Guidelines for Plan A and Plan B Creative Theses
A creative thesis may be in any genre or combination of genres. The thesis proposal, if done well, will aid you in writing the critical introduction to your work, a key component to the creative thesis. Keep in mind that the goal of the thesis proposal is to demonstrate to your committee that you have the necessary background to complete your thesis, that you have organized your thoughts, and that you are able to place your work within a larger tradition.
1) TOPIC
In this section, your goal is to describe the prevailing themes of your work and/or the questions at the heart of your project. Those writing poetry and fiction theses may find it most appropriate to explore the themes they will be addressing, typically two or three larger ideas that their work centers on. For example, the loss of innocence, the mutability of the natural world, how a relationship unravels. Creative nonfiction writers might feel more comfortable naming the questions that they are asking: what does a certain moment in your past have to say to the rest of your life, what is the relationship between natural history and personal history, how does one recover from trauma.
Whether asking questions or stating themes, your goal in this section is to describe why the questions/themes matter (to you as a writer and to others) and how your approach is like and unlike other writers. While your thesis will have a literal subject (which will be described in detail in the next section), here you are getting at the deeper subject. Potentially the themes/questions will intersect with one another, and you can describe why this intersection is particularly useful. In other words, why are you framing your work the way you are and how will the juxtaposition of these ideas move your reader? These themes and/or questions need to be clearly stated and then elaborated on because much of the rest of your proposal (as well as your thesis itself) relies on them. You need to choose between one and three questions/themes to explore, many more and your committee will most likely feel you are not focused.
2) STRUCTURE
In this section you need to address both your choice in genre and your choice of form within genre. You will need to demonstrate that you are familiar with the conventions of your chosen genre and have made choices based on those conventions. Your committee will be looking to see that you think in sophisticated ways about genre and that your choice of genre aligns seamlessly with the themes you are exploring or the questions you are asking.
In this section, you will also need to describe the literal structure of the piece. For poetry, what is the arc of the poems, how will the individual poems move to form a greater whole? For fiction, what are your organizational or underlying principles (plot, character, imagery, or something else) and how do those decisions reflect the theme of your work? For nonfiction, you will want to address choices between lyric, linear, or modular forms, the scope of the work, the stance of the narrator, the use of research. In all cases, you want to make sure your committee understands literally what your work is about, as well the connections between form and deeper subject.
3) LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section you will return to the themes and/or questions that you addressed in your opening paragraphs. Here you need to summarize and discuss the work of other writers whose work bears upon each theme/question.
A literature review does several things:
● It helps provide a context in which to locate your work, showing the existence of a creative conversation/tradition in which you are about to participate.
● It establishes your readiness to enter the conversation, showing that you know the appropriate literary tradition.
● It allows you to shape the conversation, giving your own reading of what has been written so far about the topic.
Your literature review should be organized by the themes/questions you developed earlier. There should be an inherent connection throughout your proposal between what you are writing, why you are writing, and how you are writing, and these connections are informed by both personal experience and the literary tradition. Your literature review will include both examples of the themes/questions you are exploring (meaning poems, stories, or books that center on the same themes), as well as examples of critical and creative essays and books about your genre (for example, writers who discuss fragmented form or confessional poetry).
4) PROCEDURES
This section must demonstrate how you plan to undertake your project. What have you already written? What must you still write? What research will you undertake—interviews, field visits, observation, journaling? All creative work has a research component to it—even if that research is simply listening to conversations at the local diner to learn about dialog. Here, you need to describe the actual labor of your project—what will you need to do, when, and how?
5) OUTLINE
You will need to provide a tentative outline of your thesis, with chapter/section headings and a few lines of explanation under each. As in the literature review, it may help readers if you include transitions to help explain the rationale for your organization of the thesis. Your readers will want to know why you have divided it this way and why you have chosen this sequence for the sections. Help them see and understand the logic of your organization.
6) TIMETABLE
Problems occur in thesis defenses most often when committee members have not had time to read the thesis, to make suggestions, and to see those suggestions incorporated in a revised version that they have time to read before the defense. Your proposal should include a schedule that you plan to follow for completing the research and writing the thesis. Bearing in mind the Graduate School’s deadlines and your own plans for graduation, identify a tentative defense date and work backwards from that. Meet with your committee to determine deadlines that are appropriate for all involved. At the very least, make sure your timetable meets the deadlines listed below:
Submit first complete draft to committee members at least 4 weeks before defense. Draft should be returned to you with comments at least 3 weeks before defense. Schedule defense date with the Grad School at least 2 weeks before defense. Resubmit revised draft to committee at least 10 days before defense.
You may conclude this section by identifying the first or next step you plan to take in your project.
7) BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography at the end of your proposal should be a list of works you have cited and or consulted. Like the rest of your thesis proposal, it needs to demonstrate a deep understanding of the field. Follow the citation style favored in your field—e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, etc. You should also buy the Publication Guide for Graduate Students at USU from the Bookstore, or download it from the Graduate School website.
MODIFICATIONS FOR PLAN B CREATIVE THESIS PROJECTS
A Plan B creative thesis involves the same creative and intellectual work. It is just shorter. Students should work with their committee chairs to determine whether Plan A or B makes most sense given their particular needs, constraints, and goals.
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
Every creative thesis must include a critical introduction that places the work within a larger conversation. These are typically ten to fifteen pages for Plan A thesis projects and potentially shorter for Plan B. Much of the work you do for your thesis proposal—especially the literature review and the section on structure—will aid you in writing your critical introduction. Work with your committee to determine the length and particular parameters for your project. No creative thesis will be accepted without this accompanying document.
A creative thesis may be in any genre or combination of genres. The thesis proposal, if done well, will aid you in writing the critical introduction to your work, a key component to the creative thesis. Keep in mind that the goal of the thesis proposal is to demonstrate to your committee that you have the necessary background to complete your thesis, that you have organized your thoughts, and that you are able to place your work within a larger tradition.
1) TOPIC
In this section, your goal is to describe the prevailing themes of your work and/or the questions at the heart of your project. Those writing poetry and fiction theses may find it most appropriate to explore the themes they will be addressing, typically two or three larger ideas that their work centers on. For example, the loss of innocence, the mutability of the natural world, how a relationship unravels. Creative nonfiction writers might feel more comfortable naming the questions that they are asking: what does a certain moment in your past have to say to the rest of your life, what is the relationship between natural history and personal history, how does one recover from trauma.
Whether asking questions or stating themes, your goal in this section is to describe why the questions/themes matter (to you as a writer and to others) and how your approach is like and unlike other writers. While your thesis will have a literal subject (which will be described in detail in the next section), here you are getting at the deeper subject. Potentially the themes/questions will intersect with one another, and you can describe why this intersection is particularly useful. In other words, why are you framing your work the way you are and how will the juxtaposition of these ideas move your reader? These themes and/or questions need to be clearly stated and then elaborated on because much of the rest of your proposal (as well as your thesis itself) relies on them. You need to choose between one and three questions/themes to explore, many more and your committee will most likely feel you are not focused.
2) STRUCTURE
In this section you need to address both your choice in genre and your choice of form within genre. You will need to demonstrate that you are familiar with the conventions of your chosen genre and have made choices based on those conventions. Your committee will be looking to see that you think in sophisticated ways about genre and that your choice of genre aligns seamlessly with the themes you are exploring or the questions you are asking.
In this section, you will also need to describe the literal structure of the piece. For poetry, what is the arc of the poems, how will the individual poems move to form a greater whole? For fiction, what are your organizational or underlying principles (plot, character, imagery, or something else) and how do those decisions reflect the theme of your work? For nonfiction, you will want to address choices between lyric, linear, or modular forms, the scope of the work, the stance of the narrator, the use of research. In all cases, you want to make sure your committee understands literally what your work is about, as well the connections between form and deeper subject.
3) LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section you will return to the themes and/or questions that you addressed in your opening paragraphs. Here you need to summarize and discuss the work of other writers whose work bears upon each theme/question.
A literature review does several things:
● It helps provide a context in which to locate your work, showing the existence of a creative conversation/tradition in which you are about to participate.
● It establishes your readiness to enter the conversation, showing that you know the appropriate literary tradition.
● It allows you to shape the conversation, giving your own reading of what has been written so far about the topic.
Your literature review should be organized by the themes/questions you developed earlier. There should be an inherent connection throughout your proposal between what you are writing, why you are writing, and how you are writing, and these connections are informed by both personal experience and the literary tradition. Your literature review will include both examples of the themes/questions you are exploring (meaning poems, stories, or books that center on the same themes), as well as examples of critical and creative essays and books about your genre (for example, writers who discuss fragmented form or confessional poetry).
4) PROCEDURES
This section must demonstrate how you plan to undertake your project. What have you already written? What must you still write? What research will you undertake—interviews, field visits, observation, journaling? All creative work has a research component to it—even if that research is simply listening to conversations at the local diner to learn about dialog. Here, you need to describe the actual labor of your project—what will you need to do, when, and how?
5) OUTLINE
You will need to provide a tentative outline of your thesis, with chapter/section headings and a few lines of explanation under each. As in the literature review, it may help readers if you include transitions to help explain the rationale for your organization of the thesis. Your readers will want to know why you have divided it this way and why you have chosen this sequence for the sections. Help them see and understand the logic of your organization.
6) TIMETABLE
Problems occur in thesis defenses most often when committee members have not had time to read the thesis, to make suggestions, and to see those suggestions incorporated in a revised version that they have time to read before the defense. Your proposal should include a schedule that you plan to follow for completing the research and writing the thesis. Bearing in mind the Graduate School’s deadlines and your own plans for graduation, identify a tentative defense date and work backwards from that. Meet with your committee to determine deadlines that are appropriate for all involved. At the very least, make sure your timetable meets the deadlines listed below:
Submit first complete draft to committee members at least 4 weeks before defense. Draft should be returned to you with comments at least 3 weeks before defense. Schedule defense date with the Grad School at least 2 weeks before defense. Resubmit revised draft to committee at least 10 days before defense.
You may conclude this section by identifying the first or next step you plan to take in your project.
7) BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography at the end of your proposal should be a list of works you have cited and or consulted. Like the rest of your thesis proposal, it needs to demonstrate a deep understanding of the field. Follow the citation style favored in your field—e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, etc. You should also buy the Publication Guide for Graduate Students at USU from the Bookstore, or download it from the Graduate School website.
MODIFICATIONS FOR PLAN B CREATIVE THESIS PROJECTS
A Plan B creative thesis involves the same creative and intellectual work. It is just shorter. Students should work with their committee chairs to determine whether Plan A or B makes most sense given their particular needs, constraints, and goals.
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
Every creative thesis must include a critical introduction that places the work within a larger conversation. These are typically ten to fifteen pages for Plan A thesis projects and potentially shorter for Plan B. Much of the work you do for your thesis proposal—especially the literature review and the section on structure—will aid you in writing your critical introduction. Work with your committee to determine the length and particular parameters for your project. No creative thesis will be accepted without this accompanying document.
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