Publication Portfolio Course Descriptor

Course Overview

The Publication Portfolio is a dissertation project which gives students the opportunity to design, research and produce a substantial, self-directed creative work in a literary genre (or genres) of their choosing. Students will situate this work in the publication market, demonstrating awareness of contemporary creative contexts. Students must also demonstrate meaningful engagement with a variety of scholarly sources relevant to aspects of process, form, genre and craft in the production of their creative work. This includes both published creative and critical works (e.g. theoretical texts, peer-reviewed research from academic journals).
Students will be supported by a supervisor with specialist knowledge in their area of creative and/or critical interest. Students will meet regularly with their supervisor one-to-one, receiving tailored developmental and research advice, and feedback on work-in-progress. Students will also engage with learning materials that help them develop a systemic understanding of creative writing beyond university, including development, drafting and editing methods for long-term projects, support and funding for professional writers, and avenues for publication.
The form of students’ creative works will vary depending on their artistic aims. Options may include:

• A complete novella or several complete and continuous chapters of a novel.
• A complete short story or a collection of complete short stories and/or flash fiction.
• A complete dramatic script or screenplay or a collection of complete dramatic scripts or screenplays.
• A complete substantial poem or a collection of complete poems.
• A complete creative nonfiction work or several complete and continuous chapters from a creative nonfiction work (e.g. memoir).
• A collection of complete creative nonfiction pieces (e.g. essay collection, flash nonfiction).
• A complete creative-critical theoretical dissertation.
• A complete hybrid creative or hybrid creative-critical work, where agreed with the student’s supervisor.

This final research project seeks to consolidate and enhance the writerly expertise students develop within the taught courses of their MA. This will set them on their way as professional practitioners of creative writing beyond university.

Learning Outcomes

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

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of learning resources to orientate and engage students in their studies. All scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are delivered online via the VLE. These may include:

• Supervisions
• Lectures
• Discussion Forums
• Creative Writing Workshops

Faculty also hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback individually.
Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.
Indicative total learning hours for this course: 600 – typically including induction, course activities, independent study, consolidation or revision and assessment activity hours.

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching activities delivered via the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Dissertation portfolios usually comprise:

• At least one creative element such as an extended creative work or collection of shorter works.
• At least one critical element, such as an abstract or reflective commentary.
• An annotated bibliography, demonstrating a strong research base.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

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

• Atwood, Margaret, Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (Virago, 2003)
• Brande, Dorothea, Becoming a Writer (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1981)
• Gendlin, Eugene T., Focusing: How to Gain Direct Access to Your Body’s Knowledge, 25th Ann. Edn (Rider, 2003)
• Ginna, Peter (ed.), What Editors Do: The Art, Craft and Business of Book Editing (University of Chicago Press, 2017)
• Hyde, Lewis, The Gift: how the Creative Spirit Transforms the World, 3rd Edn (Vintage, 2019)
• Pierre, DBC, Release the Bats: Writing Your Way Out of It (Faber and Faber, 2016)

Indicative Topics

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

• Planning and executing a long-term creative project
• Conducting effective scholarly research
• The psychology of creative writing
• Composition, drafting and editing practices
• Situating contemporary creative work
• The post-university writer