Module Details

The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title CREATIVITY: SOCIALLY-ENGAGED WRITING PRACTICE
Code ENGL275
Coordinator Dr DJ O'Connor
English
D.Oconnor2@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2022-23 Level 5 FHEQ Second Semester 30

Aims

1. The aims of the module are: to give students an opportunity to think about how creative writing engages with a global society, social justice, political and environmental issues and human rights.

2.  To introduce and develop an awareness of the creative writing process, across poetry, prose, literary essays, journalist writing, reviews and other forms of online and printed writing.

3.  To develop writing skills in conjunction with an understanding of social activism.

4.  To introduce and develop an awareness of the function and importance of the drafting process.

5.  To foster independent reading of contemporary writing in a variety of genre and media.


Learning Outcomes

(LO1) Students will acquire analytical skills and vocabulary appropriate to university-level work and be able to use them appropriately in relation to a range of sources from different historical periods and social contexts.

(LO2) Students will gain the ability to construct and support argument in written or spoken forms suitable for academic work and be able to participate constructively in group discussions.

(LO3) Students will gain awareness of cultural, theoretical and historical contexts of literature and language use.

(LO4) Students will have the ability to write well-constructed prose, reflecting appropriate scholarly knowledge and independent response within a sustained argument.

(LO5) Students will have knowledge of one or more specific literary historical periods and the language and genres associated with it/them.

(LO6) Students will have the ability to demonstrate research and evaluative skills that support wider literary or linguistic analysis, criticism, and/or data collection.

(LO7) Students will have the ability to engage with a variety of technical and formal approaches to socially-engaged creative writing, and to constructively evaluate their own writing.

(LO8) Students will be able to develop arguments that reflect social engagement through creative and critical writing.

(S1) Students will gain the ability to analyse and interpret sophisticated texts closely and critically.

(S2) Students will gain the ability to construct and support argument in both written and spoken forms.

(S3) Students will gain the ability to write with appropriate subject knowledge, using appropriate approaches and terminology.

(S4) Students will gain the ability to identify and assess relevant information and data, and argue independently in response.

(S5) Students will gain the ability to critically evaluate research materials.

(S6) Students will gain the ability to undertake independent research, and to develop a sense of research attitude.

(S7) Students will gain the ability to approach creative writing through a variety of socially-engaged perspectives.

(S8) Students will gain the ability to write creatively with attention to form and technique.


Syllabus

 

Students will be introduced to a range of writers who creatively address socially-engaged practice, ranging from erasure poems to op-ed style journalism. Authors covered may include: Rebecca Solnit, Solmaz Sharif, Layli Long Soldier, Charles Reznikoff, Chinua Achebe, James Baldwin, Sara Ahmed, among others. Weekly seminars will give an ongoing theoretical and practical context for explorations of the craft and social activism. In workshops students will take part in writing exercises and games, as well as in other activities that will help development of the critical and editorial processes involved when writing creatively.


Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching Method 1 - Seminar (F2F or online, as can be accommodated)
Description: Weekly seminars will give an on-going theoretical and practical context for explorations of the craft and social activism. Students will become familiar with a socially-engaged writing practice method as well as a key political or social topic (e.g. lyric essay and Black Lives Matter via Claudia Rankine's Citizen). These seminars will involve discussion.
Attendance Recorded: No

Teaching Method 2 - Tutorial (F2F or online, as can be accommodated)
Description: In workshops students will take part in writing exercises and games, as well as in other activities that will help development of the critical and editorial processes involved when writing creatively. Work will be written as well as read aloud for oral and written feedback.
Attendance Recorded: Yes

The majority of teaching will be delivered face to face on campus. Online delivery will be used to complement the on campus delivery and where technology affords a better learning experience.


Teaching Schedule

  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours   22

11

      33
Timetable (if known)   120 mins X 1 totaling 22
 
60 mins X 1 totaling 11
 
       
Private Study 267
TOTAL HOURS 300

Assessment

EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
             
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
2,000 word creative         
Creative/critical Portfolio. 6,000 words There is a resit opportunity.    100       
Weekly writing tasks         
Creative project 1,000 word literary essay         
Practical assessment (book review) 1,000 word book review         

Recommended Texts

Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.