Welcome to the Graduate Creative Writing Program. The following information has been prepared to help you move easily and successfully through the program. If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask them.

The MA Degree

Beginning the Program

• Meet with the Graduate Adviser to make sure you have met all requirements to achieve Classified Status.

• Meet with Creative Writing Adviser to plan a course of study for your MA.

• Pick up the Schedule of Important Dates from the Graduate Secretary. Familiarize yourself with the schedule for that semester.

The Qualifying Creative Writing Sample

• During your first semester as a graduate student in English: prepare and submit a Qualifying Writing Sample. This Sample is intended to determine your readiness to pursue creative writing study at the graduate level. This Sample will be reviewed by three Creative Writing faculty, and you will be notified of the results, in writing, within three weeks of their decision.

• Possible results of the reading include: either a determination that you are qualified or not qualified to enter the program, or a postponement of any determination, with an invitation to resubmit. If you are invited to resubmit at a later date, this second sample is not to be submitted until after you have passed a graduate seminar in your chosen genre with a grade of B or better. You may submit qualifying samples no more than two times, and are strongly encouraged to meet with the Creative Writing Adviser to review this process.

• Preparing your sample: Choose your best finished work in the genre in which you plan to write your MA thesis, according to the following guidelines: Poetry, 10 complete poems; Fiction, 1 complete short story; Creative Nonfiction, 1 complete essay; Playwriting, 1 complete one act play, or 1 act from a full length play, or 1 complete performance text of at least ten minutes. For prose narratives, use standard margins, 12 pt pitch, and double space. Remember, more is not to your advantage; we are interested in the quality of your work, as well as your ability to write in complete forms in your chosen genre. You may apply in only one genre in a given semester. Samples that do not conform to these guidelines will not be read.

• Submitting your sample: Pick up a cover sheet from the Graduate Secretary. Fill it out, and attach it to your Qualifying Sample. Submit four copies of your sample, each with a Cover Sheet, collated and stapled in the upper left hand corner to the Graduate Secretary on or before the posted deadline.

• You will be notified in writing of the results of your reading. Please be patient. We give all submission our most careful attention, and the process can sometimes take time.

Choosing Your Courses

This is an important part of your graduate experience, and, whenever possible, you should plan your program in consultation with the Creative Writing and Graduate Adviser. Your program of study includes two courses required of all English graduate students at CSUN—English 638, Major Critical Theories, and English 604, Linguistics. Because everyone must take them, these are often heavily impacted courses; plan to take them as early in your graduate career as possible.

English 652, Creative Writing Studies: This is a core course for all graduate students in Creative Writing, offered during Fall Semester, and intended as an introduction to the discipline of Creative Writing, and to your professional life as a writer. Plan to take it early in your first or second semester as a classified graduate student.

Writing Courses: Your program includes three writing courses at the graduate level. While these courses will typically be workshop courses (608 and 609), please be aware that the Department routinely offers special topics courses at the graduate level, under the number 595. In recent years, these special topics courses have included 595, Creative Nonfiction; 595, Writing for Performance; and 595, Lifewriting. Please also be aware that while Independent Study may be used to fulfill one writing course requirement, it is intended as a supplement to, not a substitution for traditional coursework in writing. Consequently, with few exceptions, Independent Study in writing will not be approved prior to successful completion of two graduate courses in writing, with a grade of B or better. Before enrolling in any Independent Study class, consult with either the Graduate Adviser, the Creative Writing Adviser, or, in some cases, both, to be sure the courses will count toward your degree.

Literature and Elective Courses: Feel free to seek advisement when selecting these courses, and be aware that, with approval from the Creative Writing and Graduate Advisers, courses from other departments may be used to satisfy the elective requirement.

The TA Program

The Teaching Assistant Program is open to all fully classified graduate students in English. It is an important opportunity for students, especially those who intend to pursue academic careers. A call for applications to the program is made during Fall Semester, and interested applicants will be expected to provide a letter of application, a statement of interest, and academic references, as well as to attend a job interview. Those selected for the program will enroll in English 600A: Problems in English as an Academic Subject, during Spring Semester, to prepare for teaching the following year. Further inquiries about this program should be directed to Professor Irene Clark, Director, English Composition.

Your Thesis Proposal

This is an important part of your graduate experience, giving you the opportunity to frame your writing goals and practice in a formal discourse, and to articulate the guiding principles of your work as a writer. You will submit your Thesis Proposal during the sixth week of the semester prior to the semester during which you begin writing your thesis. You are most likely to be successful in this experience if you adhere strictly to the following suggestions.

• Think carefully about the creative writing faculty with whom you have worked as a graduate student at CSUN to determine who is best suited to work with you on this project. Secure a commitment from your Thesis Adviser either at the end of the semester prior to the semester during which you plan to write your proposal, or during the first two weeks of that semester itself.

• During the first two weeks of the semester in which you plan to write your Thesis Proposal, meet with your Thesis Adviser to discuss your plans for and questions about the proposal itself. Ask for guidelines and samples of prior successful proposals, and familiarize yourself with them. Learn the Thesis Proposal Deadline for that semester, announced at the start of each term and typically at the end of the eighth week of the semester.

• In general, a Thesis Proposal in Creative Writing should include, at a minimum, a clear and succinct statement of what you plan to do in your thesis in the context of a broader overview that includes a discussion of both the literary and theoretical framework out of which your work proceeds. Your Thesis Adviser is best prepared to guide you through this.

• Submit a draft of your Thesis Proposal to your Thesis Adviser by the end of week four during the semester in which you submit the proposal. Under the guidance of your Thesis Adviser, work on this draft until your Adviser is prepared to give it a formal endorsement.

• Pick up a cover sheet for submitting your Thesis Proposal from the Graduate Secretary, fill it out, secure your Thesis Adviser’s formal endorsement on the signature line, and submit eight copies of the Cover Sheet and Thesis Proposal, collated and stapled in the upper left hand corner, to the Graduate Secretary by the deadline announced at the start of that term.

• Your Thesis Proposal will be read by the Graduate Committee of the Department of English, and you will be notified of their results in writing.

• If your Thesis Proposal is not approved, you will be given the opportunity to meet with your Thesis Adviser, rewrite the proposal, and resubmit it during that same semester. Use this opportunity to your best advantage.

Forming Your Thesis Committee

Once your Thesis Proposal has been approved, you are free to form the rest of your Thesis Committee. Pick up the appropriate paper work from the Graduate Secretary, and secure the appropriate signatures. You are encouraged to ask any faculty member in the department to serve as your Second or Third Reader; and while at least two members of your committee should be faculty in Creative Writing, it is strongly to your advantage that at least one member of your committee be from another English strand—Literature, Linguistics, Composition and Rhetoric. At the discretion of both Graduate and Creative Writing Advisers, one reader may come from outside the department or university.

Writing Your Thesis

Your Thesis is the culminating experience of your graduate career in Creative Writing. Your Thesis Adviser is best suited to guide you through this project, and you are encouraged to use this Adviser to your best advantage. Please be aware that the published deadlines for getting material to your Thesis Committee are suggestions only, and that the earlier you can get material to each of your readers, the more likely it is that you will benefit from substantive feedback and mentoring. As soon as your Thesis Adviser has approved a draft of your thesis, you are free to pass it along to your Second Reader, who must approve it before you may pass it along to your Third Reader. In some instances, Second and Third Readers will be willing to read the thesis simultaneously.

Many students have found that they benefit, in addition, by forming Thesis Groups during the semester in which they complete their Theses.

Early in this semester, check with the Graduate Studies Office in University Hall to familiarize yourself with University regulations, procedures, requirements, and deadlines regarding the preparation and submission of your Master’s Thesis. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may delay your graduation.

Prepared by:
Kate Haake CW faculty
CSUN