Critical Friends: The Real and Virtual Support of Writers
LPW500
Overview
To enrol in this unit, you must be accepted into a course from the provider.
Read before you start
Level of study: What does Postgraduate mean?
Postgraduate
EFTSL: What does EFTSL mean?
0.125
Delivery Method: What does delivery method mean?
Fully Online
Prerequisites: What are the prerequisites?
No
Duration:
13 weeks
Government loans available:
FEE-HELP FEE-HELP
Domestic student fee:
$1,750.00 (AUD)
International student fee:
$1,975.00 (AUD)
Description
This subject focuses on the skills that writers need before their writing is ready for publication. This subject gives learners the opportunity to apply the skills of critiquing and editing in a collaborative online environment, exploring how 'critical friends' can enrich others' writing skills and their own insights into the processes of writing by: reading each other’s work with insightful respect, including cultural respect, while evaluating its strengths and perceiving the weaknesses; applying insights to show how each writer might alter their work, and working through each other’s manuscripts while applying points made during their multiple readings. This helps learners develop knowledge in their area and apply their learning to improve their work by addressing perceived weaknesses and maximising strengths.
Please note: Assessment values are indicative only; details will be advised at the start of the unit.
Enrolment Restriction
In order to enrol in this unit, you must be accepted into one of the following courses:
- Graduate Certificate of Arts in Writing
- Graduate Diploma of Arts in Writing
- Master of Arts (Writing)
If you wish to seek approval to enrol in this unit without being accepted in a course, please contact OUA regarding the process.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit students should be able to:
• demonstrate developing knowledge of the area in which they are working and show how they might improve their work to address the faults or weaknesses they have found in it;
• apply emergent skills in sensitive criticism, that is, be able to make recommendations to balance criticisms and show how a weakness might be overcome;
• display confidence as a critical friend so that mutually beneficial creative relationships can continue outside the classroom or be applied in other subjects;
• continue developing understandings of how language works by applying a number of strategies, for example, being aware of the importance of reading aloud for language rhythms and felicities of writing;
• access reference material as appropriate to enrich the writing under consideration;
• seek advice and support from culturally relevant networks, e.g. Indigenous Elders, ATAS (Aboriginal Tutorial Schemes)
Topics
This unit addresses the following topics.
| Number | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Critical friendship and assessment |
| 2 | The features of critical friendship |
| 3 | Process and product in writing |
| 4 | Creating a writing world 1 |
| 5 | Creating a writing world 2 |
| 6 | Critical and cultural theories 1 |
| 7 | Critical and cultural theories 2 |
| 8 | Models for critical friendship 1: Utlising diaries and writing Asutralian social commentary |
| 9 | Models for critical friendship 2: Business writing |
| 10 | Models for critical friendship 3: Adolescent fiction writing |
| 11 | Models for critical friendship 4: writing personal reminiscences of high profile people |
| 12 | where next for critical friendship? Useful ideas about writing |
Study Resources
This unit is delivered using the following methods and materials:
Print based materials
- Welcome Letter
Online materials
- Printable format materials
Relevant Courses
This unit is a core requirement in the following courses:
- Graduate Certificate of Arts in Writing, Swinburne University of Tnlgy
- Graduate Diploma of Arts in Writing, Swinburne University of Tnlgy
- Master of Arts (Writing), Swinburne University of Tnlgy
This unit may be eligible for credit towards other courses:
- Many undergraduate courses on offer through OUA include 'open elective' where any OUA unit can be credited to the course. You need to check the Award Requirements on the course page for the number of allowed open electives and any level limitations.
- In other cases, the content of this unit might be relevant to a course on offer through OUA or elsewhere. In order to receive credit for this unit in the course you will need to supply the provider institution with a copy of the Unit Profile in the approved format, which you can download here. Note that the Unit Profile is set at the start of the year, and if textbooks change this may not match the Unibooks textbook list.
