Award Abbreviation: GDCWriting
Degree Type: Postgraduate on campus coursework program
Mode of Study: Internal
Duration: 1 year minimum full-time, 4 years maximum part-time
Total Courses: 8
Total Units: 96
Commencement: Semester 1 or 2
Program Code: AR614
CRICOS Code: 053332G

Admission Requirements

A student entering the Graduate Diploma program will normally be required to hold an undergraduate degree, or equivalent, from a recognised higher education institution. Entry by non-graduates who have extensive relevant industry experience may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Program Objectives

The program's objectives, in accordance with the University's Graduate Attributes, strive to enable students to acquire the knowledge, skills and values that are characteristic of the students' chosen specialisation.

Achievement of the objectives pertaining to the students' areas of specialisation will result in graduates of high academic standard, capable of competing for employment in a chosen professional area, pursuing career development in that or other related areas and undertaking further postgraduate studies.

The Graduate Diploma is specifically designed to enable students to:

• demonstrate proficiency in areas of professional and creative writing
• discuss ideas and stories with an established creative writer
• identify and evaluate a particular audience, and develop the styles of written communication and modes of delivery accordingly
• identify the generic conventions of different forms of trade novels and outline the reasons for their economic success within a global market
• discuss contemporary culture and social outcomes/reactions of trends in popular fiction
• describe the generic conventions of different types of novels such as horror, romance, crime and science fiction
• analyse written and oral communications in order to identify and implement proper drafting, revising, and editing techniques
• apply skills developed in on-campus courses to specific workplace environments
• graduate and pursue further vocational studies and apply theoretically advanced approaches

Program Structure

5 required courses:
CMN515 Creative Writing A: Structuring Narrative
CMN538 Creative Writing D: Paperback Hero
CMN541 Production Workshop (Creative Writing 1)
CMN545 Creative Writing C: Writing for Children and Young Adults
CMN560 Creative Writing B: Novel Ideas
Plus - choose 3 courses from:
AUS530 Talking History: Memory and the Past
AUS560 Coast to Coast: Mystery, Crime and Writing the City
AUS585 Wonderworlds
AUS591 Otherlands: Myths and Legends from Homer to Disney
CMN512 Creative Event Management
CMN513 Editing for the Communications Professional
CMN528 The Writer and the Law
CMN533 Non-Fiction Writing for the Small Screen
CMN535 News Writing: Print and Broadcast
CMN571 Production Workshop (Creative Writing 2)

Requirements and Notes

1. The Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing is a 96 unit program. Students must complete five compulsory specialist courses in creative writing.
2. The courses that constitute the Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing are existing undergraduate courses and are assessed in the same way as for undergraduate students.
3. The Graduate Certificate articulates into the Graduate Diploma. Students who undertake 48 units in the Graduate Certificate, can apply those units to the Graduate Diploma.

Enquiries

Bruce Williams
Academic Advisor
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Tel: +61 7 5430 2857; Fax: +61 7 5430 2859
Email: bwillia4@usc.edu.au