Overview

Are you studying for your Honours, MA or Phd in Creative Writing? Struggling to find a form or focus for your exegesis? The exegesis workshop includes step-by-step guidance for writing your exegesis, from deciding on an research question, through conducting your research and putting together a punchy, engaging argument. The workshop includes individual guidance on resources, structure, research and style.

Course Structure

This course is comprised of 6 lessons, each of which is designed to help you conceptualise, research, and write your exegesis.

1. Introduction: Focusing Your Research
1. Lesson One helps you decide on the focus of your exegesis, write a research question or thesis statement, and begin the process of unpacking what you'll need to do in order to address your research question.
   
2. Designing Your Research Project
1. Lesson Two is about designing the research project: deciding what types of research you need to do to complete your exegesis, including planning reading lists and schedules, writing, journalling, interviews, meetings with your supervisors, administrative requirements and so on
   
3. Project Management & Record Keeping
1. Lesson Three helps you set up an effective record keeping system while you conduct your research, including setting goals, keeping track of all the research you've done, and what you need to do next
   
4. Reading About Writing (Critical Reading)
1. Lesson Four introduces you to some simple but effective strategies for making sure your critical reading is useful to your research. It unpacks key ways of approaching the kinds of texts you might read in the process of writing your exegesis, including creative and critical works.
   
5. Writing A Literature Review
1. Lesson Five provides a clear and simple set of guidelines for writing a literature review. It outlines the structure and purpose of a literature review, and includes step-by-step guidelines to writing an engaging, focused and relevant review of the material. The lesson provides clear guidelines for how to focus your literature review by connecting the critical reading you have undertaken to your research question.
   
6. Writing A Methodology
1. Lesson Six provides a clear and simple set of guidelines for writing a methodology chapter or paper. It outlines some of the key approaches that have been taken in the past, while providing plenty of scope for more creative or unusual approaches. The lesson outlines the purpose and structure of a well-written methodology, and includes guidelines for writing a methodology that clearly connects your research question to your methodology.
   
7. Writing About Writing
1. Lesson Seven provides guidance on how to write about writing - both your own practice and that of other writers whose practice you might examine during your research. It unpacks various approaches and provides clear guidelines for ways of connecting your exegetical, or theoretical, research with your creative work.
   
8. Writing the Introduction
1. Lesson Eight provides guidance on how to write an effective and engaging introduction to your exegesis. It provides outlines and analyses of successful introductions. The lesson outlines the various elements you can include in an introduction and looks at ways of structuring this crucial chapter.
   
9. Writing the Conclusion
1. Lesson Nine provides practical guidance on how to bring together the insights gained through the process of researching and writing the exegesis into a coherent and convincing conclusion. It provides guidance on the structure of a conclusion as well as practical guidance on how to provide a satisfying ending to your exegesis. This lesson also includes guidance on how to connect your exegetical conclusions with your creative work, where appropriate.
   
10. The Fiddly Bits: appendices, acknowledgments, abstracts, bibliographies
1. Lesson Ten provides practical guidance on how to assemble, format and write all the bits and pieces that turn your exegetical essay into a thesis that's ready to go to an examiner. It includes guidelines on what elements to include, where to include them, and so on. Importantly, this lesson helps you identify the requirement of your university and adhere to them to ensure that your examiners are free to focus on the quality of your writing and research.
   

Feedback

There are several opportunities in each lesson for you to submit extracts from your critical and creative writing, questions, process documents, etc, for informal feedback from both other writers in the course, and the course tutors. Feedback from the course tutors on your posts to forums and so on will not be in-depth, but will be personal and timely. You will not receive feedback on all of your posts, though you can expect to receive replies to any specific questions you ask.

There are three formal feedback opportunities during this course. These are opportunities for you to submit extracts from your exegesis for feedback. This feedback will be in the form of written notes, including feedback on structure, tone and content, and will be focused on helping you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your draft, and on ways to move your writing forward. Feedback may include, where appropriate and relevant, advice about further reading, strategies for improving the work, potential markets for publication, etc.

Writing Task One: Due Week Four

• Your first submission for feedback and discussion with your peers consists of the first 5000 words of the body of your exegesis (not the introduction - we'll look at that last!)

Writing Task Two: Due Week Eight

• Your second submission for feedback and discussion with your peers consists of the second 5000 words of the body of your exegesis

Writing Task Three: Due Week Twelve

• Your third submission for feedback and discussion with your peers consists of the third 5000 words of the body of your exegesis, OR your introduction, OR your conclusion.

Feedback on your exegetical writing is provided by experienced postgraduate supervisors and examiners, all of whom have PhDs in Creative Writing and have supervised honours, masters and doctoral candidates through to completion.

Prerequisites

You don't need to have any prior experience or knowledge to enrol in this course that you won't already have to have to gain entry into your postgraduate writing degree, although you may find it helpful to have a play around in our free Sampler course, or in one of introductory online courses Playing with Prose or Playing With Poetry in order to familiarise yourself with the online interface of Olvar Wood onLine (OWL).

You will need to be able to provide your course mentor with details about your university's exegetical requirements. Specifically: length, relationship to the creative work, or any other other content requirements, so that the advice we give you is in keeping with the requirements of your university.

How To Enrol

You can enrol in any course on OWL by going to the website, and clicking on the course title. You'll be guided through the process of creating a user profile and paying for your course (via Paypal).

If you'd prefer to have your user profile created for you (you can edit it later), and pay by either direct deposit or cheque, please contact us by email at admin@olvarwood.com.au