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English and Comparative Literary Studies

Creative/Critical Project

Creative/Critical Project

Your final assessment for New Literatures consists of a creative/critical project. The creative project should be accompanied by a 1,000-word critical reflection or analysis by non-finalists. Final year students are required to submit a 1,500-word piece accompanying their creative project.

 

  1. What is a creative project?

Your creative project should respond to one or more of the texts or authors studied on the module in a form that is different from the standard assessed essay. However, like the essay, it should be driven by a clear research question and the aims of your project should be clear and focused, and expressed in the accompanying critical essay.

  1. What form can a creative project take?

You should discuss the form of your creative project with your tutor, via email or a Teams meeting. Examples include (but are not limited to):

  • Creative writing (poetry, play, screenplay, short story, novel chapters)
  • Visual art (painting, photography, drawings, sculptures, graphic novels, scrapbooks, poster)
  • Media (short film, radio drama, recorded music, computer games, podcast, television show/discussion)
  • Syllabus/workshop/conference design
  • Website creation

Please keep your project on a manageable scale (for example, write a short story rather than a novel; a film scenario and sample scene rather than an entire screenplay; a sonata rather than a symphony…).

Video and sound recording should be in the range of 5-7 minutes.

The word count for written creative work or educational material (syllabus/conference/website) should be in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 words.

It is harder to quantify visual art works, but time required to create it should roughly be in the vicinity of time you would take to write a 1,000-1,500 word essay at a minimum.

  1. What should I include in the accompanying essay?

The essay should indicate the thinking, analysis and research which has led to the creative piece. It should not be written as a journal; rather, it should be structured in the manner of a normal academic essay, with a clear sense of focused, analytical thinking and wider reading. You should certainly reflect on the extent to which your project has helped you to explore, and perhaps answer, your research question. The essay should include a bibliography and be presented to normal scholarly standards. You may wish to append material: this is fine, but any appended material must be referred to and explained in the essay itself.

  1. How should I manage my project?

It’s important to propose your project early so that you have enough time to develop it. You may wish to think about timescales for such activities as rehearsals, sourcing materials, preparatory sketches, filming, etc. Please remember that the department provides no budget for creative projects.

  1. How Should I submit the Project?

All accompanying essays must be submitted via Tabula. If the Tabula submission accompanies a physical submission, you should make a note to this effect prominently at the top of the essay.

  • If your creative project can be submitted via Tabula in the usual way, you should do this (for example, pieces of creative writing or lesson plans).
  • If your project is electronic in form but cannot be submitted via Tabula (for example, a film or a piece of music), you should make arrangements with your tutor to have it delivered straight to them via a link to a cloud-based storage. This submission must take place before the deadline.
  1. How will my project be marked?

The project will be marked according to the assessment criteria in the English handbook. Clearly these criteria apply more to the essay than the project itself. The essay should therefore make the rationale for the project and the thinking behind it as clear as possible, since it is ultimately by this that the project itself will be judged. You are not, remember, being marked on your ability to create a skilfully-produced artefact: the project will be marked first and foremost as a piece of intellectual and creative exploration. Originality and creativity are more important than a neatly produced website or a well-executed painting. Those reflect technical skills, while the project is an opportunity to present your ideas and research questions.