3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This final course is required for all degree candidates in fiction or nonfiction and is offered only in the fall and spring terms. The two course goals are the completion of a successful thesis and an enriching, challenging capstone experience for the entire program. The creative writing thesis will contain portions of a novel or a nonfiction book, and/or a collection of short stories, essays, or articles. Students should be prepared to submit a thesis draft containing 40-75 pages of writing that has already been workshopped and revised at least once. We recommend that students select their best work and the work they most want to work on revising during the thesis semester; not all program writing will become part of a thesis. Students taking this course are required to submit a full thesis draft early in the course; the author spends the term working one-on-one with a thesis advisor to revise this draft. In addition, thesis students meet as an online class, with a series of optional Zoom sessions with visiting alumni authors, editors, and agents. Students engage in forward-looking discussions on the writing life, build their author website, participate and rehearse and conduct a public thesis reading. Prerequisite: All other required and elective courses. Students may take a second course during their thesis term with the program director’s permission.