UWA Handbook 2025

Note: This course is only available to re-enrolling students.

Definitions

In these Rules, unless the context suggests otherwise—

the Board is the Board of the Graduate Research School and includes any position to which the Board has delegated authority for a particular function;

work means scholarly writing or, in the case of the creative arts and building sciences, may mean music composition or music recitals or exhibitions or recordings or scholarly documentation of exhibitions or recordings.

Applicability of the Master's Degrees by Research Rules for courses administered by the Board of the Graduate Research School and the University's Student Rules, policies and procedures

1.(1) The Master's Degrees by Research Rules for courses administered by the Board of the Graduate Research School apply to the Master of Arts (Creative Writing) except as set out in the rules which follow.

(2) The Student Rules, policies and procedures apply except as otherwise indicated in the rules for this course.

Academic Conduct and Research Integrity Unit

1.A(1)  A student who enrols in this course for the first time irrespective of whether they have previously been enrolled in another course of the University, must undertake the Academic Conduct and Research Integrity unit (the ACRI module) and complete within the first six months from the date of commencement in the course.

(2) A student who has not achieved a result of Ungraded Pass (UP) for the ACRI module when their progress status is assessed will not have made satisfactory progress even if they have met the other requirements for satisfactory progress in the rules for this course.

(3) A student who does not make satisfactory progress in terms of (2) is assigned the progress status of 'On Probation'.

Admission

2. To be considered for admission to this course an applicant must—

(a)(i) have a bachelor's degree with first class or upper second class honours in creative writing; or

(ii) submit and have approved by the Head of the School of Social Sciences and the Board of the Graduate Research School a folio of creative writing, at least one third of which has been published by recognised publishers, amounting to between 4000 and 5000 words of prose or the equivalent of poetry or drama as determined by the Head of School;

and

(b) submit and have approved by the Head of the School of Social Sciences and the Board of the Graduate Research School a 2000- to 3000-word critical essay on an aspect of the writer's craft.

Course requirements

3. The field of study for the Master of Arts (Creative Writing) is creative writing in English in any genre approved by the Board.

4.(1) A full-time student must submit to the Board for approval the details of the thesis and the literary form of the creative writing within four months of the date of first enrolment in the course or, if the enrolment is part-time or a mixture of full- and part-time, the equivalent as determined by the Board.

(2) The approval of the Board is required for any significant changes to the details submitted under (1).

5. A student must present for examination—

(a) a piece or pieces of creative writing of prose, poetry or drama, the word limit of which is determined by the Head of the School of Humanities and approved by the Board, which demonstrates technical accomplishment and imaginative resource;

and

(b) a thesis of at least 15,000 words on a topic related to one or more aspects of the work presented under (a).