RESEARCH AND WRITING SKILLS - 2021/2

Module Overview

This is a Level M compulsory module for English and Creative Writing. It provides a systematic framework for understanding research in English and/or Creative Writing and introduces students to key research preparation skills including exploiting library resources, using electronic journals, working with archives, identifying a research area, and building a proposal. It enables students to apply this framework and these skills to developing their own dissertation or writing proposal. Attendance is compulsory.

Module provider

School of Literature and Languages

Module Leader

THOMPSON Carl (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes:
• Introduction - What is Research in English and Creative Writing?
• Researching an Essay Question and Identifying a Research Area
• What is originality?
• Library Skills
• What is and creative theory and what is a Critical Commentary?
• Developing a Critical Methodology and Building an argument
• Proposal Workshopping (and assignment troubleshooting)
• Abstracts and Conferences
• Creative Careers
• Small and Large Structure
• Writing Up and Self-Evaluation

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

n/a

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate
• the development in their writing skills in academic prose, and/or creative writing (prose fiction and/or poetry)
• their understanding of the context of their work in historical and cultural terms, as well as in terms of other creative writing in the field
• their development of research and writing skills
• their creative ability in devising and summarising a creative or academic project and in creating a proposal that effectively summarises that
• productive and informed critical reflection on both the literary writing itself and the critical and secondary material that surrounds it, and/or both the creative process itself and the finished work that has resulted from it


Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:
End of semester Dissertation or Writing Project Proposal with Annotated Bibliography (3000 words)
(100%)


Formative assessment and feedback
Verbal feedback and formative ‘feed forward’ is provided through seminar discussions, and tutor feedback in the seminar, on short pieces (250-500 words of a creative or academic project proposal) presented as part of the workshopping element of the classe. Each student can expect to present 2 such pieces over the course of the semester in the weeks 5 and 11 proposal workshops.


As such, writing, presentation and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessment at the end of the module. 

There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in
week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• This module helps students to understand the fundamental characteristics of research in English and Creative Writing. It raises awareness of the challenges of research in these closely related fields, and of relevant strategies and solutions. It aims to provide students with the skills, vocabulary and concepts necessary for developing a viable dissertation or writing project proposal. It is designed to help students formulate and express their critical and creative aims more clearly, and to reflect productively on the most effective techniques for achieving them.
  For Creative Writing students, this will also help prepare them to think about proposal writing and research as components in conceiving and designing creative projects and in pitching these to other parties.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:
• Hone and develop students’ writing skills in academic writing, and/or creative writing (prose fiction and/or poetry) by developing confidence in the use of discipline-specific discourse practices and utilizing writing skills effectively, and to help students produce innovative, imaginative and exciting publication standard creative work
• Assist students in locating literary texts and their critical writing, and/or their creative work in historical and cultural contexts by identifying the connections and references in their own creative or critical writing to relevant theoretical, literary and historical contexts
• Equip students with the research and writing skills they will need to produce critically informed academic writing, and/or creative writing (prose fiction and/or poetry) and creative criticism by developing an understanding of the nature, role, importance and impact of research in English and Creative Writing, and of a range of research preparation skills in English and Creative Writing
• Facilitate in students productive reflection on both the critical and political agendas of literary studies and on their own place within theoretical positions, and/or on both the creative process itself and the finished work that has resulted from it by assisting them in identifying and develop a viable dissertation or writing project proposal, applying scholarly approaches and models to reflect on their own research and writing practice, and researching, explaining and presenting a viable dissertation or writing project in written form, with an annotated bibliography


The learning and teaching methods include a combination of lecture materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning. Two contact hours per week over Semester 1. Classes will take the form of workshops; students are expected to read outside classes and to undertake preparatory work in advance for workshops.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELIM005

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.