Module Information

Module Identifier
WRM6140
Module Title
Writer as Practitioner 1
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Co-Requisite
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Learning journal  (3,500 words)  50%
Semester Assessment Creative Writing Portfolio  (3,000 words)  50%
Supplementary Assessment Learning journal  (3,500 words)  50%
Supplementary Assessment Creative Writing Portfolio  (3,000 words)  50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Generate ambitious ideas and discriminate between potential projects in terms of their creative viability in relevant contexts.

2. Engage critically and analytically with a range of relevant reading towards the development of their own creative work.

3. Engage effectively with formative feedback towards the development of their creative work.

4. Produce a regular output of independent work, and critically evaluate their creative progress against clearly defined goals.

Brief description

This MA module will fulfil the creative practice elements of the MA scheme by offering students dedicated, genre-specific small-group supervision and workshopping on a regular basis. It is intended as the partner module to Writing as Practitioner 2, which features a long writing project (dissertation). Participants will be divided into small supervision/workshop groups based on the genre or mode of writing they wish to undertake (examples include, but are not limited to, Science Fiction, Detective Fiction, Graphic Narratives, Historical Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry, etc.). This arrangement will provide a student-centred experience catering for the discipline-specific needs and expectations of PGT creative practitioners. The groups will meet for supervision/workshopping every week, developing the skills and knowledge required to underpin their substantial final project (Writer as Practitioner 2). The module will be essential in developing students’ creative practice, and will help them to develop a portfolio of writing of a publishable-standard during the course of their MA degree.

Content

Students will be placed into relevant workshop groups prior to the first week of classes. Thereafter they will meet with their group and workshop leader every two weeks to develop ideas, discuss readings, and workshop draft material. These group sessions may be held in traditional teaching rooms, staff offices, or more informal settings such as the Arts Centre at the discretion of the workshop leader. During these sessions, students will be expected to discuss and analyze readings (contributing to the Learning Journal component of the assessment) as well as workshop material they have written. Formative feedback on work and ideas will be provided through these sessions on an ongoing basis, and will be provided formally at the end of Semester 2. Interleaved between these fortnightly sessions the students will meet in their workshop groups for student-led peer workshop sessions. Specific tasks will be set by the tutor and each student will have at least one opportunity to act as workshop leader for these sessions.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number
Communication Written communication skills are key to the work students will do on this module. Moreover, oral interaction in group discussion will be essential to the seminars and workshops.
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be expected to improve their understanding of literature in response to discussion with the tutor and other students, as well as to develop their own approaches to the writing and criticism.
Information Technology Students will be required to make full use of library facilities and develop proficiency in conducting online/digital research.
Personal Development and Career planning Working with peers, receiving and conveying feedback in a professional setting, leading group discussion, ability to articulate complex ideas to a range of audiences.
Problem solving Creative problem solving is developed in workshops, and in assessment. The effectiveness by which the student has solved problems is evident in the planning of and quality of the finished work.
Research skills The assessment on this module will reflect the student’s ability to read widely and to engage with literature with a critical eye as well as construct effective narratives of their own. They will have to apply this knowledge to make informed decisions about their own approaches to writing.
Subject Specific Skills Practical proficiency in the specific skills of writing, as well as literary analysis and criticism, which will prepare students for their dissertations.
Team work Students will have the opportunity to work in small groups during workshops and seminars.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7