Module Information
Module Identifier
WRM6320
Module Title
Writer as Scholar
Academic Year
2026/2027
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 5000 Words | 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 5000 Words | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Reflect and comment upon, in critical prose, their own creative practice.
Locate, and critically discuss, their own creative work within a relevant literary context.
Locate, and critically discuss, their own creative work within a relevant theoretical context.
Brief description
Writer as Scholar explores the significant role research and critical writing play in studying creative writing at MA level. Students on this module will produce a critical piece of writing relating to the genesis and planned execution of their final writing project. The essay will contextualise their work within an appropriate scholarly and creative tradition, and aim to illuminate the original aspects of their writing in process.
Content
1 & 2: Research and Creative Writing: Modes and Methods
The opening seminar will focus on the important role research plays in creative writing – both inside and outside the academy. A range of approaches to research will be discussed. The second seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class writing exercise based on their own research.
3 & 4: Literary Context 1: Knowing Your Field
The third seminar will explore why it is important for a writer to have an extensive knowledge of the genre in which they are working – its origins and evolution, as well as its defining techniques and themes. The fourth seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class writing exercise focusing on genre.
5 & 6: Literary Context 2: Close Reading
As well demonstrating knowledge of one’s literary field in general, a student’s critical work should also show an ability to zoom in on specific texts. This seminar will the address the importance of close reading and detailed, comparative analyses. The fourth seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class close reading exercise.
7 & 8: Theory and Textual Analysis
Seminar seven will look at the role critical theory can play in how we read texts – including our own. But it will also explore questions of methodology and how theoretical issues can shape our texts too. The following seminar will be a theory-focused practical.
9 & 10: Knowledge and Creative Writing
Can creative practice be a contribution to knowledge? This is the question students will explore in seminar nine, followed by a final practical seminar in which they will complete a writing exercise based on this inquiry.
The opening seminar will focus on the important role research plays in creative writing – both inside and outside the academy. A range of approaches to research will be discussed. The second seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class writing exercise based on their own research.
3 & 4: Literary Context 1: Knowing Your Field
The third seminar will explore why it is important for a writer to have an extensive knowledge of the genre in which they are working – its origins and evolution, as well as its defining techniques and themes. The fourth seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class writing exercise focusing on genre.
5 & 6: Literary Context 2: Close Reading
As well demonstrating knowledge of one’s literary field in general, a student’s critical work should also show an ability to zoom in on specific texts. This seminar will the address the importance of close reading and detailed, comparative analyses. The fourth seminar will be a practical -- students will complete an in-class close reading exercise.
7 & 8: Theory and Textual Analysis
Seminar seven will look at the role critical theory can play in how we read texts – including our own. But it will also explore questions of methodology and how theoretical issues can shape our texts too. The following seminar will be a theory-focused practical.
9 & 10: Knowledge and Creative Writing
Can creative practice be a contribution to knowledge? This is the question students will explore in seminar nine, followed by a final practical seminar in which they will complete a writing exercise based on this inquiry.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | Oral communication through seminar discussion and assessed presentation, written through assignments |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Giving and receiving peer feedback and feedback from tutors. Public speaking opportunities, adapting communication for different purposes and audiences. Team work in seminars. Authentic assessment will support development of transferable skills. Critical self-reflection and development of transferable skills in communication and research. |
| Information Technology | Independent and directed research for seminar preparation and work on summative assessment tasks. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | By reflecting on how theoretical and contextual knowledge can be used to improve the students’ understanding of their own creative practice. |
| Problem solving | Thinking through the most effective way(s) to discuss their own creative writing in relation to relevant literary and theoretical contexts. |
| Research skills | Reflecting on how theoretical and contextual knowledge can be used to improve the students’ understanding of their own creative practice. Engaging with relevant scholarship. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Conceptual and technical knowledge in key fields of creative writing and literary study. |
| Team work | Team work in seminars, preparing for and participating in practical sessions, engaging with a student-led agenda. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7