MFA in Creative Writing - Thesis and Projects

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The Writing Thesis

Upon successful completion of three writing workshops, students advance to the thesis stage of the graduate Writing Program. Each student works closely with a writing instructor through structured conferences over an entire semester to produce a substantial manuscript in the student's area of concentration, whether fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or writing for children.

Thesis requirements for each concentration are as follows:

Poetry a manuscript of 40 to 60 pages of individual poems, poetic sequences, or a long poem.
Fiction a manuscript of 70 to 100 pages of short stories, a novella, or a novel-in-progress.
Nonfiction a manuscript of 70 to 100 pages of reflective essays, reportage, memoir, biography, or a book-in-progress.
Writing for Children a manuscript of 50 to 70 pages of stories or other fiction or nonfiction, or a completed children's book in a state appropriate for publication.

Each thesis is assigned a grade by the advisor, and then submitted to the director of the Writing Program for final approval.

The Literature Project

Upon successful completion of three literature seminars, students advance to the Independent Literature Project stage of the Graduate Writing Program, where, alongside their creative work, they gain experience writing critical prose. Each student works closely with a writing workshop or literature seminar instructor through structured conferences to create a short essay (or a series of essay-reviews) of approximately 20 pages on a topic of the student's devising but within the field of concentration. The Literature Project usually is undertaken concurrently with the Writing Thesis. The Literature Project can complement a student's thesis by exploring how other writers have addressed corresponding challenges and problems of literary work, or it can stand alone as a critical study. Each Literature Project is assigned a grade by the advisor, and then submitted to the director of the Writing Program for final approval.