EN3CW: Creative Writing Dissertation

Module code: EN3CW

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 40

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Ms Shelley Harris, email: shelley.harris@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE EN1CW (Compulsory)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded: IN TAKING THIS MODULE YOU CANNOT TAKE EN3DIS OR TAKE FT3DISS OR TAKE EN3CWA (Compulsory)

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module allows students in their final year to develop a sustained piece of independent writing of 7000-7500 words. In consultation with a member of staff, students will write an original, stand-alone creative work, whether that be a short story, a play, a screenplay or a collection of verse. The student will also work in close contact with a peer community of creative writers working on their own dissertations. This group will self-organise to meet regularly through Spring term to conduct workshops on individual member’s creative pieces. These sessions will allow for serious critical discussion of the work and form the basis for ongoing revision. They will also inform the student’s critical essay of 2500 – 3000 words, which will focus on their own work but also include reference to influences. The module develops advanced research and writing skills and qualities of independence and active learning. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Initiate, devise, compose and conclude creative projects in which their own and other people’s ideas are articulated concisely, accurately and clearly.
2. Demonstrate the deployment of language in a sophisticated and nuanced fashion, with a heightened awareness of concision, voice, idiom, idiolect, simile, metaphor, analogy, rhythm and media-specific restraints.
3. Edit their own work, and that of peers, with a high level of rigour and scrutiny, at the various levels of clause, line, sentence, stanza, paragraph but also at the structural level of overall scene, chapter, collection, book.
4. Recognise what and how they have learnt, through self-reflection and through constructive dialogue with other people.

Module content

The module will be delivered through a combination of one-to-one tutorials with a member of the academic staff and hour-long group workshops. In the case of the former, discussion would normally include the process of choosing topic and/or genre, questions of influence and originality, the nature of the presumed audience for the piece, technical concerns such as point--of view, tense, lexis, character, narrative structure etc.: critical issues with a bearing on the project. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Individual half-hour tutorials with a dissertation supervisor, and occasional group workshops.   

Study hours

At least 6 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

The supervisor will comment on draft extracts in both semesters 1 and 2. 

Reassessment

Additional costs