This course provides an introduction to English literature and film combined with intensive focus on writing techniques, and learning and research methods. The texts range from classics such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the novel Wuthering Heights and the poem The Waste Land, to the movie Rear Window and the twentieth-century novels The Great Gatsby and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Each text is studied in relation to issues such as its historical context, and the nature of literature, culture and literary criticism, mainly in blocks of three weeks to allow time for reading and discussion. The delivery is through lectures combined with group discussion and written work that enhances writing and learning skills. While the content is suitable for general interest, a main aim is to provide a course equivalent to advanced Higher School Certificate studies in English, for the purpose of competitive university entrance, and as a basis for further study in English literature and a wide range of other university subjects.
Before considering a University Preparation Course please review important information to determine if you are eligible for the Mature Age Entry Scheme and how to go about qualifying and applying.
Course Content
- Introduction to literature
- Enhancing writing skills: English grammar, sentences and paragraphs
- Reading literature: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Essay writing
- Literature and context: the Renaissance and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the film versions
- Literature and context: Romanticism and John Keats
- Literary criticism and Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
- Modernism and T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
- Genre, detective fiction and film studies: Edgar Allan Poe, ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (in Course Reader) and Rear Window (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Literature and context: Postmodernism and the Cold War – history, novels, films and popular culture; John Le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
- Recent Hollywood films: Crash (2004), directed Paul Haggis
- The exam paper and writing exam essays
At the beginning of the course students will be provided with a substantial Course Reader that provides a more detailed lecture timetable, supplementary texts and secondary reading material: Keats’s poems, critical essays, essay advice and so on.
Study for Success
Study for Success: Strategies for Improving Learning is the foundation study skills course designed to complement UPC subject classes. This course provides an introduction to those critical skills required to learn more effectively and enhance academic performance. All students doing a UPC subject are required to also enrol in Study for Success: Strategies for Improving Learning.
Free Library Access
To assist with your study program, we offer all UPC students free access to the University of Sydney Fisher Library. UPC students are entitled to borrow books from the University of Sydney Library once they have obtained a library card. To obtain a library card, a library card application form must be completed and submitted to the University Card Centre once the University Preparation Courses have commenced (see Attachments section at end of this page).
Complementary Study Skills Courses
In order to ensure you are fully equipped for tertiary study, the Centre for Continuing Education also offers a range of complementary UPC Study Skills courses, which have been specially designed to provide you with the learning tools necessary to maximise your chances of academic success.
Course Delivery
Lecture based with a focus on group discussion and improvement of research, communication and writing skills, including library research and use of online and digital resources. Students will write short exercises to develop writing skills and essay writing in addition to the three essays required for assessment (see below).
Course Outcomes
Students will:
- Study a range of literary and film texts in a sustained and critical way
- Clarify and extend their understanding of the historical, cultural and intellectual contexts of a wide range of texts
- Understand and analyse the construction of literary meaning
- Work with literary texts from a range of genres
- Form and write sound arguments in a sustained and cogent way about their responses to a wide range of texts
- Demonstrate a capacity for undertaking learning in a collaborative environment.
Complementary study skills
Students will develop an ability to:
- Identify, evaluate and process information efficiently and effectively
- Develop and apply critical thinking skills and understanding
- Develop, implement and evaluate processes to solve problems
- Recognise and respect differing ideas and opinions
- Communicate in a clear and logical manner.
Suitable for
This pre-tertiary course is suitable for those who are seeking entry to an undergraduate degree program at an Australian university through a mature-age entry scheme. Applicants applying to the University of Sydney must ensure that they will be at least 21 years of age on 1 March in their first year of undergraduate study.
Centrelink Assistance
Interested parties who receive the Youth Allowance (YAL) or New Start Allowance (NSA) through Centrelink and are linked to a Job Services Australia (JSA) provider may be eligible for Government funded assistance when enrolling into a University Preparation Course. Please call your JSA provider to discuss further or alternatively speak with your local Centrelink office for more information about JSA providers.
Before the course
Before selecting your University Preparatory Course, please read the Mature-age brochure carefully (see Attachments section at end of this page).
Assessment
The final result is based on a combination of assignments and a final written 3 hour exam (closed-book). On successful completion of assignments, attendance and exam, students receive a Certificate of Attainment.
Three essays (each of 1500 words) are required throughout the course for assessment. Each has even weighting. The best two of a student’s essays are counted toward the final mark, and together make up 55% of the final result.
Attendance is a major part of the course and included in the assessment. Satisfactory attendance and participation is required in order to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to achieve well in the course. The University understands that at times work, health and personal issues may interfere with attendance but in those cases absence must be explained and documented.
Final result summary
Two essays: 55%
Final exam: 40%
Attendance: 5%
The University understands that unanticipated situations can arise during the year that may prevent you from submitting an assignment on time or attending an exam. Please refer to the Application for Special Consideration (see Attachments section at end of this page). Late essays (without an extension) lose 2% for each day they are late. Under NO circumstances will essays be accepted after marked essays have been returned.
Satisfactory attendance and participation is required in order to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to achieve well in the course.
You will be advised in writing of the outcomes of all assignments and the date of the final exam.
Recommended Reading
The following editions of the set texts are recommended. There are many others available but these have the advantage of supporting essays and notes. Please start reading the novels as soon as possible. It is an advantage to have read some or all of the novels before the beginning of the course.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (Penguin Classics)
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet (New Cambridge Shakespeare)
- Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics)
- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and other Poems (Penguin Classics)
- John Le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin Modern Classics)
In addition, participants should obtain DVD copies of the film texts Rear Window (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and Crash (2004), directed Paul Haggis. The Keats poems will be provided in the Course Reader.
