Reading into Writing
| Module title | Reading into Writing |
|---|---|
| Module code | EASM214Z |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Ali Lewis (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 10 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
In this online module, you’ll develop the reading skills you need to become a better writer. By reading slowly and attentively, you’ll learn to recognise the craft behind successful writing — and to articulate what you admire in the work of others. Through discussion, guided reading, and writing exercises, you’ll apply what you learn to your own projects, unlocking new ideas or seeing ongoing projects from a fresh perspective You’ll also hone your editorial judgement and begin to position your writing in conversation with both literary tradition and contemporary practice — valuable preparation for your final manuscript project, and for pitching your work.
Module aims - intentions of the module
‘Reading into Writing’ aims to:
- teach you to read other authors’ work as a writer, and your own work as a reader
- develop your ability to analyse how creative texts achieve their effects and apply these insights to your own writing
- strengthen your editorial judgement to revise your work with clarity, purpose, and confidence
- prepare you to position your creative practice within literary traditions and contemporary contexts, supporting your final manuscript project
In developing your critical reading and editorial skills, this module also cultivates key professional abilities in close analysis, creative problem-solving, effective communication, and reflective practice.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an advanced and nuanced understanding of how creative texts achieve their effects, and apply this insight to your own work.
- 2. Critically evaluate and revise your own creative work, integrating feedback and adapting it to suit particular audiences, contexts, or professional expectations.
- 3. Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of intertextuality, positioning your own work within ongoing literary conversations and creating imaginative responses to other texts.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Situate your own creative practice within wider literary, cultural and critical contexts, articulating how your work engages with other writers, traditions and movements.
- 5. Reflect critically on your creative process, including editorial decisions, influences, and development.
- 6. Produce original creative work to a professional or near-professional standard, informed by in-depth knowledge of literary techniques and genre conventions.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills, an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, advanced skills of creative expression, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose.
- 8. Demonstrate a capacity for critical reflection on your own and others work.
Syllabus plan
While the precise content may vary from year to year, the syllabus will typically cover all or some of the following topics:
- Why Read as a Writer? Discover how reading closely can sharpen your writing, deepen your understanding of craft, and inspire fresh creative choices.
- Appreciation and Slow Reading: Learn to slow down and analyse texts carefully, identifying the techniques that make stories compelling and memorable.
- What Readers Want: Explore insights from research, market trends, and personal experience to understand what engages and satisfies readers today.
- Intertextuality: Examine how texts connect, reference, and respond to each other, explore the framing effects of publishing, and consider how your writing can participate in these literary conversations.
- The Anxiety of Influence: Investigate the tension between drawing inspiration from other writers and forging your own unique voice.
- Appropriative Techniques: Experiment with creative methods like versioning, cut-up, and black-out poetry to rethink and reshape existing texts.
- Critical Writing as Creative Writing: Explore how critical reflection and creative practice can intertwine, enriching both your reading and writing processes.
The module is delivered entirely online, and can be done in your own time. You will be taught through a mixture of online lectures, feedback and workshop forums, structured writing activities, inspiring reading, and supported independent research during the course of the module’s delivery. Like other taught modules on the MA Creative Writing (Online) programme, this module can be taken in any order on the programme or may be taken as a standalone module.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 240 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities? | 60 | Engagement online with taught content? |
| Guided independent study? | 150 | Research and writing of Development Portfolio or Creative Response Portfolio |
| Guided independent study? | 50 | Research and writing of Reflective Commentary? |
| Guided independent study? | 10 | Guided critical reflection? |
| Guided independent study? | 30 | Preparation for taught activities and peer feedback?? |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active participation in module activities? | Ongoing | 1 8 | Written comments |
| Outline of assessment choice and plans | 500 words | 1 8 | Written comments |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development Portfolio OR Creative Response Portfolio | 75 | Development Portfolio: 4,000 words or 160 lines of poetry, or a hybrid work agreed in advance with your tutor. Creative Response Portfolio: 4,000 words or 160 lines of poetry, or a hybrid work agreed in advance with your tutor. | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| Reflective Commentary | 25 | 2,500 words | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development Portfolio OR Creative Response Portfolio | Development Portfolio OR Creative Response Portfolio (75%) | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Reflective Commentary | Reflective Commentary (25%) | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 | Referral/Deferral Period |
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 50%) 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 50%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Each week, your tutor will provide a curated list of selection of poems, short stories, and extracts from longer form fiction and non-fiction. In addition to this, basic reading may include extracts from some of the following:
Basic reading:
- Steering the Craft, Ursula K. Le Guin
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders
- Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
- Madness, Rack and Honey, Mary Ruefle
- Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose
- The Anxiety of Influence¸ Harold Bloom
- Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith
- Citizen, Claudia Rankine
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Origin date | 08/08/2025 |
