Draft 2.0

This draft came from four short stories which I had previously submitted for workshop.

These were among the best stories I had written, both in my judgement and in the judgment of others.

A fifth story could have replaced two of them, but it was too long and too complicated to revise.


<--Purpose of MFA
<--Draft 1.0
<--Writing Short Stories - Revising Short Stories-->

Thesis Draft 1.0

My first-draft thesis had to be replaced with an entirely different text. My thesis adviser, following a workshop, said that she wanted me to complete the first fifty pages of a novel before I finished my MFA program. She recommended this because I've been working on a science fiction epic for a long time. Unfortunately, the requirement for the thesis was that it had been previously seen in a workshop. Because of this, the fifty new pages could not be submitted for the thesis.

Draft 2.0 -->

ProQuest Distribution

ProQuest will digitize a thesis for distribution to library collections. Students are able to read thesis copies from other institutions.

There is concern that a thesis distributed this way will use-up the right of "first publication" for works in the humanities (such as fiction). Generally, publishers will not publish a work that has already been published or distributed to the public domain. Many graduate students chose to withhold their work from ProQuest distribution

Submitting the Text

The text is submitted on acid-free cotton manuscript paper, which is then bound by the library. One-inch margins are required, and I had to re-print a copy because I had included a header, and the header violated the one-inch margin.

I wanted an extra copy, so I had two copies printed with the header (one for the school, and one for myself). Then I had to re-print. Afterwards, I paid the library to bind two extra copies for me rather than just one extra.

The copy must be on acid-free paper so that it won't break down while in storage.

Purpose of MFA Thesis

The thesis is meant to prove that one has accomplished a major work of creative writing at the conclusion of two years of workshops and seminars.