Form terms may be assigned more than once for multiple work types such as Anthology.

Some definitions were derived from The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms .

A non-literary work such as a painting, photograph or sculpture that is the subject of , or has inspired or influenced a creative work or a piece of writing recorded in AustLit.

Works written by the subject of the work himself/herself which relate to their life, identity, memories and perceptions of experience. Used both for chronological narratives of an individual's life, or for briefer specially-focused pieces such as personal memoirs that provide glimpses or windows into a person's life or time. Can appear in article or book form.

A list or inventory of works on a particular subject, or about a particular person or organisation, eg. a list of works published by an author.

The story of a person's life written by someone other than the subject of the work. Used both for chronological narratives of an individual's life, or for briefer specially-focused pieces such as personal memoirs that provide glimpses or windows into a person's life or time. Can appear in article or book form.

Used for all children's fiction, regardless of length.

Brief articles, including newspaper columns, short journalistic-style articles, or short pieces of reporting in periodicals or newspapers. Can be about works and/or agents and/or any other items that meet the selection criteria.

All letters published in newspapers, periodicals or collected form.

Literary criticism - critical essays and articles on literature and writers - from books, periodicals and newspapers that discusses, analyses or evaluates a subject in an in-depth, formal manner. Criticism differs from columns in that it provides a deeper, more academic analysis of the work and/or agent being appraised. It differs from reviews in that it is not usually linked to a publication event. Criticism of an author's work is often combined with biographical information. AustLit assigns the form that reflects the greater emphasis and uses subject concepts to cover other possibilities.

A work (either published or in manuscript form) that is a daily or regular record of matters affecting the writer personally, or which comes under his/her personal observation.

A published or unpublished dramatic work. Includes sketches and verse presented in play form.

For AustLit purposes an essay is defined as a literary form that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or rigorous exposition. The literary essay is more relaxed in style than a formal academic treatise -it is usually personal and imaginative in its treatment of subject and may contain such elements as digression, free association of ideas, whimsy, humour and fantasy; language is of great importance. It is a form of literary non-fiction. Used for works such as Peter Porter's piece Depth Soundings about music.

For critical essays that discuss, analyse or evaluate Australian literature and/or Australian writers in a more 'in-depth', formal manner, AustLit uses the form Criticism.

For biographical essays that deal with Australian creative writers AustLit uses the form Biography.

For autobiographical essays written by Australian creative writers AustLit uses the form Autobiography. For 'Review Essays' and 'Review Articles' that deal with Australian creative works AustLit uses the form Review.

An excerpt from a larger work. Used as a form term only when the extract appears in a selected works or anthology. The work type for 'And What Books do You Read?' is 'Anthology', and the form types include 'Extract'. An extract contained in this work, 'Small Press Days', has a 'Single Work' work type and an 'Extract' form type.

A rarely used form for fiction that is impossible to classify as novel or short story. Also used for extracts from forthcoming works that have been published in periodicals, without an indication of what the work will eventually become.

Used for adaptations of Australian literary works and original feature films, short films or animation, telemovies (including those originally broadcast in parts), TV mini series, screenplay award winning episodes in a television live action or animation series or serials, and documentaries where this material has literary content within AustLit scope. Includes published scripts or screenplays of a film. Eg. David Stevens' The Sum of Us.

A list, usually alphabetical, of the names, subjects, works etc. contained or discussed in another work. Used as a work form for separately published indexes, for example Ian Syson's Index to Hecate.

Works intended for children. They are explanatory in nature, and deal with a specific subject in a didactic or information exchange format but are not strictly textboooks. May have a fictional element. Eg. Warts and All : A Book of Body Talk by Ted Greenwood and The Traffic Lights by Kathleen Mellor and Vivienne Morris . May have a fictional element.

For AustLit purposes the interviewer is regarded as the author and the interviewee as a subject.

Form term added July 2007. Used for works that are distinct from autobiography and biography by virtue of the wider subject matter of the work. Life stories contain elements of both biography and autobiography but may also explore intergenerational experiences or the experiences of whole families or groups. Examples: Talking About Celia or Paddy's Road

(This form added in May 2006. In conjunction with Musical Theatre it replaces the previous form Music / Opera.)

Used when a verse work has been expressly composed to have a musical accompaniment, in collaboration with a composer, and first published with that accompanying music, e.g. Edwin Exon's 'The Victorian Jubilee Ode', 'Written by Edwin Exon; and composed by Alfred Plumpton expressly for the Metropolitan Leidertafel, Melbourne.' or when a musical work has been created that include several previously published works of poetry, e.g. Barbeler and Llewellyn's 'Figs : Song Cycle for High Voice and Piano' which is a musical setting of six poems from a selected work.

Used only for those works where the creator consciously uses 'multi-medianess' to create a literary 'assemblage' that cannot be characterised as a novel, poetry, etc., eg. the online work Data][h!][bleeding Texts .

(This form added in May 2006. In conjunction with Lyric / Song it replaces the previous form Music / Opera.)

Musical theatre is an over-arching term used to describe dramatic works which utilise music, including song and often dance, as a means of telling a story as opposed to those which involve no music (or only that of an incidental nature). Musical theatre may also feature music as part of the story and/or as part of the production spectacle. It includes works that contain varying amounts of music – from a play featuring one or two songs, to works which comprise significant amounts of singing, dancing and other music-based performance modes (i.e. opera and musicals), e.g. Goldsworthy's operatic adaptation of The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Simon Denver's Smithy!.
Used with genre terms Burlesque, Opera, Pantomime, Revue/revusical and Sketch (Theatrical).

Prose works not covered by the other non-creative form terms used within Austlit (eg. criticism, review, biography, obituary, etc.) and which are unambiguously political, historical, economic, sociological, practical or scientific. Includes works such as textbooks, guidebooks, information books (apart from some children's information books),columns and feature articles on subjects outside AustLit scope in newspapers with social/personal comment/opinion.

A non-fiction work is usually only included in special circumstances, eg. if it is important to provide further bibliographical history details for an agent, or if the work is an important Subject-Work or Related Work.

An extended piece of fictional prose, generally telling a story, with plot and characters – NOT USED FOR CHILDREN'S FICTION.

A short fictional narrative, a short novel or a long short story – NOT USED FOR CHILDREN'S FICTION. Eg. Antigone Kefala's Conversations with Mother .

A death notice, often including a brief biographical sketch.

Form term added July 2007. Used for records of memories of people's unique life experiences which trace the history of a local community or family history. These are usually based on interviews in which someone shares memories with an interviewer. They are most frequently used for the life histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other groups who may be poorly represented in written sources. Records may be in audio or visual format or may be published as transcripts of oral recordings. Example: Long Time Olden Time For interviews in which an individual speaks primarily about themselves and their philosophy, AustLit uses the form 'Interview'. For a non-interview based account of a group or individual AustLit uses the form 'Life Story' or 'Biography'.

An illustrated book where the text and illustrations work together to tell a story, both elements being integral to the work as a whole. Usually intended for children, eg. Mem Fox's Possum Magic.

Used for all kinds of poetry, without distinction as to type. Includes published song lyrics. Some terms used to describe poetry and poetic forms overlap with musical terms but for AustLit purposes all these types of work in verse – odes, songs, lyrics, ballads, canticles, cantos, cantatas, hymns etc. – are to be given the form Poetry when they are published without an accompanying musical score or when they have been first published without any accompanying musical score.

Literary writing that cannot be defined in terms of other prose literature forms (short story, autobiography, essay) but which displays literary qualities. Includes creative, imaginative writing such as Liam Davison's Land Sounds and extended prose works in the travel, historical, humour and satire genres, such as Nicholas Jose's Black Sheep, Ernestine Hill's The Territory, Barry Humphries's Bazza Pulls It Off.

A published or unpublished play written specifically as a performance piece for radio. Only used in conjunction with the form type 'Drama', eg. Joan Ambrose's The Alien.

An article or essay that reviews a recent publication or performance.

From February 2007 this form is no longer used. The terms Film/TV, Drama or Musical Theatre are used instead.

Short prose fiction, usually concentrating on a single event with few characters – NOT USED FOR CHILDREN'S FICTION.

Honours, masters and doctoral theses.