Memoir: Begin Writing Your Life

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

To study a variety of life writing texts and produce an original piece of life writing.

Course objectives:

• To read and understand a variety of life writing.
• To analyse the ways in which life writing sustains the reader's interest.
• To provide a positive atmosphere in which students can explore their reading and writing from first draft to finished piece and give constructive feedback to others.

1. Reading and discussion of texts in groups and pairs.

2. Textual analysis.

3. Directed writing tasks.

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

• respond to different forms of life writing with growing confidence and understanding;
• be able to write in a manner which engages and sustains the interest of the reader; and
• be able to transform their own experiences into original writing.

Students will produce two pieces of work:

1. A short piece of memoir (500 words).

2. A more substantial piece of original life-writing (1500 words).

Both of these pieces will be negotiated with the tutor based upon the work covered in class.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work the required standard.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.