CQUniversity Unit Profile
LITR11043 The Short Story
The Short Story
All details in this unit profile for LITR11043 have been officially approved by CQUniversity and represent a learning partnership between the University and you (our student).
The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
General Information

Overview

A short story contains multiple points of view and myriad narrative strategies. Moreover, as Patricia Hampl notes, the short story is 'acknowledged to be the most exquisite kind of prose fiction, requiring the perfect craft, the form in which the smallest slip can bring the whole contraption—plot, character, narration—down in a crash. A delicate business'. The aim of this unit is to provide students with an opportunity to explore the complexity and delicacy of the short story while developing their text-based interpretative and analytical techniques.

Details

Career Level: Undergraduate
Unit Level: Level 1
Credit Points: 6
Student Contribution Band: 7
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load: 0.125

Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

There are no requisites for this unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Offerings For Term 2 - 2022

Online
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Class and Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Class Timetable

Bundaberg, Cairns, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville
Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Assessment Overview

1. Written Assessment
Weighting: 20%
2. Written Assessment
Weighting: 40%
3. Written Assessment
Weighting: 40%

Assessment Grading

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.

Previous Student Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from Have Your Say

Feedback

Some students require a larger variety of student assessment exemplars.

Recommendation

Unit coordinator to provide assessment exemplars showing a range of styles and standards (P, C D, HD, etc.).

Feedback from Have Your Say

Feedback

Certain students felt that assessment questions were not easy to understand and need to be rewritten or replaced.

Recommendation

The unit coordinator will review the assessment topics to ensure their clarity and alignment with learning outcomes and graduate attributes.

Unit Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
  1. interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
  2. analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;

N/A

Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes
N/A Level
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Professional Level
Advanced Level

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes

Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Written Assessment - 20%
2 - Written Assessment - 40%
3 - Written Assessment - 40%

Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes

Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
5 - Team Work
6 - Information Technology Competence
7 - Cross Cultural Competence
8 - Ethical practice
9 - Social Innovation
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes

Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment - 20%
2 - Written Assessment - 40%
3 - Written Assessment - 40%
Textbooks and Resources

Textbooks

There are no required textbooks.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:
  • CQUniversity Student Email
  • Internet
  • Unit Website (Moodle)
Referencing Style

All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)

For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.

Teaching Contacts
Stephen Butler Unit Coordinator
s.butler@cqu.edu.au
Schedule
Week 1 Begin Date: 11 Jul 2022

Module/Topic

Introducing the Short Story

Chapter

John Updike, 'Leaves'; Jamaica KIncaid, 'Girl'; Enrique Anderson Imbert, 'Taboo'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 2 Begin Date: 18 Jul 2022

Module/Topic

Analysing the Short Story

Chapter

Kate Chopin, 'Desiree's baby'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 3 Begin Date: 25 Jul 2022

Module/Topic

The 19th Century American Short Story

Chapter

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The minister's black veil'; Edgar Allen Poe, 'The fall of the house of Usher'; Ambrose Bierce, 'An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge';

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 4 Begin Date: 01 Aug 2022

Module/Topic

The 19th Century Continental Short Story

Chapter

Nikolai Gogol, 'The overcoat'; Guy de Maupassant, 'A country outing'; Anton Chekhov, 'The lady with the pet dog'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 5 Begin Date: 08 Aug 2022

Module/Topic

The 19th century British Short Story

Chapter

Charles Dickens, 'The signalman'; Rudyard Kipling, 'At the end of the passage'; Thomas Hardy, 'The withered arm'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Short Paper Due: Week 5 Friday (12 Aug 2022) 11:59 pm AEST
Vacation Week Begin Date: 15 Aug 2022

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 6 Begin Date: 22 Aug 2022

Module/Topic

British Modernism

Chapter

James Joyce, 'A painful case'; Katherine Mansfield, 'The garden party'; Virginia Woolf, 'The mark on the wall'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 7 Begin Date: 29 Aug 2022

Module/Topic

Continental Modernism

Chapter

Franz Kafka, 'A hunger artist'; Thomas Mann, 'Mario and the magician'; Jorge Louis Borges, 'Borges and I' & 'Everything and nothing'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 8 Begin Date: 05 Sep 2022

Module/Topic

American Modernism

Chapter

Ernest Hemingway, 'Hills like white elephants'; Katherine Porter, 'The grave'; Eudora Welty, 'A worn path'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 9 Begin Date: 12 Sep 2022

Module/Topic

American Postmodernism

Chapter

John Cheever, 'The country husband'; Donald Barthelme, 'At the end of the mechanical age'; David Foster Wallace, 'Suicide as a sort of present'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Close Reading Journal Due: Week 9 Friday (16 Sept 2022) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 10 Begin Date: 19 Sep 2022

Module/Topic

Continental Postmodernism

Chapter

Alain Robbe-Grillet, 'The shore'; Thomasso Landolfi, 'Gogol's wife'; Julio Cortazar, 'Axolotl'

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 11 Begin Date: 26 Sep 2022

Module/Topic

Global & Australian Short Stories

Chapter

Chinua Achebe, 'Dead man's path'; Isabelle Allende, 'And of clay we are created'; Fredric Brown, 'Solipsist';

Michael Wilding, 'The words she types'; Archie Weller, 'Johnny Blue'; Mandy Sayer, 'The birthday present'


Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 12 Begin Date: 03 Oct 2022

Module/Topic

Reviewing the Short Story

Chapter

Re-read stories and secondary sources for your Research Essay and/or catch up on stories you have yet to read.

Events and Submissions/Topic

Research Essay Due: Week 12 Friday (7 Oct 2022) 11:59 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Begin Date: 10 Oct 2022

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Exam Week Begin Date: 17 Oct 2022

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Assessment Tasks

1 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Short Paper

Task Description

Amongst other things, the formal elements (genre conventions) of the short story include:

    · A compressed setting and time frame;

    · A particular narrative point of view;

    · A small set of characters revealed through action, dialogue and epiphany;

    · A plot-structure beginning in media res, passing through exposition, complication, climax, and resolution;

    · Use of figurative and sensual language.

Choose one [1] of the set stories (from any weekly module) and write a short paper (750-1000 words) discussing how the formal elements support or relate to the story's meanings and themes.


Assessment Due Date

Week 5 Friday (12 Aug 2022) 11:59 pm AEST

Marked assessments will be returned ASAP


Return Date to Students

ASAP after submission (within two weeks)


Weighting
20%

Assessment Criteria

The Short Paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  1. Understanding of the formal elements and conventions of the short story genre;
  2. Ability to interpret the meanings of the particular short story;
  3. The extent to which your responses reflect an interest in and understanding of unit concepts and issues.
  4. Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and, acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
  • analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;


Graduate Attributes
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking

2 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Close Reading Journal

Task Description

Bennet and Royle (2015, pp. 60-62) recommend the following approaches to interpreting a short story.

  • Think small
  • Begin with the title
  • Be suggestible
  • Look out for repetition
  • Talk about the plot
  • Effects of intertextuality
  • Ask yourself
  • What is the time?
  • Who's talking?

Apply one approach to one [1] story each week for nine [9] weeks. Focus on a short passage or a small set of quotations and perform a "close reading" in order to interpret the story's significance. Each piece should be 150-200 words and take the form of a well-constructed paragraph with a clear "thesis statement".


Choose your best six [6] responses for inclusion in the Close Reading Journal and upload it to Moodle by the due date. Bonus marks may be awarded to students that post their responses to the weekly discussion forum. Further guidelines for this assessment item are available on Moodle.



Assessment Due Date

Week 9 Friday (16 Sept 2022) 11:59 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Marked assessments will be returned ASAP


Weighting
40%

Assessment Criteria

The Short Answer Journal will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  1. Ability to apply Bennett and Royle's approaches to the chosen stories;
  2. Ability to develop a thesis statement based on close reading and use of analytical concepts;
  3. Ability to express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and,
  4. Ability to acknowledge all sources (if any) using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Submission Instructions
See instructions above.

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
  • analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Information Technology Competence

3 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Research Essay

Task Description

Address one of the the following topics:

    • According to Rohrberger (1979, p. 3): 'Everything in a short story tends to stand for something else, and because it does meanings can multiply even though the story is usually limited to a single major character involved in a single action'. Discuss this statement using textual analysis of at least three set short stories to support your interpretive argument.

    • According to Terry Eagleton (2007, p. 50): ‘The meaning of a narrative is not just the “end” of it, but the process of narration itself.’ In other words, for a critical reader, the genre elements and literary devices of a text are just as important as what happens to the characters. Discuss the implications of the statement in relation to several short stories.

    • Focusing on the interaction of genre elements (character, setting, plot, point of view, language, etc)  trace the evolution of views on personal identity (class, gender, race, and sexuality) as they manifest in a selection of set short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

    • Choose at least three set short stories and show how their content (meanings, themes, etc.) and form (genre elements) exemplify aspects of realism, modernism and postmodernism.

    • According to Kusch (2016, p. 128) 'literature [the short story] is ‘a space where human experience can be explored through language, and through analysis, we can make a place for ourselves as creators of meaning.’ Compare and contrast three of the set stories in terms of this statement.

Length: 1500 words


Assessment Due Date

Week 12 Friday (7 Oct 2022) 11:59 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Marked assessments will be returned ASAP


Weighting
40%

Assessment Criteria

This assignment will be evaluated on your ability to:

  1. Demonstrate understanding of the short story as a genre and interpret the meanings of particular short stories;
  2. Develop a clear argument based on textual analysis using recommended critical concepts;
  3. Support your argument with references to scholarly secondary sources;
  4. Express yourself clearly (including spelling and grammar); and, acknowledge all your sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • interpret, analyse and evaluate selected short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth century using a variety of advanced text-based interpretative and analytical techniques;
  • analyse and compare selected short stories within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature;


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Cross Cultural Competence
  • Ethical practice

Academic Integrity Statement

As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.

Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.

When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.

Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.

As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.

What is a breach of academic integrity?

A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.

Why is academic integrity important?

A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.

Where can I get assistance?

For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.

What can you do to act with integrity?