Literary Studies: True Stories (8623.4)

Required texts

Prescribed text:

Kerrane, Kevin and Ben Yagoda, eds. The Art of Fact: An Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism, New York: Scribner, 1997.

Then you must choose a set of two books. These could either be the autobiography and biography of Lance Armstrong OR two books chosen from the list of works below. (In other words, you only choose two books in total from below.)

OPTION I: An autobiography and a biography:

Armstrong, Lance with Sally Jenkins, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2000.

Walsh, David. Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong, London: Simon & Schuster, 2012.

OPTION II: Two of these works:

Garner, Helen. Joe Cinque's Consolation, Sydney: Macmillan, 2004.

Malan, Rian. My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face his Country, his Tribe, and his Conscience, New York: Grove Press, 1990.

Hooper, Chloe. The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island, Camberwell: Hamish Hamilton, 2008.

Funder, Anna. Stasiland, Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2002.

Submission of assessment items

Special assessment requirements

On Deadlines, Late Penalties and Extensions:

Deadlines are an important professional discipline to learn. They are included in the university's generic skills and attributes under No. 5 working with others – "take responsibility for carrying out agreed tasks".  Assignments submitted late without prior notification and without an extension granted will incur a penalty of 5% per day of total marks available for that item, including for weekends and public holidays. (For example, if an assessment item was submitted three days late a mark of 70% would be reduced to 55%.) If you require an extension it is important to ask for one before the due date. If a medical condition makes this impossible a doctor's or counsellor's certificate should be submitted to the unit convenor, normally within three days of the illness or incident. Lack of personal organisation, pressure of work, or computer problems are not valid reasons for requesting an extension. Please note that requests for extensions need to be granted by the unit convenor, not by your tutor. You can approach your tutor for an extension in the first instance but they will need to check with the unit convenor before granting the extension.

On Word Lengths:

There is flexibility in the allocated word lengths for your assessment items but it is not endless as the ability to write to a set word length remains a useful discipline for a professional writer to acquire. For the comparative book analysis and the essay or analysis of a writer's work, your work  needs to be within 10% plus or minus of the allocated minimum or maximum word length. If you are beneath or go beyond these prescribed word lengths you will lose 10% of the total mark for the assessment item.

On Passing each Assessment:

Please note that for this unit it is not essential that you achieve a pass grade or better in each of the assessment items but given the weighting for each assessment item students will find it difficult to pass the unit without passing all three assessment items.

On any Questions or Concerns or Confusion:

If you are confused about the requirements or procedure for assessment tasks, the onus is on students to clarify the issue by contacting the unit convenor. Students should also keep electronic copies of all work submitted and of all marked assignments until grades are formally awarded at the end of semester. 

Moderation:

Moderation of assessment items and final results will be done by the unit convenor and tutors to ensure consistent standards across the cohort and the Literary Studies program.

Academic integrity

Students have a responsibility to uphold University standards on ethical scholarship. Good scholarship involves building on the work of others and use of others' work must be acknowledged with proper attribution made. Cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of data are dishonest practices that contravene academic values. Refer to the University's Student Charter for more information.

To enhance understanding of academic integrity, all students are expected to complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) at least once during their course of study. You can access this module within UCLearn (Canvas) through the 'Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism' link in the Study Help site.

Use of Text-Matching Software

The University of Canberra uses text-matching software to help students and staff reduce plagiarism and improve understanding of academic integrity. The software matches submitted text in student assignments against material from various sources: the internet, published books and journals, and previously submitted student texts.

Participation requirements

Attendance at lectures and tutorials is not compulsory but students, especially those in the first year of university study, will find it difficult to master the necessary concepts without regular attendance. Likewise, it will be difficult for students to get the maximum benefit from tutorials if they have not done the set reading in advance. It is also inconsiderate of other students if you expect tutors to go over lecture and reading material that should have been done beforehand. Please note that Assessment Item #2 requires some direct participation in tutorials.

Required IT skills

Word processing skills and the ability to use the Internet are assumed.

In-unit costs

Students are expected to access or purchase the prescribed text, The Art of Fact, as well as an autobiography and biography OR a pair of narrative nonfiction works. These costs could be upto $100 in total not including the student discount if you shop at the co-op bookshop.

Alternatively, you may choose to buy them through an online bookstore and at least some of the prescribed books are available in secondhand bookshops or online stores.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None.

Additional information

It is the student's responsibility to ensure that they are correctly enrolled in each unit and that the units are correct for their course of study. Students should confirm their unit enrolment details via OSIS (Online Student Information System) before the end of Week 2 of the semester.

• Semester 2, 2018, Flexible, UC - Canberra, Bruce (178594)
• Semester 2, 2017, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (164984)