Program Overview

Writing, MA Nonfiction Specialization

The Writing, MA Nonfiction Specialization is a graduate program designed for students who wish to develop their creative and technical skills as writers and readers in the nonfiction genre. By the end of their coursework, students will have produced a strong body of new work or comprehensively revised a preexisting body of work.

Curriculum

The curriculum for the Writing, MA Nonfiction Specialization includes:

• Nonfiction Writing Workshops (4 units)
  • MCW 461-0/461-DL: Creative Non-Fiction Workshop
• Graduate-level literature courses taken from LIT, ENGLISH, COMP_LIT, or other departments of literary study (2 units)
• Electives (3 units)
  • MCW 479-0/479-DL: Poetry for Prose Writers
  • MCW 490-0/490-DL: Special Topics in Creative Writing
  • MCW 499-0: Independent Study (not to exceed one unit)
  • MCW 570-DL: Seminar on Teaching Creative Writing
  • MCW 575-0/575-DL: Seminar on Journal Publishing
  • MCW 579-0: Practicum in Teaching Creative Writing
  • MCW 580-0: Practicum in Publishing
• Students may request permission to take one additional workshop as an elective
• Capstone Writing (1 unit)
  • MCW 590-0: Capstone Writing & Revision

About the Thesis

The final project for the MA in Writing program is a creative thesis, an original work of high literary merit. Prose work should be at least 75 double-spaced pages and no more than 100 pages. Poetry should be 25 single-spaced pages and no more than 35 pages, with each poem on separate pages. The creative thesis is structured and revised under the supervision of a faculty member (or faculty mentor) and a second reader. The project may be one long piece or a series of shorter pieces. It may include or be an expansion of work written during the student's course of study as long as it represents a culminating effort to shape stories, prose pieces, a long piece, or a group of poems into a coherent, self-sufficient work. This large-scale project supplements the smaller-scale study of craft with the invaluable experience of creating a larger work. And for students who plan to pursue book-length publication after graduation, the master's creative thesis may be the first version of a work in progress. Note that students may not take writing workshops alongside thesis.