Practice-based research - English

In English, your creative (artefact) and the critical research components may be combined or presented separately. Artefacts of practice-based degrees in English are generally in the genres of fiction, biography, autobiography, creative non-fiction, poetry or creative documentary.

The critical component should address the research question(s) that has inspired the creative artefact and should indicate a cutting-edge awareness of the critical and theoretical literature around those questions. The critical research component may be in the range of 10,000-25,000 words for the Master’s by research and 20,000- 50,000 words for the PhD.

The weightings of the respective components vary, usually within the range of 80 per cent for the creative and 20 per cent for the critical component to 50 per cent for the creative and 50 per cent for the critical component. You will need to outline the percentage weighting of the creative and critical components in the abstract.

In some instances, particularly when a thesis is presented in verse form, the length of the thesis may be somewhat lower than the maximum words prescribed for the respective degrees. You will be guided by your supervisor in what is required to meet the knowledge requirements of the particular degree. A word count lower than the normal minimum will be justified in the abstract.

Published La Trobe PhD theses which have combined the artefact and the critical/exegetical components are Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland (Text Publishing) and All the Beginnings: A Queer Autobiography of the Body by Quinn Eades (Australian Scholarly Publishing)