Requirements

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is a broad program of study designed to prepare students for careers in teaching creative writing and careers requiring similar professional skills, to enable students to improve their writing in more than one genre through interaction with our faculty and with other writing students, and to become able critics of literary works. Most students complete the program in two-and-a-half to three years. All students must complete the program within five years of entrance into the program. (That is, a student beginning as an MFA student in Fall 1999 would need to graduate no later than Fall 2004.)

In order to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, candidates must:

• Complete 42 hours of course work plus 6 hours of Thesis Research (ENGL 8000).
• Write a Creative Thesis and pass a Final Examination (oral thesis defense).

Advisor/Major Professor

During the first semester of residence, each student is assigned a faculty member to serve as his or her advisor (or major professor) until the student chooses another. Eventually, you will work on your thesis with your advisor who will chair the thesis examination committee.

Program of Study

Your Program of Study is designed in consultation with your advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). You may petition to transfer up to 12 hours of previous graduate work (see General Catalog ), but you may not transfer more than 6 hours if you used those hours to earn a prior degree. You can change your Program of Study, but you will need to consult with your advisor and the DGS. MFA Program of Study forms are available from the Graduate Secretary. A Program of Study form approved by your advisor should be submitted to the DGS for his or her approval within your first year.

Course Work

Courses to be counted toward the MFA degree must be at the 7000 level, except:

• 4000-level courses, offered during Summer sessions
• 4000-level courses, permitted with the consent of both your advisor and the DGS (e.g., linguistics, technical writing, creative writing, and folklore)
• 4000-level related courses in other departments (max. 9 hours)

Courses for the MFA degree must include:

• 12 Hours of Writing Workshops in (Note: No more than 12 hours of any one of these courses may be counted toward the degree) :
• Fiction (ENGL 7006)
• Poetry (ENGL 7007)
• Drama (ENGL 7008)
• Screenwriting (ENGL 7009)

• 3 Hours of Writing Workshop in:
• Drama (ENGL 7008)
• Literary Nonfiction (ENGL 7001)
• Translation (ENGL 7004)
• Screenwriting (ENGL 7009)
• 3 Hours of a Forms Course (usually in your primary genre):
• Forms of Prose Fiction (ENGL 7106)
• Prosody and Poetic Forms (ENGL 7107)
• Forms of Film-writing (ENGL 7109)
• 12 Hours of English Literature Courses
• 12 Hours in any of the following:
• Additional literature courses
• Additional workshops (again, note maximum hours of credit listed for each course in the General Catalog )
• Additional forms courses
• Up to 6 hours of independent study (ENGL 8900)

• Up to 9 hours in related courses outside the department
• English 7915 (required of new teaching assistants).
• 6 hours of Thesis Research (ENGL 8000)

Creative Thesis

You must plan a thesis and choose a thesis examining committee a minimum of nine months before the proposed MFA Final Examination. (For more information on the composition of the committee, see the General Catalog.)

The Chair of the committee (your advisor) will confer with you and other committee members about the proposed thesis and will review the preliminary thesis work with you, informing you whether your proposed thesis is likely to fulfill the requirements for an MFA degree.

Final Examination

The MFA Final Examination is a critical evaluation of your creative intentions and of how well those intentions have been actualized in the play, screenplay, or book-length work of prose or poetry that you have produced.  Visit the Graduate School office the semester before the semester you plan to graduate for deadlines and procedures concerning requests for a Final Exam and submitting the thesis to your committee.

Theses may be formally submitted to the Thesis Committee no more than twice for defense. All members of  your committee must agree to pass your thesis. If your thesis is not approved at the second submission, you are considered terminated from the graduate program at the end of the examination semester.

After your successful thesis defense, submit the approved and corrected thesis (including any corrections required by the Graduate School) to the Graduate School. Note the often surprisingly early deadlines in the LSU General Catalog 's Academic Calendar.