Critical Paper

Introduction to the Critical Paper 

During their third term, MFA students complete the research and writing of a long critical paper. This paper is based on scholarly research methods and typically examines a literary, cultural, or craft issue relevant to the student’s pursuits as a writer. Papers must be a minimum of 15 pages, excluding documentation. There is no maximum.  Students must include plans for the critical paper in their Project Period Contract. Mentors evaluate and approve (via email, no signature required) the completed paper’s content, using a rubric. Once the mentor approves, students send their papers to the format review team for formatting approval. The paper must be approved by the last day of the project period. Once the paper has received approval from both the mentor and format reviewer, the paper will be archived by the MFA Program Office.

Exemptions:

Students with advanced standing skip the second semester and therefore are not required to submit a 5-page short critical paper. Students with advanced standing are not exempt from the  15-page long critical paper. 

In some cases, a student with an MA in English or a PhD., may request to be exempt from writing their 15-page long critical paper in the third term. To request an exemption, students need to contact the Program Chair and provide a sample of critical work done in the previous degree program. Students who have their long critical papers waived must still write annotations during the third term.

Papers that are sent to mentors ONLY (do not send these to the MFApaperwork account):

• Short critical paper

Papers that are sent to the format review team, MFAFormatreview@antioch.edu, after mentor approval (do not send this to the MFApaperwork account):

• Long critical paper

Review the resources below before sending work to your mentor and/or format review team.

Before you submit:

• Read through the guidelines.

• Download the critical paper template and copy/paste your work or type directly into the Microsoft Word document. See the section below "How to Download Templates" for more details.

• Once your paper is complete, check your work by running through the checklist.

• Long critical paper: Once you receive mentor approval, email your paper to MFAFormatreview@antioch.edu. 

Templates

The critical paper template is formatted correctly and include some useful MLA and MFA formatting notes throughout the body. You will need to download the template and copy/paste your work or type directly into the Microsoft Word document. DO NOT use Google Docs to work on your papers as this will distort the correct page format in the template. You MUST DOWNLOAD the document in order to access the correct page format.