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The Essay: Form and Content

Module description

This module is compulsory for those of you who are enrolled on the Combined Honours English and Creative Writing degree programme. It will provide you with the skills necessary to write excellent essays on both the English and Creative Writing sides of your degree. Under the guidance of your seminar leader you will approach the subject of Creative Writing in a critical sense, looking at texts with regard to form and technique..   Although the module revolves around a set of core readings, individual seminar leader augment these with their own choices. The module will enable you to become excellent researchers, and it will give you the ability to structure, compose and finish academic essays to a high standard.

This module is not available to students taking any degree programme other than English and Creative Writing. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will give you the ability to engage critically with the discipline of creative writing. You will research and write essays that analyse the form of writing rather than the narrative, but you will gain the research skills and the essay-writing skills that you will need for both the English and Creative Writing sides of your degree. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an awareness of the conventions and practices of studying Creative Writing at undergraduate level
• 2. Demonstrate an understanding of formal and/or thematic, contextual analysis of the discipline of creative writing
• 3. Demonstrate the ability to analyse creative writing techniques in the works of various authors and to group creative works within a particular critical context

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate enhanced skills in close reading, research, writing and in the presentation of material in accordance with the conventions of the Department of English by planning, researching, constructing and concluding an independent essay
• 5. Show an awareness of literary techniques, styles and conventions and of the relevance of historical and cultural contexts
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to apply key research and writing skills appropriately in relation to different projects

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographical skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
• 8. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate a proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
• 9. Through seminar discussion and essay writing, demonstrate a capacity for critical thinking, including the questioning of your own and others’ assumptions, and a willingness to engage with different philosophical viewpoints.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to the critical study of the discipline of creative writing
• MLA Referencing and Works Cited – good academic practice
• Close reading
• Thesis statements and research questions
• Research strategies and databases
• The self-reflexive essay
• Evaluating techniques and pleasures within the discipline of creative writing
• Sources – texts and contexts
• Choosing and working with secondary material
• How to write good essays – tone and style
• Writing an introduction and a conclusion
• Presentation and finishing

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.                   

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• A packet of readings
• Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE:
• Interviews with over 300 authors at The Paris Review: http://www.parisreview.com
• The New Yorker Podcast: https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction

Key words search

Creative Writing, essay-writing, English