Standards for Creative Honors Theses in the Department of English

Objective: to build in rigor equally for each kind of thesis and yet permit vital differences between the two kinds of projects to flourish and be accommodated by the same honors program. Format: 1) The creative thesis proposal should be clear, articulate, and focused, while allowing room to explore an idea creatively.  It should identify the project’s genre, form, and aesthetic concerns. 2) Like students proposing analytical theses, a student proposing a creative project should demonstrate adequate preparation--preferably, with appropriate course work; alternatively, by submitting a portfolio. 3) The initial field reading list for the creative thesis writer is provisional so that the student can remain open to discovery until the 498 presentation, at which time the list should be made final.  This list of 20-25 works should include a mixture of primary texts and critical / theoretical works about the genre in which the thesis is written and the process of writing in that genre. 4) The writing of the creative thesis should begin as early as possible during English 498 and extend throughout the year. 5) The creative thesis writer is expected to take a writing course in the appropriate genre if one is offered in the senior year (e.g., an advanced course from the McGee Professor). 6) The creative thesis should include an 8-10-page critical component in which the writer speaks specifically and analytically to the creative process of crafting the thesis and contextualizes the project in relation to the field reading. 7) The department should endeavor to assign the McGee Professor, whenever appropriate, to the committee of each creative thesis writer. 8) Creative theses have length limits: 100 pages for fiction and screenplays and 35 pages for poems; these figures include the critical preface and are based on the standard 250 words per page.  Students should be encouraged to revise and edit their work rather than expand it beyond these limits.  A student who would like to write a work that deviates from the limits specified here must explain why in the original thesis proposal.