Oates earned a master's degree at the University of Wisconsin. Since her college years Oates has been a consistent and prolific writer, writing every day, even when she is travelling. She writes from eight o'clock in the morning until afternoon, when she takes a short break. This disciplined writing schedule is some of the source of her productivity and consistency as a writer. She has kept a written journal since 1956, and the part stored now in the Joyce Carol Oates archive, which runs from 1956 to 1990, is 4,000 pages long.
Oates continues to be a successful academic.
She teaches creative writing and continues to read widely and deeply. She and her husband, Raymond Smith, own and run the small, literary Ontario Press. Oates writes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays. Her best-known novels are written with a deliberate and sophisticated awareness of genre and historical period. She often analyzes violence and evil in modern society.