Common Course Outline

Course discipline/number/title ENGL 1150: Introduction to Creative Writing

Catalog Description

Credits 3
Hours/Week 3
Prerequisites (Course discipline/number) None
Other requirements None
MnTC Goals (if any) Goal 6/The Humanities, the Arts, Literature, and Philosophy

Course Description

This course allows students to explore a range of genres as they practice writing, revising and presenting creative writing. Students will explore introductory writing techniques applicable to creative writing, and will apply these skills to projects in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or drama.

Date Last Revised (Month, year)

February, 2026

Outline of Major Content Areas

  1. Specific techniques for generating ideas for writing
  2. Ideas for use in different genres
  3. The writing process for drafting, developing and revising original work
  4. The workshop model: giving and receiving feedback and critique
  5. Revision and editing after receiving critical evaluation
  6. Creation of appropriate plot structures, characters, dialogue
  7. Descriptive writing, using imagery, figures of speech, and sound
  8. Style and voice
  9. Narrator/persona as separate from the author
  10. Experimentation with different types of writing within each genre

Learning Outcomes (General)

The student will be able to:

  1. Express creative freedom in their topics, form, and content.
  2. Demonstrate understanding of the writing process by inventing, organizing, drafting, revising, and presenting original creative works.
  3. Participate effectively in groups with emphasis on reading other writers’ works critically and reflectively, then responding.
  4. Locate, evaluate, synthesize, and apply ideas regarding the writing of fiction, poetry, drama, and/or creative non-fiction from diverse sources and points of view.
  5. Apply various elements of creative writing, appropriate to the genre.
  6. Employ language appropriate for the genre, character, voice, and/or style of writing.
  7. Improve their own ability to think critically about creative writing and to create and/or discover solutions to problems identified in their own work.

Learning Outcomes (MnTC)

Goal 6/The Humanities, the Arts, Literature, and Philosophy

The student will be able to:

  1. Understand those works as expressions of individual and human values within a historical and social context.
  2. Respond critically to works in the arts and humanities.
  3. Articulate an informed personal reaction to works in the arts and humanities.

Methods for Evaluation of Student Learning

Methods may include but are not limited to:

RCTC Core Outcome(s)

This course contributes to meeting the following RCTC Core Outcome(s):

Critical Thinking
Students will think systematically and explore information thoroughly before accepting or formulating a position or conclusion.

Special Information (if any)

Additional costs may be associated with duplicating