| Unit name | Creative Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGLM0077 |
| Credit points | 60 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Mimi Thebo |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
Planning a Creative Dissertation, Exploring a Creative Dissertation |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
N/A |
| Units you may not take alongside this one | |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This is an independent study unit, with intensive one-to-one tutor supervision, to allow and support students to write and revise a significant element of a full-length manuscript as an extended project. Students will work with their tutor to: deliver regular instalments of work; consider critique received and potential revisions in light of it; and discuss progress and editorial strategies, as the writing develops. The aim is to help the student develop experience of writing a sustained and extensive project. The format of the unit is designed to prepare students for comparable agent and editorial relationships in professional practice.
By the successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Work independently on a sustained piece of writing, including by setting goals, managing workload and meeting deadlines.
2. Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, demonstrating an awareness of voice, idiom, idiolect, simile, metaphor, analogy, rhythm and media-specific restraints.
3. Recognise and articulate critically the technical requirements of form, tone, register, structure and genre in relation to creative writing.
4. Use a variety of editorial approaches and processes.
5. Edit their own work, and that of peers, at the various levels of clause, line, sentence, stanza, paragraph but also at the structural level of overall scene, chapter, collection and book.
6. Use and develop information retrieval and analytical skills, including the ability to interpret, evaluate, synthesise and organise material.
7. Recognise and articulate their aesthetic sensibility in relationship to appropriate models and develop an understanding of their own processes of intellectual inquiry.
8. Anticipate and accommodate requirements that may change when creating an original work. Be able to work productively and negotiate creative contexts that are ambiguous, uncertain and unfamiliar.
9. Engage with written and oral feedback.
10. Evaluate the role of readers and audiences in realising texts and the ways that performance can impact an audience’s imaginative experience.
This is an intensive experience of supported independent study with 6 hours of tutorial, typically split into 8 - 11 sessions over the extended teaching block. The learning environment is collaborative and intimate, with detailed tutor scrutiny of student work and continual student-led evolution of aims, desires and intentions for the dissertation. The student’s agenda (aims, desires and intentions) is informed by the literature review from the previous unit and the tutor’s role is to use their own understanding of the student’s area of work to support the student’s own agenda for the writing. Please note that in this unit, the student will not be attending a workshop for additional feedback.
A portfolio of writing to include:
1 x 13,000 words summative assessment (or equivalent, in the case of poetry/script) of original creative writing [ILOs 1-8] (90%)
1 x 2,000 word summative critical commentary that discusses the student’s craft choices and editorial processes [ILOs 9, 10] (10%)
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. ENGLM0077).
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.
