Course description
First 100 Points
Compulsory subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-473 Editorial English
This subject focuses on the key communication skill of editing. It introduces students to the linguistic conventions of editorial English, the use and interpretation of copy-editing symbols, and the parameters of a variety of house styles. Students w... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
106-471 Structural Editing
This subject focuses on the structural editing of texts in a range of genres, including instructional, polemical, scholarly and narrative works. Students will learn how to analyse the reading practices characteristic of different genres, and will be ... Semester 2 12.50
Optional subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-474 The Contemporary Publishing Industry
This subject provides an overview of the major factors affecting the local and global production, marketing and distribution of books, magazines and electronic publications. It considers the impact of political, social and economic conditions, techno... Semester 1 12.50
106-475 Business and Professional Communications
This subject is concerned with the elements of successful communication in business and professional contexts. It introduces students to key business communications skills, focusing on both written and oral communications. The subject explores pertin... Semester 1 12.50
106-518 Print Production and Design
This subject introduces students to the aesthetics and practice of print production. It outlines the principles of page proportion, the visual characteristics of readable type and the interrelationship of images and text. The subject also surveys the... Semester 1 12.50
106-528 Publishing and Communications 5A
This subject involves a study of an approved topic in publishing and communications. Details of the program being offered will be available from the department. Students who complete this subject successfully should have demonstrated a specialist und... Semester 1 12.50
106-476 Technical Writing and Editing
This subject teaches the writing and editing skills needed in the technical writing profession. The emphasis is on preparing instructional materials (also known as user documentation), both for printed and online delivery. Students will learn how to ... Semester 2 12.50
106-477 Writing and Editing for Digital Media
This subject focuses on the communication techniques required to publish effectively in the digital environment, in particular for professional websites in the public domain. It examines the communication techniques used for ‘old... Semester 2 12.50
106-529 Publishing and Communications 5B
This subject involves a study of an approved topic in publishing and communications. Details of the program being offered will be available from the department. Students who complete this subject successfully should have demonstrated a specialist und... Semester 2 12.50
Additional subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
100-416 Researching Audiences and Reception
This subject examines diverse notions of audience power and introduces various research approaches to investigating forms of audience practices and patterns of consumption in an ever-changing mediascape. It provides a detailed understanding of differ... Semester 1 12.50
100-419 Public Relations and Corporate Power
This subject examines the practice of public relations in a globally corporatised environment and pays special attention to its historical and theoretical development in the context of large business corporations. The role of public relations as a hu... Semester 2 12.50
100-420 Journalism: Practice and Theory
This subject aims to provide students with an informed understanding of news organisation and professional practice, their informing determinants and impact on news representations. The course reviews and evaluates a wide range of theoretical framewo... Semester 2 12.50
Students in the first year of the Master's program may undertake the following level 5 subjects.
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-526 Ethical and Legal Issues in Publishing
This subject addresses ethical issues and legal constraints involved in publishing for print and digital media. It reviews existing ethical codes and the mechanisms established to police them, as well as offering an overview of how publishing practic... Semester 1 12.50
106-513 History of Books and Reading
This subject introduces students to the history of the book and its relationship to changing reading practices. It will focus specifically on the changing technologies and aesthetics of book production, the relationships between reading and other cul... Semester 1 12.50
106-533 Print Markets: Structures and Strategies
This subject focuses on the changing structure of markets for print publications, the impact of digital technologies on the publishing supply chain and the strategic contribution of marketing to the publishing process. Students will examine the chang... Semester 2 12.50
Second 100 points
Thesis subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-531 Publishing and Communications Thesis
A research topic selected in consultation with the supervisor. Semester 1, Semester 2 37.50
Core subject
For students enrolled in the thesis
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-532 Research Methodologies
This subject is designed to equip students with the skills necessary to complete an intellectually sophisticated original research project. Students will be offered a detailed introduction to the range of disciplinary and theoretical approaches that ... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
Level five elective subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
106-513 History of Books and Reading
This subject introduces students to the history of the book and its relationship to changing reading practices. It will focus specifically on the changing technologies and aesthetics of book production, the relationships between reading and other cul... Semester 1 12.50
106-516 Advanced Editing for Digital Media
Students will be taken through the process of planning sites at various levels of complexity for different purposes and audiences, with attention to the efficient management of content, the optimisation of access and the establishment of qualitative ... Semester 1 12.50
106-525 Advanced Magazine Editing and Publishing
This subject combines analysis of the magazine industry with intensive exposure to the editorial and business aspects of magazine publishing. It places particular emphasis on the procedures required to manage magazines through each phase of productio... Semester 1 25
106-518 Print Production and Design
This subject introduces students to the aesthetics and practice of print production. It outlines the principles of page proportion, the visual characteristics of readable type and the interrelationship of images and text. The subject also surveys the... Semester 1 12.50
106-526 Ethical and Legal Issues in Publishing
This subject addresses ethical issues and legal constraints involved in publishing for print and digital media. It reviews existing ethical codes and the mechanisms established to police them, as well as offering an overview of how publishing practic... Semester 1 12.50
106-528 Publishing and Communications 5A
This subject involves a study of an approved topic in publishing and communications. Details of the program being offered will be available from the department. Students who complete this subject successfully should have demonstrated a specialist und... Semester 1 12.50
106-519 Internship
Students enrolled in this subject will be assisted to find a placement in a publishing or communications environment. They will work for 100 - 120 hours under the guidance of a senior staff person, with additional support from the subject co-ordinato... Semester 1, Semester 2 25
106-520 Practicum
This subject is designed to further develop the skills and extend the experience of those students already in gainful employment in a publishing or communications environment. With the support of the subject co-ordinator and the mentorship of a senio... Semester 1, Semester 2 25
106-524 Advanced Book Editing and Publishing
This subject combines analysis of the book publishing industry with intensive exposure to the editorial and business aspects of book publishing. A case-study approach will be used to address the issues involved in selecting and commissioning titles, ... Semester 2 25
106-514 The Publishing Industry & Globalisation
This subject addresses a range of political, social and cultural issues associated with the globalisation of publishing. Students will review various interpretations of the emergence of global publishing conglomerates and the integration of print pub... Semester 2 12.50
106-529 Publishing and Communications 5B
This subject involves a study of an approved topic in publishing and communications. Details of the program being offered will be available from the department. Students who complete this subject successfully should have demonstrated a specialist und... Semester 2 12.50
106-533 Print Markets: Structures and Strategies
This subject focuses on the changing structure of markets for print publications, the impact of digital technologies on the publishing supply chain and the strategic contribution of marketing to the publishing process. Students will examine the chang... Semester 2 12.50
The following level five elective subjects are available with written permission of the subject coordinator, which is based on the submission of a 5000 word folio.
Subject Semester Credit Points
760-512 Research for the Creative Writer
This seminar subject is designed to enrich writers' understanding of what research involves for extended writing projects, in terms of the thematic material explored, the cultural and socio-political context, and in terms of the conceptual enric... Semester 1 12.50
760-513 Writing the Unconscious
This subject explores the implications of theories of the self and the unconscious for contemporary writers. Work from the late 19th Century, the Modernist period and contemporary Postmodern literature will be surveyed along with theoretical writing ... Semester 1 12.50
760-510 Creative Writing Advanced Workshop
Students will produce drafts of work in progress, engage in peer editing and workshops, present readings, attend seminars conducted by experienced writers, and will have an opportunity to receive professional feedback from publishers and editors. Semester 2 12.50
760-520 Text, Time and Space
This subject will enable the creative writing student to consider how time and space as cultural and structural concepts are involved in narrative and subject construction. The subject will stimulate a creative engagement with critical theory and wil... Semester 2 12.50
