The Art & Practice of the Personal Essay (ARTS90044)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 6.25Not available in 2025
About this subject
Overview
| Fees | Look up fees |
|---|
In this 16-hour seminar series students will read and discuss writing that explores complex ideas and issues in personal, engaging, and creative ways. These seminars will examine the rhetorical, narrative, and poetic strategies of the personal essay as a contribution to public intellectual discourse, as well as the kinds of occasions that give rise to the essay (personal crises, social issues, shifts in societal sensibility, ethical dilemmas). Some essayists we might read: Montaigne, Zadie Smith, M. J. Hyland, Helen Garner, Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace. Possible text: Best Australian Essays 2016 (Black Inc). Most reading material will be available electronically. Students will draft and workshop their own creative writing during the seminar sessions. This subject is relevant to humanities researchers directly, but could be useful to science and social science researchers who wish to explore and extend their prose techniques.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- Show enhanced knowledge of the topic or area of scholarship taught in the module
- Have a grasp of techniques and skills required to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module
- Engage with relevant leading-edge research in Arts today.
Last updated: 8 April 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
MULT90044 The Art & Practice of the Personal Essay
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 8 April 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
One essay, due within four weeks of completion of teaching
| 4 Weeks after the end of teaching | 100% |
| Hurdle requirement: 1. Attendance hurdle requirement: This subject has a minimum requirement of 80% attendance at tutorials, seminars, or workshops. | During the teaching period | N/A |
| Hurdle requirement: 2. Late Penalty and Assessment hurdle requirement: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at five per cent (5%) of the possible marks available for the assessment task per day or part thereof. All pieces of assessment must be submitted to pass the subject. Each submitted assessment must be complete, constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task and will not be accepted after 20 University business days from the original assessment due date without written approval. | Throughout the semester | N/A |
Last updated: 8 April 2025
Dates & times
Not available in 2025
Time commitment details
85 Hours
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 8 April 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
Subject coordinator approval required
Last updated: 8 April 2025