Thesis Guidelines

During the creative thesis semester, students will revise selected work produced during their time at Stonecoast and assemble this work into a manuscript. No annotations are required during the creative thesis semester, but students and mentors may find a critical exchange useful in seminar or panel paper preparation. In the second or third packet, the student may submit a seminar outline or panel paper draft for the mentor's review.

The page length of the thesis requirement is somewhat flexible, but a guideline is 30-40 pages of poetry and 115-125 pages of prose. For those who have produced longer, book-length projects, the entire manuscript can be included in the thesis, but the mentor is only responsible for a detailed response to the revised work of 120-125 pages that satisfies the thesis requirement.

The completed, bound thesis must be submitted in a format in accordance with the University of Southern Maine/Stonecoast MFA Program Guidelines for the Creative Thesis, available from the MFA office. The completed thesis will include a preface of at least 10 pages in which the student provides a literary context for their own work. The preface may be based on or draw upon previous critical annotations, or on portions of the third-semester essay, or it may be written anew for the creative thesis. The preface should talk about the work and its various literary influences, how it relates to or builds on those influences, and what has been accomplished. The preface may incorporate personal meditation as well as analytic language, as long as it places the creative thesis within a literary tradition, whether through a consideration of literary influences or through discussion of literary characteristics.

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Every faculty member is expected, as part of their Stonecoast service, to be willing to serve as second reader for an average of one thesis a semester. Students are responsible for choosing a second reader. They may discuss this possibility with faculty members informally anytime, but no such arrangement will be binding on the part of a faculty member until the beginning of the student's fourth residency. Graduating students are required to submit the name of a faculty member who has agreed to serve as second reader as part of their final semester study plan.

Students may request to use an established writer in the genre of the thesis (normally the author of at least one book, with whom the student has no more than a professional relationship) as an external second reader. The MFA office will provide a request form.
If there is an emergency in which every effort has been made and no appropriate second reader is available within the program, the Director will serve as the second reader for that thesis.

The second reader needs, at a minimum, to look over the thesis and certify its professionalism and appropriateness for graduate degree work. In addition to this pass/fail recommendation, the second reader may choose to make additional comments and suggestions. Such additional comments are strictly at the second reader's own discretion, and are not required. The student is not required to make any of the second reader's suggested changes before graduation.

Some students have an agreement with their second readoers to send the final draft of the thesis to the second reader at the same time they send it to their advisor, which gives the second reader the maximum possible time to read and approve the thesis. Other second readers prefer to see the final revised thesis after the advisor's final comments have been incorporated and the advisor has approved the thesis. The student is responsible for making sure the second reader has the thesis and should consult and honor the second reader's preference regarding the date of delivery of the thesis. The second reader's signature constitutes approval of the thesis.

It is the student's responsibility to make sure that the thesis will have the first and second readers' original signatures in place by the deadline provided by the MFA office. (See thesection on "Obtaining Signatures" in the thesis guidelines.)

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1. Title Page: Include the full title of thesis, your full name as you would like it to appear on the final manuscript, and the following language: "A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing." Include the month and year the work is submitted. See sample title page.

2. Signature Page: This page should contain the date, followed by the statement, "We hereby recommend that the thesis of ______entitled _______be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts." Following this statement, there should be a list of three blank lines for the signatures of the Advisor, Reader, and Program Director, with the appropriate names typed below, followed by the word "accepted" and a blank line for the signature of the Dean (See sample page at end of this document for layout.) Note: The Advisor is your fourth semester mentor. The Reader can be any Stonecoast faculty member (or, by special written request, another published writer) with whom you have previously worked. See section on "Second Readers for the Creative Thesis." See sample signature page.

3. Abstract: Following the signature page is an abstract of your creative thesis. The abstract is a brief summary (approximately 100-200 words) of your thesis, describing its themes, imagery, plot, characters, or other literary features.

4. Acknowledgements: (optional)

5. Preface: The preface is your opportunity to present your own view of the work included in the thesis. Approximately ten to twenty pages in length, it may, and should, include information concerning the work's development, its literary influences, and its aesthetic aims. This is also where you may discuss your plans for how the work might evolve or grow in the future.

6. Table of Contents: must include page numbers.

7. Text of Creative Thesis: This book length collection represents your completed and revised work in your genre of study. Minimums for the creative thesis are as follows: for Poetry, 35-40 pages; for Prose, 110-115 pages. Maximum length is 125 pages for any genre. For those who have produced longer, book-length projects, the entire manuscript can be included in the thesis and will be read by the mentor, but only the revised work of up to 115 pages will satisfy the thesis requirement. If the student wishes to bind their entire manuscript and it exceeds 2.5 inches, the bindery charges an extra $3.50 per inch. So, for each copy that exceeds the 2.5 inches, there will be an additional charge of $3.50 per extra inch.

8. Bibliography (prepared in MLA style): The bibliography should be a complete record of all reference literature that you have read during your MFA work, and may also include works that have been significant literary influences. It should include both the semester project reading and readings completed in preparation for each residency.

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The complete creative thesis as outlined above must be printed in two original copies (one for the library and one for the department) in clear and readable font, at least 12 point in size. Both of these copies must be on 8-1/2 x 11 bond paper of at least 20 pound weight containing 25% or more rag content. The left hand margin should be set at 1.5 to 2 inches and all other margins should be set at 1 inch. The thesis must be double-spaced throughout, with the exception of quotations, footnotes, illustrations, bibliographies and appendices which may be single spaced. Poets may choose not to double-space poems. It should be submitted bound by a clasp and should not be stapled.

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Pagination

A thesis contains two sets of numbers. The preliminary pages (items 1-6 of the thesis) should be numbered consecutively in small Roman numerals. The title page should be considered "i" but should not be numbered. Beginning with the text, all pages must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (items 9-11 of the thesis).

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Obtaining Signatures

It is the student's responsibility to make sure that the thesis will have required original signatures in place by the deadline. The recommended procedure for obtaining signatures on an already-approved thesis when reader, advisor and second reader are geographically separated is as follows: two to three weeks before the thesis is due, the student sends the unfolded title pages, one for each copy of the thesis, to the advisor in a 9 x 12 envelope. The student encloses two stamped 9 x 12 envelopes, one addressed to the second reader, and one back to the student. The advisor signs each copy and forwards the contents to the second reader, who signs and sends the completed sheets back to the student.

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Copies and Binding

Two copies of the thesis with signed title pages, ready for binding, must be submitted to the Stonecoast office at:

USM Stonecoast MFA Program

222 Deering Ave

PO Box 9300

Portland, ME 04102

These copies must be received at least ten business days before the start of the final residency.  If the deadline is not met, the Stonecoast MFA Office cannot guarantee that the grade will be entered in time for the student to graduate.

All students are required to use the binding service provided through the USM library. Binding costs are $25 for the required University copies and are normally included in the Graduation Residency Fee. (Students may order additional bound copies for their personal use, available in approximately six weeks, at an additional cost of $25 a copy, check or money order only, enclosed with the thesis copies). After the thesis copies are received, the MFA office will arrange for the remaining signatures and binding and the graduation certificate form will be processed by the Office of Graduate Admissions.

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Related Links:

Program Timeline
Important dates and deadlines on the Stonecoast academic calendar.

Sample Annotations
Examples of three approaches to the monthly critical annotations: analytical, meditative, and imitative.

Thesis Guidelines University and program policies and requirements for the creative MFA thesis.

Graduation Requirements
Outline of the steps necessary to complete the final semester and graduation residency.

Areas of Emphasis
In-depth descriptions of the six possible third-semester enhancement projects.