Oregon State University - MFA Creative Writing Posted on April 26th
The MFA Program in Creative Writing is a two-year Studio/Research program combining writing with studies in craft and literature. Seeking a balance between literary artistic practice and literary scholarship, the course of study emphasizes the importance of reading to one’s development as a writer. In addition to writing workshops, the faculty offers courses in form, craft, theory, and thesis direction.
The Writing Workshop. The workshop is an opportunity to receive responses to one’s own work and to respond to others-a sustained practicum in criticism, designed to challenge and stretch aesthetic assumptions. Participants describe, explore, and evaluate the premises of works in progress, with an eye toward editorial improvement. Generally, faculty members serve not only as active participants, but also as discussion moderators, focusing or redirecting the conversation as needed.
They also work to maintain a balance among an agenda that includes: what is most helpful to the piece under discussion, what is most suggestive for future work by the author, and what is most instructive to the group as a whole? At Oregon State, we strive for workshops that are supportive but rigorous, analytical but not judgmental, noncompetitive, vigilant always against workshop jargon or preferred aesthetics. As in all other areas of the MFA Program in literature classes, in working with a thesis advisor the importance of the workshop is the chance to enlarge one’s capacity for strong work.
The Thesis. Students produce a thesis at the end of their second year of study. The thesis is a sustained piece of imaginative writing of literary merit. Generally, length, form, and content are to be mutually agreed upon by the student and the thesis advisor, depending on the students’ needs and goals, with final approval resting with the advisor. Typically, however, a thesis will be 75 pages minimum, and will be a short story, essay, or poetry collection (or part of one), a novel (or part of one), or a sustained non-fiction work (or part of one).
The Oral Examination. An oral examination will be given in the student’s final term of study. It will measure a writer’s growth and test ingenuity and academic knowledge. The exam will likely involve questions on theory and technique, on the history of the genre, on the student’s own creative work, and on the student’s grasp of the contemporary situation in the field of Creative Writing. The examination committee will consist of the student’s thesis advisor, a second representative from Creative Writing, a representative from Literature or Rhetoric and Writing (or, in some cases, from another field of study in which a student has a particular interest), and a Graduate School representative.
Degree requirements
To complete the course of study for the MFA degree in Creative Writing, a minimum of 48 quarter/term hours are required in the following categories:
– 18 hours in Creative Writing workshops
– 18 hours in Literature and/or Composition
– 12 hours in Thesis and/or Writing and Conference
Department of English, Oregon State University
238 Moreland Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-3244 Fax: 541-737-3589
