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Bachelor of Arts (Professional and Creative Writing)

Course summary for current students

Award granted Bachelor of Arts (Professional and Creative Writing)
CampusOffered at Melbourne Burwood Campus, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus
Duration3 years full-time or part-time equivalent
CRICOS course code055182A
Deakin course codeA316
For students commencing from 2008

Course sub-headings

Course overview

Deakin's Bachelor of Arts (Professional and Creative Writing) aims to provide the qualities and attributes that will enable you to work both in specialised fields, and across professional boundaries.

Initially you will undertake various forms of constructive, descriptive and narrative writing, progressing to editing, creative non-fiction and script writing as well as the traditional genres of poetry and fiction writing.

 

You will develop broadly based skills in the processes of writing and revision, and gain expertise and practical experience across a range of genres, styles and professional environments. In all writing and editing units, the emphasis is on publication or the achievement of professional standards.

 

The course will encourage you to explore new communication technologies both in the practical realms of professional communication and in cross-genre experimentation and creative production.

 

You will also learn the practical skills necessary to support, create and collaborate in work across a range of forms, in writing, film, drama and new media.

 

As part of the course you are required to complete a sub-major selected from areas of Children's Literature, Film Studies, Journalism or Literary Studies.

Pathways

This course has pathways from the following institutions: Box Hill Institute TAFE and Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, from the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing. Other TAFE pathways apply. For more information refer to the Credit for Prior Learning (Credit Transfer) Search.

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Transition to University study
The faculty offers two units ASC160 Introduction to University Study and ALW117 Writing for Professional Practice which are specifically designed to ease the transition into university study. New students are encouraged to enrol in one or both of these units in their first year.

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Fees and charges

Unit fees can be viewed within individual unit descriptions. You can search for a unit using the Unit Search.

 

Please be aware:

  • Fees are calculated on a per unit basis
  • Fees charged will depend on the individual units chosen
  • Fees per unit/credit point may increase annually due to rises in the cost of course delivery and services

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Course rules

For students who commenced from 2008 to 2011 refer to the handbook of the year you commenced.

 

For students commencing from 2012

 

To qualify for the Bachelor of Arts (Professional and Creative Writing) a student must complete 24 credit points of study, including:

  • a major sequence of at least 8 credit points in Professional and Creative Writing
  • a sub-major of 4 credit points selected from ONE of the parallel studies: Children's Literature, Film Studies, Journalism or Literary Studies
  • no more than 8 credit points taken outside the course-grouped units for Arts (in effect this means that up to 8 credit points may be taken outside the recognised Faculty of Arts and Education major sequences)
  • no more than 10 credit points at level 1
  • at least 14 credit points at level 2 or above
  • at least 4 credit points at level 3

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Course structure

Professional and Creative Writing - unit set code MJ-A000002

Select 8 credit points from the following listed units for the Professional and Creative Writing major:

 

Core units

 

Level 1

 

Trimester 1

 

ALW101 Writing Craft (B, G)  

 

Trimester 2

 

ALW102 Writing Spaces (B, G)  

 

 

Level 2 & Level 3

 

Students will then select a further 6 credit points, ensuring at least 2 credit points are undertaken at level 2 and 2 credit points at level 3 from the following:

 

Trimester 1

 

ALW225 Fiction Writing: Story, Structure and Starting Out (B, G)  

ALW223 Creative Nonfiction: the Personal Essay (B)  

ALW227 Script Writing: Focus On Fiction (B, G)  

ALW240 Poetry: Making It Strange (B, G)  

ALW393 Collaborations in Editing: Producing An Anthology (B, G)  

 

 

Trimester 2

 

ALW205 Editing and the Author (B, G)  

ALW392 Theorising Creativity (B)  

ALW394 Writing Project B (B, G)  

 

 

Trimester 1 or trimester 2

 

 

ALX321 Creative Industries Internship (B, G, W, X)  *

 

 

 

The following electives in related writing areas may be taken in addition to the prescribed major sequence:

 

Trimester 1 or trimester 2 or trimester 3

 

ALW117 Writing for Professional Practice (B, G, W, X)  **

 

Trimester 1 or trimester 3

 

ACV211 Texts and Images II: in Quest of Story and Image   ***

 

 

Trimester 1

 

ACC301 Freelancing in the Arts   ****

 

Trimester 2

 

ACV110 Texts and Images 1: Ways of Seeing, Reading and Telling Stories (B)  

 

 

Notes:

*Internship units are normally undertaken in third level (or equivalent) and are subject to completion of specified prerequisite units and special application requirements. Interested students should contact Arts and Education Student Support and Enrolment Enquiries on their campus for further information.

** This unit is offered at Warrnambool Campus in trimester 2 only.
*** ACV211 not offered 2014, re-offered 2015 subject to approval.

**** ACC301 not offered 2014, re-offered 2015 subject to approval.

 

 

NOTE: Students may also extend their parallel studies into a major sequence in Childrens Literature, Film Studies, Journalism or Literary Studies.

Parallel Studies - core requirement

Select ONE parallel study from the four listed below:

 

Children's Literature

 

Level 1

 

Trimester 1

ALL153 Literature for Children and Young Adults (B, G, W, X)  

 

Trimester 2

ALL154 Power Politics and Texts for Young People (B, G, W, X)  

 

Level 2

 

Trimester 2

ALL230 Re-Imagining Literature for Young People (B, G, W, X)  

 

 

Film Studies

 

Select 4 from the following including both level 1 units:

 

Level 1

 

Trimester 1

ACM120 Moving Pictures: Screening Film History (B)  

 

Trimester 2

ACM112 Writing with the Camera (B)  

 

Level 2

 

Trimester 1 or Trimester 2

ACM217 Documentary Production Practice (B)  

ACM237 TV Studio Production (B)  

 

Trimester 2

ACM236 Mindscreen: Cinema, Psychology and Psychoanalysis (B)  

AAM220 Cinemas and Cultures (B, X)  

 

 

Journalism

 

Select 4 from the following including both level 1 units:

 

Level 1

 

Trimester 1

ALJ111 Contemporary Journalism A (B, G, W, X)  

 

Trimester 2

ALJ112 Contemporary Journalism B (B, G, W, X)  

 

Level 2

 

Trimester 1

ALJ216 Research for Writers (B, G, W, X)  

 

Trimester 1 and Trimester 3

ALR207 Media Relations (B, G, W, X)  

 

Trimester 2

ALJ217 Editing and Design (B, G, W, X)  

 

 

Literary Studies

 

Level 1

 

Trimester 1

ALL101 The Stories We Tell: Inventing Selves and Others (B, G, X)  

 

Trimester 2

ALL102 From Horror to Romance: Genre and Its Obsessions (B, G, W, X)  

 

Level 2

 

Trimester 1

ALL201 Love, Death and Poetry (B, G, X)  

 

Trimester 2

ALL202 Writing Modern Worlds (B, G, X)  

 

 

Students to also consider a second major or 4 credit point submajor sequence as an elective from the following list to support their studies in the Professional and Creative Writing degree:

Anthropology , Australian Studies , History , International Relations, Philosophy , Public Relations, Politics and Policy Studies , Sociology

 

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8th June 2007