Undergraduate - UnitATS3063 - The writing self: Creative nonfiction

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Literary Studies
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Dr Ali Alizadeh and Dr Melinda Harvey

Synopsis

This unit offers students the opportunity to learn about the practice of one of the key forms of contemporary storytelling - creative nonfiction. In the atmosphere of workshops, guided by discussion and a selection of set readings, students will develop the main skills necessary for nonfiction writing: choosing a topic, research and drafting. Students will experiment with a range of creative nonfiction genres such as: memoir; biography; travel writing; the essay; narrative nonfiction; and nonfiction poetry. We will discuss the ethical, theoretical and aesthetic issues associated with a range of creative nonfiction genres and their sites of publication. The unit explores the relationship between fact and fiction, the role of personal experience in creativity, and the use of the techniques of fiction and poetry in the treatment of real life. The unit will also pay attention to revising, editing and presenting writing for publication.

Outcomes

On completion of this subject students will be able to:

Demonstrate a familiarity with and understanding of a variety of creative nonfiction genres;
Demonstrate a familiarity with and willingness to address the ethical, theoretical and aesthetic issues raised by creative nonfiction; and
Demonstrate an ability to plan, organise and create a piece of creative nonfiction work from inception to entry level publication standard.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Ali Alizadeh

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Literary studies

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of second-year Arts units.