| Unit name | The Art of Writing |
|---|---|
| Unit code | AFAC10016 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Derbyshire |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
none |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
none |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
none |
| School/department | Arts Faculty Office |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Throughout your Liberal Arts degree you will encounter a variety of texts and be asked to write about them clearly, persuasively, and imaginatively. This unit gives you the opportunity to develop your skills and confidence in writing, reading, and thinking, in order to help you successfully engage with words and ideas from across the arts and humanities.
The art of deciphering and critiquing texts will be learnt via exploration of a particular theme or set of interrelated themes – such as identity, gender, disability, nationalism, atheism, gender, beauty, and politics – that can be usefully approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. You will analyse texts produced by a diverse range of writers, from Ancient orators to twentieth-century essayists and twenty-first century social media stars.
Over the course of the unit, you will learn the skills needed to write well, to help evaluate others’ writing and your own, and to understand the links between writing and the social context of communication.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This is a core first year Liberal Arts unit; it is taken by all BA and MLibArts Liberal Arts students at the beginning of their degree.
An Overview of Content
In this unit, students engage with a range of texts, from a variety of time periods and cultures; from personal and academic essays to online texts, speeches, photo essays, and guides to writing.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
This unit aims:
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to meet the following ILOs:
These skills will be useful throughout students’ degrees, and beyond, as the ability to read perceptively and write cogently and engagingly is necessary for a wide range of career paths.
Teaching will comprise one lecture of one hour and one seminar of two hours. The lecture will introduce key themes and/or texts. The seminar will then provide you with the time and space to explore ideas emanating from the lecture, discuss texts, and/or engage in some practical writing and reviewing exercises. This mix of reflective, discursive, and practical activities will help you develop the skills needed for your formative portfolio assessment and your summative essay assessment.
We expect you to read/watch/listen to the key texts each week. Further reading is not compulsory, and will not necessarily be discussed in seminars, but will certainly be useful to explore.
We will ask you to contribute to your journal each week. This journal is a space for you to record your responses to the key questions for reflection which we will pose each week. It is personal to you and other students cannot read it. We might also ask you to contribute to other online activities, e.g. Padlets.
Formative assessments where completion is required to award credit:
Portfolio, 1,500 words (0%). [ILOs 1 & 3]
About halfway through the unit, students will be asked to submit a 1,500-word portfolio containing:
The portfolio is designed to (formatively) assess Learning Outcomes 1 and 3: demonstrate skills in textual analysis, and understand the process and value of planning, drafting, and revising writing in response to peer-review, tutor feedback, and self-scrutiny.
Tutors will provide formative feedback which will feed directly into the students’ preparations for their summative essay as it will offer useful points for improvement ahead of their essay writing. This feedback will complement the informal feedback that students will receive from their peers during a structured peer-review exercise (near the beginning of the unit) and from their tutors and peers during seminar-based writing workshops.
Summative assessments:
Contribution mark (10%) [ILO 4]
Essay, 1,500 words (90%). [ILOs 1 & 2]
At the end of the unit, students will submit a summative 1,500-word essay.
This essay is designed to (summatively) assess Learning Outcomes 1 and 2: demonstrate skills in textual analysis, and present a coherent, appropriately evidenced argument.
When assessment does not go to plan:
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. AFAC10016).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
