Our main concern here at the BCS MA Programme is with how cultural objects, practices and identities are formed and invested or re-invested with meanings, as well as with the way words express or shape those meanings. This is why training in BCS may constitute an apt preparative for jobs based on content writing – whether in the printed or online press, in copywriting or blog writing. One key quality sought in content writers is their ability to be alert not only to linguistic but also to cultural shades of meaning, in other words, their ability to seize the connotations, implications and possible consequences of the words they use relative to the cultural events or issues of the day. Well, that’s precisely our trade.
Another key quality content creators are expected to have is critical thinking, the possession of analytical skills, as well as versatility and creativity. The BCS programme is interested in developing precisely those skills and aptitudes. The analysis of cultural phenomena that it promotes is intent on asking the kinds of questions that can unravel the hidden presuppositions and unpack the inner mechanisms of those phenomena. The interdisciplinarity that is its natural methodological approach is apt to develop the capacity to adapt new methods to new objects, to know how to navigate between specialisms, to think outside the box and use one type of discourse to brush up another.
Naturally, a good content writer needs to know how to write. This is not only to have a way with words, but also to know how to achieve clarity, structure and focus, as well as to understand how to adapt one’s textual strategies to the audience one is addressing. At the BCS we both study the making of written discourse and seek to train our students in its practice. Furthermore, we offer our students advanced training in media and communication, which provides them with a wide set of literacies required to master the expressivity and rhetoric of a variety of new media (social media, the internet, video games, and so on).
We are also committed to inducing into our students the kind of work ethic needed in any profession, but which is particularly suited to content writers. What does it take for a mind that needs to be creative, knowledgeable and persuasive to remain alert and productive? We believe that a combination of discipline, patience and curiosity can do the trick, seasoned with the all-important willingness to correct your mistakes and revise your opinions when evidence impels you to – in other words, with honesty and integrity. These are the very values we seek to promote here through the kind of work and interaction we engage in.
Many of our alumni have become successful content writers. Read their testimonials to find out more.
British Cultural Studies 