Unit rationale, description and aim
This is an advanced unit in the Creative Writing minor sequence. Skills around non-fiction writing are key to numerous professional creative writing contexts such as travel writing, journalism, memoir, and literary essays. Students need to be able to understand and apply the conventions and techniques associated with these genres in order to operate in this environment.
Students will study the deployment of literary techniques of composition in a variety of genres of creative non-fiction in conjunction with the practical production of their own non-fiction pieces. The unit will proceed by analysing a range of examples of non-fiction writing, engaging with critical material and workshopping the production of students' own work. Students will be required to develop an ethics of non-fiction writing, including a commitment to accuracy, an ethical approach to the ownership of story and to fair representation, particularly with regard to minority groups and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The unit aims to develop practical skills in creative non-fiction writing.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Understand the perspective of a range of people in...
Learning Outcome 01
Maintain an ethical understanding of the functions...
Learning Outcome 02
Carry out relevant research integrated with self-g...
Learning Outcome 03
Create engaging and informative works of creative ...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics may be drawn from amongst the following:
- interpretive and theoretical approaches to non-fiction;
- the ethics of non-fiction;
- critical evaluations of creative non-fiction;
- the practice of memoir,
- reportage,
- feature writing,
- profiles,
- human interest pieces,
- reviews and/or online writing.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks for this unit have been designed to contribute to high quality student learning by both helping students learn (assessment for learning), and by measuring explicit evidence of their learning (assessment of learning). Assessments have been developed to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. These have been designed so that they use a variety of tasks to measure the different learning outcomes of the unit. In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall score of 50% or more. The schedule provides scaffolded learning with opportunities for students to monitor their own progress, practise their skills and receive feedback.
1.Critical Reflection:
The purpose of this assessment is to help students become familiar with various styles of non-fiction writing, as well as develop their ethical understandings. It will provide students with the opportunity to describe and reflect on new modes of writing. Students will be required to demonstrate their skills in research, their preparedness to generate ideas, and their ability to understand the perspective of others, including minority groups and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Tasks can include a reading journal, reflection, analysis, blog, online journal, or oral presentation.
2.Writing Proposal and Draft
The Writing Proposal is designed to begin the process leading to the production of the creative nonfiction writing for Assessment 3. In this task students will propose a topic for the final creative nonfiction writing task, identify potential ethical problems and outline some preliminary research (including details and descriptions of three relevant sources).
3.Final Draft and Reflection
The purpose of this assessment is for students to develop a more sophisticated approach to the writing of non-fiction pieces by building on the knowledge gained in the Critical Reflection and in the Proposal and Draft process. It is designed to help students learn from the feedback received in the second task so that they can create a more professional piece or short collection of pieces in their second attempt.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task1: Critical Reflection This task ...
Assessment Task1: Critical Reflection
This task familiarises students with elements of non-fiction writing through consideration of textual modes, content and ethical reflection.
20%
Assessment Task 2: Writing Proposal and draft Th...
Assessment Task 2: Writing Proposal and draft
This task requires students to formulate a proposal for a writing project, research the topic and plan the work.
35%
Assessment Task 3: Final Draft and reflection Wo...
Assessment Task 3: Final Draft and reflection
Working from feedback, the production of a developed non-fiction text integrates ethical and technical elements of the writing process.
45%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit engages students in active learning activities, such as reading, writing, discussion and problem-solving to promote analysis, synthesis and evaluation of class content in the context of workshop classes. The learning and teaching strategies in this unit will help students to develop core skills in the creation of non-fiction pieces across a range of literary styles. The lecturer will work closely with students to enable the creation of engaging and informative non-fictions works. A workshop approach will be adopted so that students have the opportunity to experiment with a variety of non-fiction forms and a diverse range of contexts.