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Unit of Study LAWS2067 - Crossing the Line: Law and Morality in Fiction (2020)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

    This is an intensive unit taught on-campus/online over 4 days. Class times and room details will be provided on the School of Law and Justice website and posted to the learning site. Students must be able to commit to the delivery mode before enrolling in this unit.

Unit description

Introduces students to fictional explorations of shades of morality, the complexity of human motivation and situations where morality and the law conflict. Students will practice writing craft and write their own short story about a character facing a moral quandary with legal implications.

Unit content

Topic 1: Building complex, multi-faceted characters. Contradictory aspects of character, layers of motivation. Character desire and how it drives plot.

Topic 2: Building tension with scene and dialogue. How to convey the character’s inner world through scene and framing of moral dilemas.

Topic 3: Point of view and narrative distance. Who’s narrating the story and how does that choice affect the story and reader?

Topic 4: Plot, rising action and framing a short story which encapsualtes a moral quandary. 

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Online
Session3
Session3

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 demonstrate understanding of how to build a complex character using reflection, exposition, scene, and dialogue
2 demonstrate understanding of the difference between scene and summary
3 show ability to write with both a remote and close narrative distance
4 demonstrate ability to write rising action and a compelling moral quandary

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. demonstrate understanding of how to build a complex character using reflection, exposition, scene, and dialogue
    • GA2:
    • GA4:
  2. demonstrate understanding of the difference between scene and summary
    • GA4:
  3. show ability to write with both a remote and close narrative distance
    • GA4:
  4. demonstrate ability to write rising action and a compelling moral quandary
    • GA2:
    • GA3:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
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Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.