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Creative Writing (MFA) Theses

Below is a selection of dissertations from the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in Wilkinson College that have been included in Chapman University Digital Commons. Additional dissertations from years prior to 2019 are available through the Leatherby Libraries' print collection.

Access to these theses is restricted to the student authors and select Chapman University faculty and staff.

Theses from 2024 2024

Body as Kintsugi , Anthony Alegrete

Shivers , Casie Gambrel

The House of Half-Light , Diego Garcia

The Detectives Club , Yuya Hattori

I Have to Believe This Story to Live , Sarah Johnson

Fissure , Henneh Kwaku Kyereh

The Doldrums , Bailey Powell

A Siren of Terror , Tlotlo Tsamaase

Theses from 2023 2023

Little Girls , Nour Abuelreich

The Second Life of the Nodosaur , Sinclair Adams

Hiraeth , Belana Beeck

Bitterroot Tea , Kimberly Madsen Bowcutt

You Can't Make Me: Stories , Kayla Chang

The Dragon in the Lake , Elizabeth Chen

The Night We Saw Together , Su Chen

Nightfall , Nicole Cook

If God Carried Water , Ximena Delgado Paredes

The Curse of the Rios Family , Samantha Diaz

The collection bag and other stories , Audrey Fong

Alpha Romeo , Todd Gilbert

Beaumont Court , Elena Goodenberger

You Can Find Me Here , Piper Gourley

Spring All Year Long and Other Stories , Kate Hampton

Short Stories From the Other World , Nina Handjeva-Weller

Reaching for Fairies , Rebekah Izard

Do Black Girls Go to Heaven? , Montez Jennings

DIY , Louis Labat

Amarie, Before and After , Matthew Lemas

The Apartments That Raised Me , Mikayla McLean

Clockwork Monstrum , Vesper North

On Becoming a Runner , Deborah Paquin

Shatter / Proof , Lydia Pejovic

Accordance , Isabelle Stillman

The Reaper , Elizabeth N. Tran

After the Body , Emily Velasquez

deep in the green lilac park , Constance von Igel de Mello

Theses from 2022 2022

Autogynéphale , Jay Dye

Running Catalina , Megan Friess

Voice of a Matriarch Contemporary Diasporic West Asian Life Writing: Out of Armenia, Syria, and Lebanon , Maya Theresa Garabedian

It Could Happen to Anyone , Joshua D. Granite

End of the Road , Michael Khuraibet

Dangle Charm from Unblessed String , Ian Koh

Cold Comfort , Alec Meden

Notes of Venom and Vengeance , Makena Metz

The Cantankerous: A Ponderosa Pines Tale , Hannah Montante

The Barrier , Ansalee Morrison

Future Unlimited , Alexander Quintanilla

These Stars We Pray To , Janalee Tabayoyong

Becoming Brotherless , Aria Valle

Theses from 2021 2021

Save Me A Song , Aysel Atamdede

The Aleph , Ariel Banayan

Circle Gets the Square , Cristian Bourgeois

Her Inner , Marrissa Childs

The Hidden Grave , Melissa Gaiti

A Collection of Short Stories： Too Real To Be Fake , Shengjie Ge

Seasons of Fate , Christopher Hines

Voodoo Dolls, Automatons, Avatars and Other Literary Doubles , Destiny Irons

I Took His Words , Rachel Jeffries

All You Knead Is Love , Ryan Alyson Johnson

Deficit , Phoebe Merten

Son of a Preacher Man & Other Poems , Daniel Miess

Carácter , Santa-Victoria Pérez

The Ghosts We Leave Behind: A Novel , Sam Risak

We Sink Beneath the Sand , Natalie Salagean

Circles of Dawn , Jason M. Thornberry

The Madness We Carry , Geneva Trelease-Gordon

Whispers From Scotland , Sarah Nicole Valadez

Vampire Money , Jacob VanWormer

The Terrarium , Paige Welsh

Mudlark , Candice Yacono

First Light , Tryphena Yeboah

Theses from 2020 2020

Party on a Roof , Samer Alrayes

School of Artistas Inmigrantes , Manuel Calvillo de la Garza

The Sixth Try , Winnie Chak

Don't Ruin the Experience , Jocelyn Foster

Limerence: A Kaleidoscopic Coming Out Story , Matthew Goldman

A Pocketful of Secrets , Larissa Lacy

Thoughts From Your Bartender , Nikolas Loyatho

Dream On , Jonathan Moch

When It Was Us , Victoria O'Leary

From Sicily to America: An Immigrant's Story , Marco Randazzo

Ringed In Fire , Natalia Sanchez

Letters to a Dead Someone: Stories , Danielle Shorr

Wrestletopia: A Collection of Shorts , Daniel Strasberger

In the Middle of What , Ashley Teller

The Memory of the Universe , Karina Trejo Melendez

Lady Parts , Allie Vernon

Right There , Morgan Wilson

The Blizzard , Phil Wood

Little Monsters , Kati Zamani

Theses from 2019 2019

The Tall-Men Are Real , Alex Athanail

Indiana and Other Indianas: Stories , Andrew Beckner

GROUPIE , Meg Boyles

Letty , Kevin Brown

The Searching Husband , Rahul Chak

The Watched , Sierra Ellison

Searching for Sacajawea and The Square Dance , Melinda Guilford

Interpretation Machine: A Memoir , Liz Harmer

Their Bodies Are Home , Rachel Jorquera

Hostage , Maryam Khamesi

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BA Major Thesis Overview

The thesis—typically in the form of a collection of short stories, poems, essays, or a novel excerpt—is a significant, polished, original creative work; the culmination of your study at the University of Chicago; and an opportunity to deepen your understanding of writing craft. Over the course of four quarters, in consultation with a faculty advisor and a writing and research advisor (WARA), students produce work informed by aesthetic, literary, and critical influences, as well as engage in coursework, sustained readings, and research.

Students work on their BA theses/projects throughout their fourth year. In Spring Quarter of the third year, students will be assigned a WARA who will mentor student reading and research throughout the thesis process. Students, in conversation with their WARAs, will complete a preliminary project proposal during the Spring Quarter of their third year. The preliminary proposal will then be submitted to the Student Affairs Administrator.

During the following Summer Quarter, students will craft a reading journal centered on a field list of readings. Chosen texts will be based upon work, conversations, etc., that students have begun with their WARAs. In Autumn Quarter of their fourth year, students and WARAs will work together to adapt the reading journal into an annotated bibliography, a focus reading list, and a reading and research summary (a summary of student writing plan and goals for the BA thesis/project).

In Winter Quarter, students will continue meeting with their WARA and must also enroll in the appropriate Thesis/Major Projects Workshop in their primary genre ( CRWR 29200  Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction,  CRWR 29300  Thesis/Major Projects: Poetry,  CRWR 29400  Thesis/Major Projects: Nonfiction, or CRWR 29500 Thesis/Major Projects: Fiction/Nonfiction). The Thesis/Major Projects Workshop is mandatory and only offered during Winter Quarter.

The instructor for the Thesis/Major Projects Workshop will also serve as the faculty advisor for the BA thesis. Students should be aware that because of very high demand, students will not necessarily get their first choice of faculty advisor. 

Students will work closely with their faculty advisor and peers in their Thesis/Major Projects Workshop and will receive course credit, as well as a final grade for the course. In consultation with their faculty advisor and WARA, students will revise and submit a near-final draft of the BA thesis by the end of the second week of Spring Quarter. Students will submit the final version of their BA thesis to their WARA, faculty advisor, Student Affairs Administrator, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies by the beginning of the fifth week of Spring Quarter. 

All creative writing majors are encouraged to take the thesis workshop and write a BA thesis. Students following the original Major in Creative Writing are required to complete both the thesis workshop and the BA thesis to graduate with the major. For students following the 2023-24 updated requirements the thesis and thesis workshop are encouraged but optional, although the thesis workshop and thesis are required for consideration for the designation of honors. To opt out of the thesis process please email the Director of Undergraduate studies.

Creative Writing BA Thesis Timeline 2023-24

THE YEAR AT A GLANCE

**If you plan to graduate early, please contact the Student Affairs Administrator or DUS as soon as possible**

Spring (Rising Majors): Setting Up Summer Reading

• Week 5: WARA group meeting to discuss the preliminary BA proposal and general strategies for drawing up a summer reading list. This required information session will take place the same day as the group discussion with UChicago Library's  bibliographer for Literatures of Europe & the Americas  
• Friday, Week 7: Preliminary BA proposals are due to the Student Affairs Administrator
• Friday, Week 8: WARA groups will be finalized and confirmed. Your WARA will reach out to set up an individual meeting to discuss summer reading and research plans.
• Weeks 8 and 9: Individual meetings with WARAs to finalize summer reading and research plans (specifically field and focus reading lists)

Autumn: Reading, Research, Planning

• Week 0: Individual WARA and student check-ins regarding summer reading and research
• Week 1 or 2: WARA group meetings
• Week 4: Required Info Session for BA thesis writers
• Deadline to apply to the Thesis/Major Projects Workshop
• Submit annotated bibliography (composed of your field and focus reading lists ) to WARA
• Friday, Week 9: Submit completed BA reading & research summary form to WARA

Winter: Writing & Editorial Process (continue reading and research)

• Weeks 1-10: Work on projects in Thesis/Major Projects Workshops and continue supported reading; research with WARA groups
• Weeks 1-10: Submit Research Background Electives Petition
• Week 9/10: Submit Winter Thesis/Major Projects Workshop final to both your thesis advisor and WARA

Spring: Revising

• Friday, Week 2: Submit a second full (semi-final) draft of thesis to WARA and faculty advisor
• Monday, Week 5: Submit final draft of thesis to faculty advisors, WARA, and the Student Affairs Administrator
• Family & friends welcome
• Week 9: Students notified about Honors decisions

Program Honors and Eligibility

College Catalog on Program Honors: The faculty in the program will award program honors based on their assessment of BA theses and the assessment of WARAs. Students must complete all assignments set by WARAs to be considered for honors. To be eligible, students must have a major GPA of at least 3.6 and an overall GPA of at least 3.25. Honors will be awarded only to exceptional projects from a given cohort. 

Program Honors Criteria

1. GPA:  writer must have at least 3.6 major GPA & 3.25 cumulative GPA

2. Conception:  the BA project has emotional and intellectual resonance, and fulfills many of its artistic goals 

3.   Execution:  the BA project demonstrates strong technical knowledge, from its formal decisions to its execution of the fundamental mechanics of the genre:

            -BA project is developed through active writerly commitment

4. Revision:  writer is diligent throughout the revision process

5. Program Citizenship/Engagement:  the writer put in strong effort throughout the entirety of the BA writing and research process and worked well with both their faculty advisor and WARA:

-Submitted all BA assignments by their deadlines to WARAs

-Checked in with WARAs per pre-determined schedule

-Conscientious colleague in and out of the Thesis Workshop

6. Risk and ambition:  the BA project shows an impressive level of risk and ambition, whether through formal innovation or content

Assignment Checklist

• Preliminary BA Project Proposal  
• Summer Reading Journal (based on field reading list)  
• Annotated Bibliography  
• Focus Reading List  
• Reading and Research Summary

Forms and Guidelines

Creative Writing Thesis

Creative writing courses.

English Majors on the Creative Writing Track are required to take a Beginning, Advanced, and Senior Seminar course. The scaffolded creative writing courses provide clear levels of progress centered upon eventually completing the senior project and for deepening student engagement with the craft of developing voice and narrative. Students take an introductory and advanced course in one chosen genre before moving into the senior sequence as described above. Students also take one elective in creative writing or another art discipline as a way of broadening, deepening and diversifying their engagement with creative productivity more generally.

Students interested in more than one genre are encouraged to begin their progress through the track by taking the multi-genre “Introduction to Creative Writing” class before choosing a genre path. Further, senior sequence courses are designed to support hybrid projects that cross and complicate genres, as well as incorporate other mediums and areas of studies.

The Senior Thesis in Creative Writing

The Senior Thesis can take the form of a collection of poetry, essays, short stories, a novella, or even a novel. Hybrid works are also possible and encouraged. Length of the project is determined by the genre, style, and intention of the project. In general, prose works are 40+ pages with some novels as long as 250. Poetry collections vary from 20-40 pages. 

The Senior Thesis is due on the last day of Block 7 and required for graduation. No exceptions. 

EN481 CW Senior Seminar

Scheduling: This is a two-block course held in Fall (b3&4) and Spring (b6&7) only. Please see the Course Path page for more information.  Senior Seminar Sequence: Workshop/Project EN481 Senior Seminar: Two-block advanced study of creative writing culminating in a creative capstone project such as a collection of short stories, a novella or novel, a collection of poems, a long essay or a collection of essays, or hybrid writing project. Required of all senior Creative Writing Track English majors. What is the Creative Writing Senior Sequence? The goal of the Senior Seminar sequence is the submission of a finalized senior project at the end of Block 7 as part of the English Major requirement. The first block of the Senior Seminar operates as a workshop offering students an opportunity to have their work read and critiqued by others. Being a member of the workshop entails:

• Submitting writing under strict deadlines
• Turning in writing ready for critique
• Discussing the scope of the project and goals for the block
• Reading the work of peers thoughtfully and within the context of their project and the craft of writing
• Providing both written and oral feedback that is well-supported and constructive.

EN499 Senior Project

Creative writing faculty.

How to Craft Your Ideal Thesis Research Topic

Table of contents

Catherine Miller

Writing your undergraduate thesis is probably one of the most interesting parts of studying, especially because you get to choose your area of study. But as both a student and a teacher who’s helped countless students develop their research topics, I know this freedom can be just as intimidating as it is liberating.

Fortunately, there’a a step-by-step process you can follow that will help make the whole process a lot easier. In this article, I’ll show you how to choose a unique, specific thesis topic that’s true to your passions and interests, while making a contribution to your field.

Choose a topic that you’re interested in

First things first: double-check with your teachers or supervisor if there are any constraints on your research topic. Once your parameters are clear, it’s time to identify what lights you up — after all, you’re going to be spending a lot of time thinking about it.

Within your field of study, you probably already have some topics that have grabbed your attention more than others. This can be a great place to start. Additionally, consider using the rest of your academic and extra-curricular interests as a source of ideas. At this stage, you only need a broad topic before you narrow it down to a specific question. 

If you’re feeling stuck, here are some things to try:

• Look back through old course notes to remind yourself of topics you previously covered. Do any of these inspire you?
• Talk to potential supervisors about your ideas, as they can point you toward areas you might not have considered.
• Think about the things you enjoy in everyday life — whether that’s cycling, cinema, cooking, or fashion — then consider if there are any overlaps with your field of study.
• Imagine you have been asked to give a presentation or record a podcast in the next three days. What topics would you feel confident discussing?
• Watch a selection of existing lectures or explainer videos, or listen to podcasts by experts in your field. Note which topics you feel curious to explore further.
• Discuss your field of study with teachers friends and family, some with existing knowledge and some without. Which aspects do you enjoy talking about? 

By doing all this, you might uncover some unusual and exciting avenues for research. For example, when writing my Master’s dissertation, I decided to combine my field of study (English teaching methodology) with one of my passions outside work (creative writing). In my undergraduate course, a friend drew on her lived experience of disability to look into the literary portrayal of disability in the ancient world. 

Do your research

Once you’ve chosen your topic of interest, it’s time to dive into research. This is a really important part of this early process because it allows you to:

• See what other people have written about the topic — you don’t want to cover the same old ground as everyone else.
• Gain perspective on the big questions surrounding the topic. 
• Go deeper into the parts that interest you to help you decide where to focus.
• Start building your bibliography and a bank of interesting quotations. 

A great way to start is to visit your library for an introductory book. For example, the “A Very Short Introduction” series from the Oxford University Press provides overviews of a range of themes. Similar types of overviews may have the title “ A Companion to [Subject]” or “[Subject] A Student Companion”. Ask your librarian or teacher if you’re not sure where to begin. 

Your introductory volume can spark ideas for further research, and the bibliography can give you some pointers about where to go next. You can also use keywords to research online via academic sites like JStor or Google Scholar. Check which subscriptions are available via your institution.

At this stage, you may not wish to read every single paper you come across in full — this could take a very long time and not everything will be relevant. Summarizing software like Wordtune could be very useful here.

Just upload a PDF or link to an online article using Wordtune, and it will produce a summary of the whole paper with a list of key points. This helps you to quickly sift through papers to grasp their central ideas and identify which ones to read in full. 

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

You can also use Wordtune for semantic search. In this case, the tool focuses its summary around your chosen search term, making it even easier to get what you need from the paper.

As you go, make sure you keep organized notes of what you’ve read, including the author and publication information and the page number of any citations you want to use. 

Some people are happy to do this process with pen and paper, but if you prefer a digital method, there are several software options, including Zotero , EndNote , and Mendeley . Your institution may have an existing subscription so check before you sign up.

Narrowing down your thesis research topic

Now you’ve read around the topic, it’s time to narrow down your ideas so you can craft your final question. For example, when it came to my undergraduate thesis, I knew I wanted to write about Ancient Greek religion and I was interested in the topic of goddesses. So, I:

• Did some wide reading around the topic of goddesses
• Learned that the goddess Hera was not as well researched as others and that there were some fascinating aspects I wanted to explore
• Decided (with my supervisor’s support) to focus on her temples in the Argive region of Greece

As part of this process, it can be helpful to consider the “5 Ws”: why, what, who, when, and where, as you move from the bigger picture to something more precise. 

Why did you choose this research topic?

Come back to the reasons you originally chose your theme. What grabbed you? Why is this topic important to you — or to the wider world? In my example, I knew I wanted to write about goddesses because, as a woman, I was interested in how a society in which female lives were often highly controlled dealt with having powerful female deities. My research highlighted Hera as one of the most powerful goddesses, tying into my key interest.

What are some of the big questions about your topic?

During your research, you’ll probably run into the same themes time and time again. Some of the questions that arise may not have been answered yet or might benefit from a fresh look. 

Equally, there may be questions that haven’t yet been asked, especially if you are approaching the topic from a modern perspective or combining research that hasn’t been considered before. This might include taking a post-colonial, feminist, or queer approach to older texts or bringing in research using new scientific methods.

In my example, I knew there were still controversies about why so many temples to the goddess Hera were built in a certain region, and was keen to explore these further.

Who is the research topic relevant to?

Considering the “who” might help you open up new avenues. Is there a particular audience you want to reach? What might they be interested in? Is this a new audience for this field? Are there people out there who might be affected by the outcome of this research — for example, people with a particular medical condition — who might be able to use your conclusions?

Which period will you focus on?

Depending on the nature of your field, you might be able to choose a timeframe, which can help narrow the topic down. For example, you might focus on historical events that took place over a handful of years, look at the impact of a work of literature at a certain point after its publication, or review scientific progress over the last five years. 

With my thesis, I decided to focus on the time when the temples were built rather than considering the hundreds of years for which they have existed, which would have taken me far too long.

Where does your topic relate to?

Place can be another means of narrowing down the topic. For example, consider the impact of your topic on a particular neighborhood, city, or country, rather than trying to process a global question. 

In my example, I chose to focus my research on one area of Greece, where there were lots of temples to Hera. This meant skipping other important locations, but including these would have made the thesis too wide-ranging.

Create an outline and get feedback

Once you have an idea of what you are going to write about, create an outline or summary and get feedback from your teacher(s). It’s okay if you don’t know exactly how you’re going to answer your thesis question yet, but based on your research you should have a rough plan of the key points you want to cover. So, for me, the outline was as follows:

• Context: who was the goddess Hera?
• Overview of her sanctuaries in the Argive region
• Their initial development 
• Political and cultural influences
• The importance of the mythical past

In the final thesis, I took a strong view on why the goddess was so important in this region, but it took more research, writing, and discussion with my supervisor to pin down my argument.

To choose a thesis research topic, find something you’re passionate about, research widely to get the big picture, and then move to a more focused view. Bringing a fresh perspective to a popular theme, finding an underserved audience who could benefit from your research, or answering a controversial question can make your thesis stand out from the crowd.

For tips on how to start writing your thesis, don’t miss our advice on writing a great research abstract and a stellar literature review . And don’t forget that Wordtune can also support you with proofreading, making it even easier to submit a polished thesis.

How do you come up with a research topic for a thesis?

To help you find a thesis topic, speak to your professor, look through your old course notes, think about what you already enjoy in everyday life, talk about your field of study with friends and family, and research podcasts and videos to find a topic that is interesting for you. It’s a good idea to refine your topic so that it’s not too general or broad.  

Do you choose your own thesis topic?

Yes, you usually choose your own thesis topic. You can get help from your professor(s), friends, and family to figure out which research topic is interesting to you. 

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