Creative Writing institutionalizes apprenticeship, the manner by which young writers learn their craft from more experienced writers; and the workshop, by which they learn from their peers. By putting these methods alongside the academic study of literary and critical texts, the creative process, and the pertinent contexts that influence literary production, the program aims to produce writers who are competent in the craft of their chosen genre specialty (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama) while remaining aware of literature's place and influence in one's life and one's society.