertations recently supervised in the English Department.

  • Covering Arthurian Novels: Cover Design as an Integral Part of Book Marketing.
  • Tolerance as Cultural Difference: Ian Buruma’s Murder in Amsterdam.
  • Chicanas Write Back: Gender and Homosexuality in Gloria Anzaldúa, Estela Portillo Trambley, and Ana Castillo
  • Constructing and Deconstructing Paradise: Robinsonades and British Imperialism.
  • Victorian and Contemporary Criminality in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Narratives and BBC’s Sherlock.
  • The Fall of the Romish Church: An Edition of a Reformist Pamphlet.
  • An edition of The Diary of John Lewis: Thoughts of an 18th-Century Minister.
  • A Semi-Diplomatic Edition of Jane Anger Her Protection for Women.
  • From Chest to Window: The Literary Digital Archive and its Mediations.
  • Entertaining Educational Ideals: Children’s Adaptations of Robinson Crusoe and Don Quixote in Eighteenth-Century England.
  • The Agenda of Early AIDS Theatre: As Is and The Normal Heart as Works of Authoritarian Fiction.
  • Recently Built and Remodelled Public Libraries: The Design of Today’s Public Library Buildings.

For general information about the research in the department see the Research Page and the People page of the Department of English Language and Culture.

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“It's the combination of academic and practical perspectives that helps you prepare for a job.” – Laura Baeten

People used to ask me whether I wanted to become a teacher or a translator when I told them I studied English. “Neither,” was my response. I studied English because I wanted to become an editor, which is why the Master's track in Writing, Editing and Mediating was the logical next step.

Right after graduation, two freelance opportunities came my way, so I decided to register my own freelance editing business, EditUp. Clients included Noordhoff Uitgevers, Audi and SEAT.

Considering the unpredictable nature of being a freelance editor, I also had a part-time job as a content editor at a start-up. After a year, I decided to hand in my notice to embark on a new, full-time adventure. Little did I know that this would become a rollercoaster of experiences!

From being a desk editor at SVH (an educational publisher for the hospitality industry) to being a content coordinator at an instructional design agency to being an editor of English translations at a translation agency, I am happy to be back at being a desk editor at SVH. As a desk editor, my responsibilities extend far beyond the text, and it’s this combination of project management, collaborating with people from various disciplines and editing that makes me look forward to each new workday.

And each workday I notice that the skills and knowledge I’ve acquired during my MA are incredibly useful. Even though I was taught in English, I can transfer these skills to the Dutch language. I learned how to think about language, how to think as an editor, and how to substantiate all my editing decisions. This practical approach is what I think makes this programme so valuable, even more so when you take the opportunity to do an internship. It’s this combination of academic and practical perspectives that helps you prepare for a job, which in my view is the strength of the Master's track in Writing, Editing and Mediating.

Read more

In fact, this master track made me realise what potential I have and the University of Groningen itself is an amazing university with which I can really identify myself. I am proud and very glad to be studying here.

My name is Katrin Kugler, I’m 22 years old and come from Munich, Germany. This is where I did my bachelor in English studies. I now chose to study the MA in Writing, Editing and Mediating at the University of Groningen, because I wanted to specialise more in the field of creative writing and the process of producing literature. The WEM master track here is the perfect opportunity to do so because it offers a good range of fascinating seminars. Although the workload is sometimes more than I had expected, I enjoy the courses a lot and all of them are taught by excellent lecturers.

Inspiring, Challenging, Creative

Of course, this master track requires me to do a lot of self-study but at the same time, it allows me to develop and extend my knowledge and also to interact with other students during group assignments too. In general, Groningen is a vibrant student-city. Studying the WEM master at the University of Groningen was the best decision I could have made and I can only recommend it. If I had to summarize the WEM master in three words, I would say it is inspiring, challenging and creative. In fact, this master track made me realise what potential I have and the University of Groningen itself is an amazing university with which I can really identify myself. I am proud and very glad to be studying here.

Read more

University of Groningen Orange Tulip Scholarship/Talent Grant of Faculty of Arts

Are you a non-EU/EEA student from Russia, India or Indonesia, starting a Master's programme at the Faculty of Arts? If so, you could qualify for the University of Groningen OTS/Talent Grant, Faculty of Arts, a partial scholarship which helps you to finance your studies.

Read more about the OTS/Talent Grant Faculty of Arts


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Study associations

NUTS

NUTS has been the study association of the English department in Groningen for over 40 years, and we are still going strong. We make studying English a lot of fun by organising all sorts of activities throughout the year. Our diverse events include: drinks, high-teas, pub crawls, pub quizzes, book clubs, game nights and career events. As a NUTS-member, you benefit from a discount on your study books at Studystore (via our website) and free entrance to most of our events. Besides this,
NUTS annually organizes a trip abroad to for example the UK or Ireland.Check out our website www.svnuts.com or follow us on instagram (@svnuts)!
https://svnuts.com/
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Student profile

You are a graduate with a degree in literary studies and a proven ability to operate in English who wants to develop knowledge and skills related to the circulation and editing of English-language texts.

Study support

If you have any questions or doubts about your studies, you can always contact the study advisor. She knows all the ins and outs of the programme. Study advisors are impartial and everything that is discussed is treated confidentially. They can also help you find the right place to direct queries about registration, grades and other administrative questions.