One of the terrific perks of studying creative writing at SIUE is the vibrant literary community in the St. Louis metro area. Click here for a schedule of upcoming readings.
NOTE: By design, the Creative Writing specialization has limited enrollment. Applicants should understand that this makes the program very competitive as regards admissions.
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
1) Thirty credit hours are required for the completion of the M. A. in the Creative Writing specialization; students may enroll in an optional second unit of thesis hours, bringing the total to thirty-three hours.
2) All students are required to complete the following primary courses:
ENG 593--Poetry Workshop (taken 4 times)
or
ENG 592--Fiction Workshop (taken 4 times)
or
ENG 594--Creative Non-Fiction Workshop (taken 4 times)
AND
ENG 599--Thesis (3 hours; may be repeated once) AND
ENG 441A or 441B--Contemporary American Poetry/Fiction (3 hours)
or
ENG 592--Fiction Workshop (taken 4 times)
or
ENG 594--Creative Non-Fiction Workshop (taken 4 times)
AND
ENG 599--Thesis (3 hours; may be repeated once) AND
ENG 441A or 441B--Contemporary American Poetry/Fiction (3 hours)
3) Students are required to complete 2 graduate-level literature courses (6 hours) in consultation with their advisor.
4) Students must take an additional two courses (6 hours) in electives. Electives may be any graduate-level course offering that is not a workshop in the student's major genre (including an additional unit of thesis hours), and/or a workshop in the student's minor genre at the 400 level (either ENG 492 or ENG 493), and/or ENG 486--Teaching Creative Writing, and/or ENG 443--Prosody. Students may, with the written approval of their advisor and of the Director of Graduate Studies, choose ONE elective from another SIUE Department; use the Graduate Student Request Form to obtain approval prior to registration in any such course.
| 1st Semester | 2nd Semester | 3rd Semester | 4th Semester |
| workshop 1 | workshop 2 | workshop 3 | workshop 4 |
| ENG 441A/441B | literature | literature | thesis hours |
| elective | elective | ||
5) Students must defend a thesis which will be a book-length, publishable manuscript of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, or a hybrid text (an artful mix of multiple forms or genres).
Students are reminded to file for Graduation Check at the beginning of the semester in which they plan to graduate.
The above requirements are available as a printable checklist [PDF], or you may obtain a copy of the checklist from the information rack outside the office of the Director of Graduate Studies.
If, after reading this page and the applying to the SIUE English Graduate Program page, you still have questions about the Creative Writing program, please contact the Creative Writing specialization advisor, Prof. Geoff Schmidt
URL: http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/CW/index.html
Published by: Department of English Language and Literature
Last Update: January 10, 2009 by the CW Web Mistress:
Valerie Vogrin.
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