MA Creative Writing

Your MA dissertation is a significant piece of creative work undertaken over the summer months of your MA (or, for part-timers, during your second summer). In this time, there are no seminars or workshops. Instead, you work independently, and with support from your dissertation supervisor, to develop an extended piece of creative work in your chosen mode: fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. The word count for fiction and non-fiction dissertations is 12,000 words. For poets, it is 15—20 poems. You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor in early April. Your supervisor will offer you feedback and support at three dedicated meetings during the dissertation writing period. For full time MA students, the bulk of the work for the dissertation is completed over the summer months, with a final deadline in early September.

To explore at the practical level the particular demands and difficulties of developing and completing a significant piece of creative work, and to develop students’ ability to present their writing in a form which accords with generally recognised conventions within the publishing industry.

You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor in early April. Your supervisor will offer you feedback and support at three dedicated meetings during the dissertation writing period. Usually, all three meetings are expected to have taken place by mid-July. Further information on supervisory arrangements will be provided at the beginning of the dissertation period.

-Recognise and understand some of the particular challenges and requirements of developing and completing an extended piece of creative work;

-Plan effectively in order to meet the demands and challenges of developing an extended piece of creative work;

-Effectively revise and edit in response to feedback;

The dissertation will equip you with:

- An ability to identify and pursue a creative project;

- An ability to present and submit creative work in alignment with sector conventions;

- An ability to edit your writing effectively;

The dissertation will equip you with many transferable skills, including:

- time management

- familiarity with a wide range of IT tools

- advanced reading and writing skills

As you will be in charge of your own project, you will need to identify and complete the necessary relevant reading.  To identify relevant secondary sources, don’t just use JStor or Google scholar; use the specialist databases available through the library catalogue. (You can find a list of the resources relevant to literary studies, history, and other fields by looking at the ‘subject guides’ on the library website). 

For work in literary studies, the MLA Bibliography offers perhaps the most extensive catalogue of existing journal articles and book chapters.  Monographs can be identified via large multi-library catalogues like WorldCat.