The Contextual Study a quick guide.

. Unless writing a theoretical essay, all students taking creative writing modules will be expected to compose a contextual study to accompany their creative work in assessments. Marks will be deducted if a contextual study is not included in conjunction with the piece. What is a contextual study? The contextual study is often something that causes confusion among our students. In fact, its quite a simple concept that will give you a valuable opportunity to discuss the work youve presented, and which will demonstrate your skills as a self-reflexive writer. Basically, it enables you to put your work in context, so that as assessors, we can see that youre aware of what youre doing when youre writing, that you are able to be a self-critic in a productive way. Things you might want to include when youre writing a contextual study will obviously vary from piece to piece, and as you go through the course, it will naturally become more advanced in style, etc as you become more confident in your writing. The most important questions youll probably find yourself asking are how as in how did I do this? And why as in why did I choose to do it this way? However, specific elements will probably include: Fiction: You might want to talk about your decisions regarding: Style of narrative and why you chose that style. Character creation. Choice of viewpoint/tense why for example, did you choose first person POV over third, or present tense over past? Plot structure, if any; and if not why not? Use of figurative language e.g. metaphor, motif, symbol, etc. Use of imagery how has imagery shaped your piece? Have you used any kind of experimental/innovative styles of writing? If so, discuss the pieces structure, language whatever it is youve done that makes your piece different. What precursors are there to the piece youve written, e.g., what were your influences, if any? Are you trying to copy another writers style, for example, as an experiment? What are your contemporary influences? If youre writing in a certain genre, e.g. horror, what conventions of that genre have you used? And have you subverted the conventions if so, how and why?

Poetry: You might want to discuss: Style and use of language. Formatting (lineation, punctuation, and possibly font). Imagery/metaphor (use of, or not). The context of the piece precursors, contemporaries, and the poetics of the piece. Certain forms of poetries, particularly innovative poetry, may prioritise one aspect of the above, so you will no doubt want to expand on this throughout the study. Creative Non-Fiction uses very similar elements to fiction, so refer back to those for guidance. As well as the above aspects, all students writing contextual studies should certainly consider mentioning: are you happy with what youve written? Do you think it works well? Or did your piece not quite fulfil your expectations; was it even in your opinion a complete disaster? Discussing these aspects in your contextual study will show awareness of yourself as a writer; for instance, if youre unhappy with the way a piece has gone, you might want to say how you might do it differently next time. Showing this kind of self-reflexivity shows us that youre aware, and we can consider the piece accordingly. What we DO NOT want to see is a re-telling of your piece. We have already seen what youve submitted; re-telling achieves nothing. And remember: if in doubt about your contextual study or any other piece of work you undertake were always around to help, so please come and discuss problems with us. Lesley