Unit Synopsis
The focus of Beginning Creative Writing is the development of basic writing techniques necessary for the creative reproduction of personal and imaginative experiences. In this unit, you will investigate and practise techniques such as narrative viewpoint, characterisation, dialogue and description of setting via drafting and editing a piece of creative writing. The unit is suitable for students with no prior learning in creative writing and will benefit students of all disciplines as they discover new ways to express themselves and experiment with their writing skills.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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).
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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 35% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 45% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 91.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 23.08% response rate.
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.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Students indicated that linking the unit back to real-world applications would be useful.
Ensure unit content is reviewed and expanded to connect to real-world applications.
Assessments were revised to include a drafting process and opportunities for feedback. Students were introduced to publication and competition pathways and guided on manuscript preparation.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations and SUTE Evaluation Report
Students indicated that more feedback would be appreciated, particularly for assessment 2, emphasising the need for it to be actionable and practical.
The structure and due dates of assessments to be re-evaluated to ensure feedback is provided in a timely and actionable manner.
Assessment 2 was redesigned to allow submission in Week 8, with feedback provided in Week 10. A peer feedback activity was added to Weeks 10 and 11 to support revision before the final submission.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Students indicated that the unit coordinator created a safe and inclusive environment in tutorials.
Continue to run weekly tutorials in a manner that emphasises a safe and supportive environment that encourages continued engagement and opportunities for growth.
Weekly tutorials were maintained with a focus on inclusivity and support, contributing to strong student engagement and satisfaction.
Source: UC Reflection / Student Performance Data / SUTE Feedback
Clarity of assessment expectations and scaffolding
Continue refining the scaffolding of assessments and ensure expectations are clearly communicated. This will support consistency in marking and help maintain strong student outcomes.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback / Student Comments / UC Reflection
Platform accessibility and student engagement
Discontinue use of Microsoft Teams and return to Moodle-integrated platforms (Zoom via Echo360) to improve accessibility and student engagement.
In Progress
Source: UC Reflection / Tutorial Attendance / Verbal Student Feedback
On-campus delivery and regional engagement
Maintain on-campus offerings where feasible, as this mode appears to positively influence enrolments and engagement, particularly among students seeking in-person learning experiences.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Develop technical competencies in literary craft
- Analyse and solve problems when crafting ‘imaginative’ literature
- Generate and realise ‘imaginative’ themes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • |
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |