Copy Writing Put Into Practice

"Choosing to study an Undergraduate Degree in English Language and Linguistics at Lancaster was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’d always had a passion for the written word, but it was studying for my degree at one of the highest ranking universities in the world for linguistics, which really cemented my love of the English language and all of its intricacies.

During my three years, I learned about more than just grammar, syntax and semantics etc, but about how language works in the real world, and the conscious and unconscious ways in which we communicate with each other, as well as our target audiences.

I am currently a Content Writer for stag and hen planning company, Last Night of Freedom, where I find myself regularly putting what I learned at university into practice. On a daily basis I create exciting and engaging content for our website and external companies and blogs - including ideas and inspirational pieces, in-depth location guides, shop products, activities, nightlife guides and bar crawls. The analytical expertise I gained from topics such as The Language of Advertising, Stylistics and Discourse Analysis, have helped me look creatively and analytically into the copy I produce, as well as PR and marketing projects/strategies I employ.

Studying Corpus Linguistics was also particularly helpful in gaining transferrable skills, as on a daily basis I write copy with Google (an ever growing corpus) in mind – constantly taking collocates and keywords into account, within the copy I produce. Furthermore, I regularly call upon knowledge highlighted within my dissertation, which analysed the differences in the language used between males and females, in olfactory description. It taught me that different genders are typically more receptive to different trigger words – which I bear in mind when writing separately for stags and hens."