Cirrus@Austlit

'It has now become standard practice for there to be an exegetical component not only in creative writing PhDs, but also in Masters and even Honours dissertations. In this paper we will examine the main kinds of exegeses currently being submitted and discussed ... and attempt to evaluate their usefulness both for the student/writer and for the broader academic community.' (Authors' abstract)

The author notes that; 'Some Australian university course descriptions stress that the exegesis is "related to", "linked to" or "integrated with" the creative work, while others propose a more "reflective" role. Still others nominate that the exegesis will "describe", "elaborate", "elucidate", "examine" and/or "contextualise" the creative work, all of which suggest varying temporal relations between the two usual parts of the creative writing research degree.' To try and define what was required in an exegesis the author surveyed the work processes of a group of higher degree Creative Writing students.

The authors discuss the 'relationship of the exegesis and creative/production components of a thesis' and the establishment of research degrees in the fields of creative and media arts at Curtin University in the 1990s.