Unit Synopsis
You will be introduced to the practice and craft of Creative Nonfiction – an emerging genre that offers writers the opportunity to incorporate literary devices such as description, dialogue and scenes into their writing. You will be introduced to the work of creative nonfiction luminaries such as Joan Didion, Truman Capote and Helen Garner. You will develop your skills with practical writing activities in a range of subgenres including the memoir, the personal essay, the portrait, the essay of place, review writing and narrative journalism.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites: HUMT20012 HUMT20013 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
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 Postgraduate 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. Research Proposal | 0% |
| 2. Reflective Practice Assignment | 50% |
| 3. Creative work | 50% |
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 .
No previous feedback available
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: Forum post
I am also grateful to Nicole and my peers for an excellent semester, looking forward to the next one.
The unit structure was well received. The unit coordinator will maintain the current unit structure.
Unit coordinator continued approach.
Source: Forum post
Thank you very much Nicole and everyone else for a great semester and some fascinating insights to all your lives through your memoirs and essays. A really great unit.
The unit coordinator will engage in continuous improvement to maintain high student satisfaction.
Unit coordinator maintained approach.
Source: Student emails.
Students appreciated the Zoom workshop sessions where they could discuss their creative writing projects and draft pieces with teaching staff and their peers over the course of the term.
It is recommended to maintain opportunities for engagement through regular Zoom workshop sessions scheduled throughout the term.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Craft an industry standard ‘pitch’ for a creative nonfiction piece to an editor
- Analyse the craft of creative nonfiction through a weekly critical reflective journal
- Research, draft, write, edit and submit a sustained and polished piece of creative nonfiction writing
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Research Proposal | • | ||
| 2 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | ||
| 3 - Creative work | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | ||
| 2 - Communication | • | ||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | ||
| 4 - Research | • | • | |
| 5 - Self-management | • | ||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | ||
| 7 - Leadership | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| 2 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | • | ||||||
| 1 - Research Proposal | • | • | • | ||||||
| 3 - Creative work | • | • | |||||||