Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor Kate Rossmanith kate.rossmanith@mq.edu.au Contact via kate.rossmanith@mq.edu.au Y3A 191F TBA
Credit points	Credit points 3
Prerequisites	Prerequisites 39cp including MAS210 or MAS225 or MAS211 or MAS226
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description The genre of life writing is pervasive. Telling the stories of our own lives and the lives of others is a signature of the media in our age. This unit takes students on a journey through various manifestations of life writing from traditional memoir and autobiographies, to newspaper and magazine columns, personal essays, and internet blogs. At the same time, students are encouraged to produce their own personal, self-reflective writing, of a standard suitable for publication.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Identify & critique key issues raised in the production of life writing.
Ability to conduct in-depth research, using a variety of methodologies, to develop memoir-writing
To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing
To treat information in an ethical manner

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due
Quizzes	30%	In lecture and tutorials
Research portfolio	25%	Tuesday 2nd October by 5pm
Memoir essay	35%	Monday 12 November 2012 by 5pm
Participation	10%	ongoing

Quizzes

Due: In lecture and tutorials
Weighting: 30%

During the unit, students will complete two pop quizzes. These will be based on discussion questions concerning the lecture material and readings of a particular week. (Discussion questions to be circulated in Week 1.) Each quiz is worth 15%.The scheduling of these quizzes will be at the teacher's discretion. As such, students are advised to prepare for each week's questions in the event of a tutorial quiz. Each quiz will take 15 minutes.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Identify & critique key issues raised in the production of life writing.

Research portfolio

Due: Tuesday 2nd October by 5pm
Weighting: 25%

Student to submit a research portfolio and report based on the research they've completed on a topic they intend to focus on for their memoir piece. The research may invoive fieldwork/observational research, interviews, and/or archive research. Students must submit a report outlining how they anticipate the research will be used in their memoir piece.

Further details of this assessment task will be circulated in class in Week 2.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Ability to conduct in-depth research, using a variety of methodologies, to develop memoir-writing
To treat information in an ethical manner

Memoir essay

Due: Monday 12 November 2012 by 5pm
Weighting: 35%

Students to submit an 2000-word memoir essay based on their research and draft-writing throughout the semester.

On successful completion you will be able to:

To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing
To treat information in an ethical manner

Participation

Due: ongoing
Weighting: 10%

Students will receive a participation mark for the unit. This will be based on the submission of:

2 x writing exercises to be brought to tutorials in Week 5 and Week 7 (details to be circulated in Week 1)
4 x 200-word sections of draft memoir to be brought to tutorials in Weeks 9-12
Contribution to class discussion, including editing of other students' work

Note: students will not be marked on the above work they bring to class; rather, failure to submit this work will result in significant loss of participation marks

On successful completion you will be able to:

Identify & critique key issues raised in the production of life writing.
To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing

Delivery and Resources

Technology

No technology is required of students in this unit other than access to iLearn.

Lecture and Tutorial Times

For lecture times and classrooms please consult the MQ Timetable website: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au. This website will display up-to-date information on your classes and classroom locations.

Lecture: Thursday 12pm-1pm, Y3A T1

Tutorials: Please consult MQ Timetable website.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

This unit requires students to engage with Memoir Writing both in its production (by researching, writing and editing your own articles/stories) and in its reception (through thoughtful reading and critical analysis of a range of texts in this genre).

In this way, students will become familiar with:

· a range of memoir writing

· literary issues in the field;

· the demands of the craft of life writing.

Each week students will attend a lecture and a workshop where they will analyse set readings, discuss issues raised by those readings and from time to time undertake writing and other exercises.

Information

Online units can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/.

Changes Since the Last Offering of this Unit

More than previous offerings of this unit, this offering of MAS311 will focus on research methods. Students will be encouraged to undertake observational fieldwork, interviews and/or archival research in order to prepare for their final memoir essay.

Other Material

REQUIRED READING

Required readings for this unit are available in the unit reader (including links to online articles).

Unit Schedule

Week 1

Introduction: Memoir and the issue of ‘persona’

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

No readings

Week 2

(Finding) Personal Essays

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

Required readings:

· Firth, Charles ‘Lies, Damned Lies’, The Monthly, May 2008. (http://www.themonthly.com.au/nation-reviewed-charles-firth-lies-damned-lies--919)

· Pung, Alice ‘Caveat Emptor’, The Monthly, October 2007. (http://www.themonthly.com.au/nation-reviewed-alice-pung-caveat-emptor--673

· Slouka, Mark (2004) ‘Quitting the Paint Factory’, Harper’s Magazine (see http://adamantine.wordpress.com/texts/quitting-the-paint-factory-by-mark-slouka/)

The following required readings are taken from In Short: A Collection of Brief Nonfiction, New York & London: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1996:

· Haines, John, ‘Snow’, pp. 107-109

· Dunn, Stephen, ‘Locker Room Talk’, pp.149-151

· Colman, John ‘Cat-Like’, pp. 157-161

· Caldarezzo, John ‘Running Xian’, pp. 168-171

Week 3

Notions of Self: Identity and Public Space

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

Required Readings:

· Pung, Alice ‘Throwing the Book’, The Monthly, August 2007. (http://www.themonthly.com.au/nation-reviewed-alice-pung-throwing-book--595)

· Sherborne, Craig (2005), Hoi Polloi, Melbourne: Black Inc., pp61-77.

Week 4

Fieldwork & Observational Writing

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

Required Reading:

· Garner, Helen ‘At the Morgue’, in True Stories, Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1996

· Garner, Helen ‘Labour Ward, Penrith’, in True Stories, Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1996

· Law, Benjamin, ‘Bush Love’, The Monthly, May 2010. (http://www.themonthly.com.au/nation-reviewed-benjamin-law-bush-love--2433)

Week 5

The Art of the Interview

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

Required Reading:

· Funder, Anna Stasiland, Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2002, pp. 1-30.

Week 6

Memoir, Ethics and Defamation

Lecturer: Willa McDonald

Required Reading:

Eisenhuth, Susie and Willa McDonald, eds. (2007) The Writer’s Reader, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 162-166.
See also http://www.legal.unsw.edu.au/factsheets/defamation.html

Week 7

Into the Archives

Lecturer: Peter Doyle

Required readings: TBA

****MID-SEMESTER BREAK****

Week 8

Reading week – no classes. (Note: Monday 1st October is a public holiday)

Week 9

Family, Relationships & Memory

Lecturer: Beth Yahp

Required Reading

Eggers, Dave (2001) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, New York: Random House, pp. ix - xi, ‘Acknowledgements’ section (unnumbered)
Yahp, Beth (1993) ‘Houses, Sisters, Cities’, in Sisters, edited by Drusilla Modjeska, Sydney, Auckland, New York: Angus & Robertson, pp. 39-75.

Week 10

On Our Bodies

Lecturer: Kate Rossmanith

Required Reading:

Hitchens, Christopher (2010), ‘Topic of Cancer’, Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/09/hitchens-201009)
Kooser, Ted ‘Hands’, in In Short: A Collection of Brief Nonfiction, New York & London: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1996, pp. 128-130
Mears, Gillian (2007) ‘Alive in Ant and Bee’, Best Australian Essays 2007 edited by Drusilla Modjeska Melbourne: Black Inc., pp. 1-15.

Week 11

Polemics and Testimonials

Lecturer: Nicole Matthews

Required Reading:

Steinem, Gloria, (1984), “If Men Could Menstruate”, Outrageous Acts & Everyday Rebellions, Fontana, London, 1984.

Week 12

DIY Life Writing: Alternative Autobiographies

Lecturer: Vanessa Berry

Required Reading:

Berry, Vanessa (2010) Disposable Camera, Sydney: self published, excerpt
McGuire, Michaela (2009) Apply Within: Stories of Career Sabotage, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, pp. 1-4, pp. 99- 116
Spencer, Amy (2008), DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, London: Marion Boyars, pp. 17 - 24, pp. 29 - 31

Week 13

Student-Teacher consultation. No classes. Students are encournaged to arrange a consultation with their tutor to discuss their Final Memoir essays.

Policies and Procedures

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://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Special Consideration Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/special_consideration/policy.html

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of Academic Student Support Services. Details of these services can be accessed at: http://students.mq.edu.au/support/.

UniWISE provides:

Online learning resources and academic skills workshops http://www.mq.edu.au/learning_skills/
Personal assistance with your learning & study related questions.
The Learning Help Desk is located in the Library foyer (level 2).
Online and on-campus orientation events run by Mentors@Macquarie.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Support Unit who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

Details of these services can be accessed at http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/.

IT Help

If you wish to receive IT help, we would be glad to assist you at http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

When using the university's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students and it outlines what can be done.

Graduate Capabilities

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

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:

Learning outcomes

Identify & critique key issues raised in the production of life writing.
To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing

Assessment tasks

Quizzes
Memoir essay
Participation

Problem Solving and Research Capability

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:

Learning outcomes

Ability to conduct in-depth research, using a variety of methodologies, to develop memoir-writing
To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing
To treat information in an ethical manner

Assessment tasks

Research portfolio
Memoir essay

Creative and Innovative

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:

Learning outcome

To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing

Assessment task

Memoir essay

Effective Communication

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:

Learning outcomes

Identify & critique key issues raised in the production of life writing.
To structure and write stories yourself that fall into the broad category of memoir-writing

Assessment tasks

Quizzes
Memoir essay
Participation

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

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:

Learning outcomes

Ability to conduct in-depth research, using a variety of methodologies, to develop memoir-writing
To treat information in an ethical manner

Assessment tasks

Research portfolio
Memoir essay