WRIT11025 - Creative Nonfiction

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides students with an introduction to the practice and craft of Creative Nonfiction writing. This emerging genre offers nonfiction writers the opportunity to incorporate literary devices such as description, dialogue and development of scenes. The student will be introduced to the concept of reportage, examine the work of creative nonfiction luminaries such as Joan Didion, Truman Capote and Helen Garner, the ethics of nonfiction writing and research, and develop their literary essay writing skills with practical writing activities in a range of subgenres including the personal essay, review writing and food and nature writing.

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 2 - 2024

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
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).

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 0%
2. Written Assessment 55%
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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 13.04% 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 UNIT COMMENTS
Feedback
Some links to sources are broken or missing.
Recommendation
All links to external online resources will checked, repaired or replaced. Some old links may have been disabled by the Library's new (copyright compliant) eReading system.
Action Taken
All learning design internet links were checked.
Source: SUTE UNIT COMMENTS
Feedback
Some students object to using Harvard-style referencing when other CQU units only require APA7.
Recommendation
Maintain Harvard referencing as it is appropriate for the discipline.
Action Taken
Harvard referencing was retained.
Source: SUTE UNIT COMMENTS
Feedback
Some students found the unit to be somewhat disorganized.
Recommendation
Review the organisation of the unit, which is currently in weekly modules, the topics of which are signposted, linked to textbook chapters, Zoom lectures, eReadings, and assessment items. Review student communication to highlight the structure and processes of the unit, including the introduction of a weekly announcement email and/or social media style communication.
Action Taken
The unit structure was communicated with students, including weekly introduction emails.
Source: Student feedback.
Feedback
The unit relies on a particular book but it is not a prescribed textbook.
Recommendation
The CQURenew initiative asked unit coordinators to remove prescribed textbooks - a review of learning material diversity will be undertaken.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Draft and effectively redraft a sustained piece of creative nonfiction writing
  2. Research and write creative nonfiction writing using ethical practice

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Written Assessment •
2 - Written Assessment • •
3 - Written Assessment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Communication • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
8 - Ethical practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • •