First-Year Writing Studio Course Descriptor

Course Overview

First-Year Writing Studio is a first-year writing course created to encourage students to think critically about writing, both as a product and as a process. In this course, key principles from Design Thinking are applied to different genres of writing. Design Thinking is an actionable and recursive process that involves creative problem-solving. When applied to writing, this process pushes students to challenge traditional constraints typically associated with writing and think creatively instead. Students will develop new and experimental writing practices and thought processes and will learn to critically question their work. This course will help students develop creative and lateral thinking skills that they will be able to take with them into a variety of writing contexts.

Course Aims

• Develop an understanding of writing as a product as well as a process.
• Familiarise students with different genres of writing and empower them to take advantage of new and experimental writing practices.
• Encourage students to critically and constructively evaluate others’ and their own work.
• Develop an understanding of design thinking principles and enable them to apply these to writing in different contexts.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning strategies for this course will include:

A minimum of 36 contact hours, typically to include interactive group teaching, co-curriculars, individual meetings, and in-class presentations and exams.

Course information and supplementary materials are available on the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Students will receive individualised developmental feedback on their work for this course.

Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal and timetabled sessions for this course. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study in support of the course.

Assessment

Formative

Students will be formatively assessed in class through class activities, and during office hours. Formative assessments are ones that do not count towards the final grade but will provide students with developmental feedback.

Summative Assessments

Feedback

Students will receive feedback in a variety of ways: written (including via email correspondence); oral (within office hours or on an ad hoc basis) and indirectly through class discussion.

Feedback is provided on summative assessment and is made available to the student either via email, the VLE or another appropriate method.

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is used as part of the approval/modification process only.

Books

• Adichie, C. N. (2017). Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. USA: Penguin Random House.
• Bechdel, A. (2008). The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For. London: Penguin Books.
• Didion, J. (1968). Slouching Towards Bethlehem. New York:Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
• Rankine, C. (2015). Citizen: An American Lyric. London: Penguin Books.
• Smith, Z. (2009). Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. London: Penguin Books.

Electronic Resources

• Biss, E. R. (2013). “Sentimental Medicine: Why we still fear vaccines”. Harper’s Magazine. Available here.
• Gawande, A. (2008). “The Itch”. The New Yorker, 30. Available here.
• McWhorter, J. (2015). “How immigration changes language”. The Atlantic, 14. Available here.  
• Staples, B. (1987). “Black Men and Public Space”. Available here.
• Wallace, D. F. (2004). “Consider the Lobster”. Gourmet. Available here.

Indicative Topics

• Students will typically study the following topics:
• Design Thinking Approach to Writing
• Elements of Narrative Writing
• Elements of Expository Writing
• Creative Critical Writing
• Long-Form Essay Composition
• Plagiarism and Referencing