Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Jane Messer
Contact via jane.messer@mq.edu.au
Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Ryde Campus
Meetings and phone discussions by appointment. Please email to arrange.
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Credit points |
Credit points
4
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
Admission to MCrWrit or MChildLit or GradDipCrWrit or GradDipChildLit
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
ENGL712
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit offers students the opportunity to develop their writing across one or more writing genres, and to extend their skills both in the crafting and the analysis of the craft of writing. Students reflect upon and interrogate their writing and writing process, explore new methods in relation to craft and technique or genre, and link this work to consideration of published creative works and contemporary narrative studies. Writing workshops and discussion of the readings are structured so that students can make productive links between concepts in narrative studies and their own writing. The unit is assessed through creative writing assignments, writing exercises and tasks, participation in weekly writing workshops, and the reading, analysis and discussion of critical and creative texts.
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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:
The importance of Participation for Assessment and passing the unit.
It is an assessment requirement of this unit that students participate weekly. Without participation, the Learning Outcomes of the unit cannot be achieved. Missed weeks must be explained with a medical certificate relating to urgent or unavoidable circumstances; or in the case of employment demands, a letter from the employer. Marks are deducted from the Participation mark for undocumented absences. Students whose participation is unsatisfactory for more than 2 weeks for ongoing medical reasons, may apply to the University for Withdrawal without Penalty from the unit. Students who do not satisfactorily participate online (External) on a weekly basis, or do not attend class each week (Internal) without valid documentation, will receive a Fail grade. If you have any concerns about your participation, contact the lecturer.
Assessment tasks
Assessment tasks are designed to encourage students to develop familiarity and skills as emerging and developing writers through the inter-related practice of creative writing, reading, and discussion. The varied assessment tasks focus on these three skills and aim to develop them in inter-related ways.
A detailed discussion and rubric is available in the Assessment module on the unit’s iLearn site: Briefly, the criteria for assessment of your creative writing takes in the following elements:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Participation | 15% | No | Weekly. Portfolio: 6 June 2018 |
Writing Exercises | 25% | No | Scheduled dates in iLearn |
Creative Writing Assignment | 45% | No | 4 June 2018 |
Reflective Essay | 15% | No | 6 June 2018 |
Due: Weekly. Portfolio: 6 June 2018
Weighting: 15%
Assessment is based on the quality and relevancy of participation.
Due: Scheduled dates in iLearn
Weighting: 25%
Five writing exercises. See the Unit Handbook and iLearn unit site for details of this task.
Due: 4 June 2018
Weighting: 45%
This major creative work (story/short form fiction, poems, creative nonfiction or novel chapter) develops on the two workshop drafts workshopped during the session. See the Unit Handbook and iLearn unit site for details of this task.
Due: 6 June 2018
Weighting: 15%
See the Unit Handbook and iLearn for details of this task.
REQUIRED TEXTS: these are the texts all students must read.
Recommended and suggesting readings are listed in the Full Study Schedule.
· The Required readings are available from the unit's Online Readings link from the MU Library (see the Weekly reading schedule in this unit Study Schedule). Texts to be purchased:
· Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction, WW Norton
· David Lodge, The Art of Fiction, Penguin Books
· Philip Pullman, Northern Lights, Scholastic.
· F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Penguin Books
Technologies Used
Online units can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au
The unit’s iLearn site will be available from Week 1. Please login and explore the website. PC and Internet access are required. Basic computer skills (e.g., internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement. Please consult teaching staff for any further, more specific requirements.
All students must regularly access their student email.
Learning and Teaching Methods
The focus of the Creative Writing program is on the practice of writing, accompanied by the development of research, reading and analysis skills and understandings. Students develop expertise through an integration of critical reflection, discussion, written analysis and reflection and individual creative practice.
Learning activities in this unit include the reading, viewing and analysis of written texts, and participation in lectures, tutorial and/or seminars. Small and large group discussion and activities, and workshopping of work-in-progress key elements of the online and campus classroom practice. Students develop their writing expertise by producing writing in a range of genres or through specialisation in specific genres that include prose, poetry and nonfiction for adult and child audiences and readerships.
Students are expected to initiate original stories, ideas or concepts, and are then guided in the refinement, development and completion of these works, and to identify and situate them in specific contexts, and for specific readerships.
The key to your success as a student? Be strategic. Be creative.
Studying externally or in a campus-based blended form (campus and online) in our creative writing program offers you a great deal of flexibility in managing your time. For External students there is no ‘live classroom’, so no single time in the week when all the students need to log-in or turn-up simultaneously. But, this flexibility also presents challenges in terms of your self-discipline and organisation.
Program of Lectures, Readings & Discussion topics
On Campus Day Saturday 24th March, Week 4. All students are encouraged to attend, especially external students. Not compulsory.
The writing workshop schedule is circulated in Week 1.
Week 1
Introduction to the unit, your peers, and the program in Creative Writing program, to key practices and concepts and the first writing exercise.
Week 2
Narrative - introduction
Discuss
You are not required to respond to all the questions for each week. You should, however, respond to at least one question about each of the texts for that week. Many of these readings are short, and you are expected to read them all.
The following weeks follow the format of the previous week example, of lecture, readings, discussion along with writing workshops.
Week 3 Story: Narrative and Event
Week 4 Text and Character
Week 5 Character, micro-plotting, speech
Week 6 Focalisation
Week 7 Focalisation
Week 8 Focalisation
Week 9 What is reading, and who is the reader?
Week 10 World building and setting
Week 11 Choreography, Space, Mapping
Week 12
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
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.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Our postgraduates will demonstrate a high standard of discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgment. They will have the ability to make informed choices and decisions that reflect both the nature of their professional work and their personal perspectives.
This graduate capability is supported by:
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This graduate capability is supported by:
Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique of practice and theory.
This graduate capability is supported by:
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