Program Courses

Program Courses, Requirements, and Outcomes

On-Campus Residency and Writing Workshops for New Students

This course is designed to familiarize first-semester MFA students with the curriculum and processes of the MFA program and to help them begin to map out their course of study and creative goals. Students will discuss several essays on the art and process of creative writing. They will also learn about how the publishing industry for creative writing works and be encouraged to set goals for publication. They will receive instruction in the core characteristics of strong writing across the genres. They will learn about the art of revision and be given instruction in how a creative writing workshop functions. They will be given a writing prompt with which to generate a piece for the practice workshop that will follow this class.

First semester students will participate in the two-day practice workshop to familiarize them with how a creative workshop functions. They will receive instruction in the rules and procedures for a workshop. As the participants discuss one another’s work, the instructor will facilitate constructive discussion and comment upon the process.    The instructor will model appropriate comments and direct students in regard to the types of questions and suggestions that are most useful. Students will workshop the work they created from the prompt during the orientation class. During the workshop, each writer’s work will be critiqued in detail, and the instructor will use each manuscript to illustrate points about craft elements and to show students how they can formulate responses based on observations about craft elements.

Ten-Day On-Campus Residency and Writing Workshops for New Students

There will be a reading and/or seminar offered by a visiting writer every evening of the Residency, and students are required to attend each night except on the evenings they have a scheduled one-on-one meeting with their Workshop instructor or their mentor for the upcoming semester. At the one-on-one meetings with the mentor, the mentor will make a semester plan with the student, specifying assignments, due dates, and logistical processes for sending writing and comments back and forth. Additionally, experiential learning will take place in formal and informal meetings between visiting writers, instructors, and students.

The Writer’s Workshop is a daily three-hour class in which students read and discuss one another’s work under the guidance of a well-known writer. There will be three workshops each Residency: Poetry, Prose and Script. Students must choose one. Several weeks prior to the Residency, each student submits a manuscript to be workshopped, and all participants read the manuscripts prior to the Residency and mark them up with comments for the writer. Each writer will bring to the workshop a completed peer critique report for the other students’ manuscripts. During the Workshop, each writer’s work is critiqued in detail, and the instructor uses each manuscript to illustrate points about craft elements. The instructor may also choose to assign additional readings for the group to read and discuss in order to emphasize a certain craft element. The instructor may also assign writing exercises to be completed and shared during the workshop. The instructor also provides each student with detailed written feedback on his or her work and may choose to meet one-on-one with individual students.

This course will consist of a set of readings about place as well as a program of experiential learning based on the “City as Text” model during the Summer Residency. In this course, students will study how other writers have represented place through a set of readings to be completed prior to the Residency. During the residency, they will discuss the readings and go out themselves on “walkabouts” to explore landscapes and to learn how place itself is a text to be read as well as written. 

Fall Semester (August – Dec) – Credit Hours: 9

In this individual study, the student will work one-on-one with a mentor to develop elements of writing craft, including image, structure, syntax, diction, voice, tone, style, figurative language, point of view, characterization and plot. The student will submit monthly portfolios of work to the mentor for comments and will revise in response to the mentor’s suggestions. The student and the mentor will draft a timetable of due dates and logistical processes at the beginning of each semester. Additionally, the instructor will familiarize the student with resources for calls for submissions and require the student to compose a query letter and submit at least one piece of work for publication. In addition to monthly portfolio comments, the mentor will write an end-of-semester evaluation detailing the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and progress in the program.

In this eight-week online course, students analyze the use of story in exemplary texts of all genres. Students will learn to develop and structure plot and to master pacing and the interweaving of past and present events.  Each week, students will be expected to read (or, in the case of film, watch) an assigned text. Students will post responses to targeted questions, engage in a weekly live-chat session with the instructor and fellow students, and submit a weekly analysis paper on the readings. All activities will focus on observing use of story in the assigned pieces and analyzing how each author uses writing techniques to create effects.

In this eight-week online course, students will analyze the use of image in exemplary texts of all genres.  Across the genres, writers must learn to convey emotions through detailed images rather than through abstract statements.  Each week, students will be expected to read (or, in the case of film, watch) an assigned text. Students will post responses to targeted questions, engage in a weekly live-chat session with the instructor and fellow students, and submit a weekly analysis paper on the readings. All activities will focus on observing use of image in the assigned pieces and analyzing how each author uses writing techniques to create effects.

Spring Semester (Jan – May) - Credit Hours: 9

In this individual study, the student will work one-on-one with a mentor to continue to develop elements of writing craft. The student will be expected to demonstrate substantial progress in his or her mastery of structure, form, image, style, diction, tone, voice, character and plot. The student will submit monthly portfolios of work to the mentor for comments and will revise in response to the mentor’s suggestions. The student and the mentor will draft a timetable of due dates and logistical processes at the beginning of each semester. Additionally, the instructor will introduce the student to resources for calls for submissions and require the student to compose a query letter and submit at least one piece of work for publication.  In addition to monthly portfolio comments, the mentor will write an end-of-semester evaluation detailing the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and progress in the program.

In this eight-week online course, students will analyze the use of voice in exemplary texts of all genres. Students will learn to create distinctive voices for each character or speaker in their work and ultimately a signature voice for themselves as a writer. Each week, students will be expected to read (or, in the case of film, watch) an assigned text. Students will post responses to targeted questions, engage in a weekly live-chat session with the instructor and fellow students, and submit a weekly analysis paper on the readings. All activities will focus on observing use of voice in the assigned pieces and analyzing how each author uses writing techniques to create effects.

In this eight-week online course, students will analyze the use of dialogue in exemplary texts of all genres.  Students will learn how to use dialogue to play out the conflicts between characters and to push story to its climax. Each week, students will be expected to read (or, in the case of film, watch) an assigned text. Students will post responses to targeted questions, engage in a weekly live-chat session with the instructor and fellow students, and submit a weekly analysis paper on the readings. All activities will focus on observing use of dialogue in the assigned pieces and analyzing how each author uses writing techniques to create effects.

Summer Session (July) – Credit Hours: 7

Ten-Day On-Campus Residency for Returning Students

The Writer’s Workshop is a daily three-hour class in which students read and discuss one another’s work under the guidance of a well-known writer. There will be three workshops each Residency: Poetry, Prose and Script.  Students must choose one. Several weeks prior to the Residency, each student submits a manuscript to be workshopped, and all participants read the manuscripts prior to the Residency and mark them up with comments for the writer. Each writer will bring to the workshop a completed peer critique report for the other students’ manuscripts. During the Workshop, each writer’s work is critiqued in detail, and the instructor uses each manuscript to illustrate points about craft elements. The instructor may also choose to assign additional readings for the group to read and discuss in order to emphasize a certain craft element.  The instructor may also assign writing exercises to be completed and shared during the workshop. The instructor also provides each student with detailed written feedback on his or her work and may choose to meet one-on-one with individual students.

This class prepares students for the Critical Thesis by teaching them how to conduct literary research and how to write a scholarly essay on literature. Students will master research and writing skills associated with writing about literature, including research methods and resources, the conventions of scholarly writing, and proper quotation and citation style. Students will complete a set of readings before coming to the Residency, and over the course of the Residency will receive instruction in the components of research paper writing and work through the steps to produce a 12-page research paper. Students will also receive instruction in how to use the Reinhardt Hill-Freeman library’s online and print resources to conduct literary research.

There will be a reading and/or seminar offered by a visiting writer every evening of the Residency, and students are required to attend each night except on the evenings they have a scheduled one-on-one meeting with their Workshop instructor or their mentor for the upcoming semester. At the one-on-one meetings with the mentor, the mentor will make a semester plan with the student, specifying assignments, due dates, and logistical processes for sending writing and comments back and forth. Additionally, experiential learning will take place in formal and informal meetings between visiting writers, instructors, and students.

Fall Semester (Aug – Dec) – Credit Hours: 9

In this individual study, the student will work one-on-one with a mentor to continue to develop elements of writing craft. The student will be expected to demonstrate mastery of structure, form, image, style, diction, tone, voice, character and plot. The student will submit monthly portfolios of work to the mentor for comments and will revise in response to the mentor’s suggestions. The student and the mentor will draft a timetable of due dates and logistical processes at the beginning of each semester. Additionally, the instructor will familiarize the student with resources for calls for submissions and require the student to compose a query letter and submit at least one piece of work for publication.  In addition to monthly portfolio comments, the mentor will write an end-of-semester evaluation detailing the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and progress in the program.

In this class, students work on-on-one with a mentor in writing a 40-page critical essay on a craft element in the work of a selected writer in their genre. The student will produce a research-based paper in which he or she crafts an original argument about the writer’s use of a certain craft element and supports his or her argument with quotations from scholarly secondary sources. Students are expected to write using the conventions of formal academic prose, including correct use of quotations and citations. Students will combine a close reading of the primary texts by their chosen writer with relevant points made by other critics.   The critical essay will be graded on the originality and complexity of the student’s analysis; the quality of the student’s research; the use of the conventions of academic writing, including organization,  structure,  quotations and citations; and the quality of the student’s prose, including elements such as syntax, diction and style. The student will submit monthly portfolios of work to the mentor for comments and will revise in response to the mentor’s suggestions. The student and the mentor will draft a timetable of due dates and logistical processes at the beginning of each semester. In addition to monthly portfolio comments, the mentor will write an end-of-semester evaluation detailing the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and progress in the program.

Spring Semester (Jan – May) – Credit Hours: 9

The student will work one-on-one with the mentor to produce a book-length manuscript in their genre, with a minimum of fifty pages. The manuscript should be a collection of poems, a collection of short stories, a collection of creative nonfiction essays, a novella, a large portion of a novel, or a complete screenplay. The work should be of publishable quality in its use of all of the craft elements the student has learned throughout the program: structure, form, image, style, diction, tone, voice, character and plot. It should demonstrate a mastery of each of these elements according to the conventions of the student’s chosen genre. The manuscript must demonstrate not only attention to the quality of the individual pieces or sections, but also awareness of the larger structure of the book. The student will submit monthly portfolios of work to the mentor for comments and will revise in response to the mentor’s suggestions. The student and the mentor will draft a timetable of due dates and logistical processes at the beginning of each semester. In addition to monthly portfolio comments, the mentor will write an end-of-semester evaluation detailing the students’ strengths, weaknesses, and progress in the program.

Summer Session (July) – Credit Hours: 8

Ten-Day Residency begins 2nd Week of July

During their final Residency, graduating students will participate in a Capstone Craft Intensive in which they will examine a craft element through intensive study of a particular author’s (or authors’) work.  The topic will vary from year to year depending upon the availability of instructors and the interests of that particular graduating group.   Examples of topics would be: image in Plath, Sexton and Boland; the unreliable narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” to Fight Club; experimental chronology from “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to Memento; dialogue in Raymond Carver and Denis Johnson; drafts and revisions of The Great Gatsby  and The Wasteland; Southern Gothic in O’Connor and Faulkner; the one-act play. Students will complete a set of readings prior to the Residency and will complete three 5-page reflections on the readings prior to the Residency.  Each student will also give a presentation on a designated reading. Additionally, students will respond to writing prompts related to the capstone topic and develop a portfolio of drafts to share with the class and submit to the instructor.

The Writer’s Workshop is a daily three-hour class in which students read and discuss one another’s work under the guidance of a well-known writer. There will be three workshops each Residency: Poetry, Prose and Script.  Students must choose one.  Several weeks prior to the Residency, each student submits a manuscript to be workshopped, and all participants read the manuscripts prior to the Residency and mark them up with comments for the writer.   Each writer will bring to the workshop a completed peer critique report for the other students’ manuscripts. During the Workshop, each writer’s work is critiqued in detail, and the instructor uses each manuscript to illustrate points about craft elements.  The instructor may also choose to assign additional readings for the group to read and discuss in order to emphasize a certain craft element.  The instructor may also assign writing exercises to be completed and shared during the workshop.  The instructor also provides each student with detailed written feedback on his or her work and may choose to meet one-on-one with individual students.

Summer Session (July) – Credit Hours: 8

  • Ten-Day Residency begins 2nd Week of July
  • ENG 599 Capstone Craft Intensive (3 credit hours)
  • ENG 540 Writer’s Workshop: Poetry, Prose, or Script (3 credits)
  • ENG 503 Experiential Learning, Readings, Seminars, Consultations (1 credit)
  • ENG 610 Graduation Reading, Craft Seminar and Program Reflection (1 credit)

At their final Residency, graduating students will give a public reading of their work in the evening as part of the Residency reading series. Additionally, they will give a one hour lecture on a craft element based on their critical thesis. Thirdly, as a capstone assessment, graduating students will write a five-page essay reflecting on their experiences and progress through their MFA program.

Program Assessment Completed with Writing Guide

Graduation Ceremony

Degree Requirements

Summer Session (July) – Credit Hours: 9

NOTE: For first-time entering MFA students, the first summer residency will participate in a two-day residency experience that occurs at the beginning of the summer term. The first two days of the residency will consist of an orientation period and introductory workshops. This usually occurs during the end or the first week in July. New and returning students will participate in a 10-day residency. Due to this extra contact time, new MFA students will earn 9 credits. Second-year MFA students will have a summer residency of 10 days and earn 7 credits. Graduating MFA students will have a summer residency of 10 days and give a reading of their creative work, conduct a craft seminar, and produce a program reflection. Graduating MFA students earn 8 credits during the final residency. These credit hours will vary based on the student's entry point into the program, as well as the completion of other courses. Below is a typical 2-year schedule; however, this will vary depending upon the student's entry point. For a complete list, please request a curriulum schedule for a particular entry point.

Program Outcomes

  1. Demonstrate mastery of structure and form in their chosen genre
  2. Demonstrate mastery of style, including diction, syntax and tone
  3. Demonstrate mastery of image in concrete description and figurative language
  4. Demonstrate mastery of character, point of view and voice
  5. Demonstrate the ability to analyze craft elements in literary works within their chosen genre
  6. Demonstrate the ability to constructively critique the work of their peers
  7. Demonstrate the ability to prepare and submit their work for publication and performance
  8. Demonstrate the ability to conduct and document scholarly research

Contact

Admission Questions: 770-720-5526
Office of Admissions
Reinhardt University
7300 Reinhardt Circle
Waleska, GA 30183-2981
gradadmissions@reinhardt.edu