Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor - city
Dr Craig Johnson
Contact via craig.johnson@mqc.edu.au
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
12cp
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
CUL240
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
Travel writers are observers, commentators and translators. Their work contributes to the creation of identity – their own, as well as the cultural identities of both their homes and the places they visit. This unit introduces students to the practicalities of travel writing, while exploring the ways in which the genre has been influenced by colonialism, post-colonialism, environmentalism, gender and technology.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Class Participation | 20% | Throughout semester |
Research Portfolio | 25% | Week 7, Friday 29 August, 5pm |
Exhibition Article | 20% | Week 11, 26 September, 5pm |
Travel Story | 35% | Week 13, 10 October, 2014 |
Due: Throughout semester
Weighting: 20%
Students must attend lectures and tutorials. As part of your participation in the course, you will be asked to complete three writing exercises and submit three sections of draft material from your Final Travel Story. Note: You will not be marked on this work; rather, failure to submit any or all ofthe exercises or draft material will result in you losing the total of your participation mark.
The participation mark is also baed on your contribution to discussion in class, and your contribution to the editing of other students' work.
The following 3 Writing Exercises have been designed to:
Writing Exercise 1: (Due Tutorial Week 2)
Write 200 words about a character you have met in your travels. You don’t need to have travelled far. It could be someone you remember from family holidays in a caravan park, or a crazy aunt you used to visit in Melbourne, or a teacher who took you on a school excursion. Feel free to use observation and description, quotes or dialogue or any other literary technique to make your character as real as possible for your reader.
Due: Week 7, Friday 29 August, 5pm
Weighting: 25%
Students will submit a research portfolio and report based on original research they have conducted towards their final travel story. Research will take the form of fieldwork, interviews and/or archival research.
Due: Week 11, 26 September, 5pm
Weighting: 20%
In week 10 instead of attending our class students are required to attend ANY Sydney art or museum exhibition and write an article about it. Ideas for what to attend will be discussed in class. The article should be 600 words long. It should give the reader enough information to get a solid impression of the content of the show and themes or artists involved. It should be written with an interesting lead and the article should answer all the reader's questions regarding the who, what, when, where and why of the exhibition.
Due: Week 13, 10 October, 2014
Weighting: 35%
Task: Submit a 2,000-word original travel article based on research conducted for your research portfolio (as well as subsequent research).
Append to the story a 500-word reflection on the process of writing the story. Consider:
Delivery: Day
This unit will use:
ILecture
Times and Locations for Lectures and Tutorials
For current updates, lecture times and classrooms please consult the MQ Timetables website: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au.
Resources:
A Reader of compiled articles and resources will be available for purchase from the Co-op Bookshop.
Technology:
Lectures will be available on iLearn, where announcements, assignment tasks and other materials to be used in tutorials will be posted as needed.
Changes to the Unit since 2013.
The production content of the lectures has been increased. The following changes have been made to the course assessments.
Week 1 - 16 July - What is Travel Writing?
Week 2 - 23 July - Introduction to the Craft of Travel Writing
Week 3 - 30 July - Belonging
Week 4 - 6 August - Pilgrimage
Week 5 - 13 August - Leaving home
Week 6- 20 August - Postcolonialism and Travel Writing
Week 7 - 27 August - Anti-Travel
Week 8 - 3 September - Craft of Travel Writing - 2
Week 9 - 10 September - Place 1 - Cities on foot
Week 10 - 17 September - Exhibition Visits
Week 11 - 24 September - Place 2 - Nature
Week 12 - 1 October - Place 3 - Non-places
Week 13 - 8 October - Review Week
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
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We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Date | Description |
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16/07/2014 | Due date for Portfolio corrected to Friday 29 August |