Creative Dissertation

A creative dissertation is a dissertation composed by a student who is earning his or her Ph.D. in creative writing. Unlike standard, strictly academic dissertations, creative dissertations feature the creative output of the writer in the form of poems, short stories, novels, or creative essays. Like standard academic dissertations, however, creative dissertations must typically include a lengthy analytic component in which the creative writer discusses in scholarly terms the influences, style, and devices employed in his or her work.

A creative dissertation is a Ph.D. student's culminating project. This means that it should represent the body of work a student has produced over the course of his or her Ph.D. study. Typically, creative dissertations are assembled from the writer's existing portfolio and are then refined to reflect a coherent theme or style. When complete, a creative dissertation should resemble a manuscript that can be submitted to publishers for consideration. Thus, a creative dissertation is essentially a draft of a book of poems, collection of short stories, group of essays, or a novel. To this end, the dissertation must, in appearance, style, and content, be a complete manuscript that can be considered an accomplished and coherent work of art.

Writers of creative dissertations are accustomed to the type of revision, excision, and selection required for assembling a manuscript, so the creative component of the dissertation will be difficult, but familiar. It is usually the critical component of the dissertation that poses the most problems. How is a writer to analyze with an academic eye his or her own creative work and process? Many creative writers find this type of analysis exceptionally difficult, as they are accustomed to tuning in to the creative aspects of their own work rather than examining their work from an analytic perspective. To effectively complete this portion of the dissertation, the student will have to step back from the creative process to consider the motivating forces and influences behind that process. For instance, one of the most important components of the critical essay portion of a creative dissertation is a discussion of the writer's influences. This should not be merely a list of names, but a detailed explanation of how the styles and themes of particular writers have developed the writer's own writing. This should include several text excerpts wherein illustrative examples from the writer's influences are presented alongside excerpts from the student's own work.

As an outgrowth of this discussion, the writer should comment on his or her individual style, focusing on any distinguishing characteristics featured in his or her writing. This should go beyond a discussion of influences to include commentary on how the writer's own style has evolved past the influence into something wholly new. The writer should also use the critical essay as a place in which to comment on the theme or themes explored in the creative component of the dissertation, and to identify his or her alignment with any particular school of thought or tradition.

The critical essay component of a creative dissertation should be a scholarly work. This means that it should feature critical analysis and doctoral-level literary acumen. Writers of creative dissertations should read other such dissertations to see how other students completed this portion of their project.

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