This class will prepare students for writing a senior thesis. By exploring central questions of literary scholarship and by analyzing the process of framing a scholarly question, we will explore how research has been conceptualized at different periods in history and at different junctures in the evolution of literary studies. Throughout the term, our seminar meetings, workshops, and assignments will be geared toward engaging students with the critical skills, investigative methods, conceptual models, and writing practices that ground and inspire literary scholarship, including their own.
More specifically, in preparation for the senior thesis in English, this seminar develops your facility with several methods and models for literary and cultural scholarship. The course aims to strengthen your grasp of the history and current configuration of literary studies and related disciplines; engage you in framing your own literary research questions; facilitate your arrival at and independent work in the specific field or fields in which you will situate your 404; and hone your critical self-awareness as a reader, researcher, discussant, and writer.