English 700x:
Introduction to Literary Research
Professor Martin Elsky
Fall 2001 W 6:05-7:45

[updated August 20, 2001]

This course introduces students to several major areas of literary research and scholarly procedure as preparation for research papers in MA courses and the MA thesis. We will discuss practical techniques of locating and citing primary and secondary materials; we will also consider the kinds of research engaged in by literary scholars and the broader issue of how the subjects of research change over time. Topics will include bibliography, print and on-line research resources, and the varieties of criticism as practiced in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Forms of criticism will be illustrated with critical essays on a very small number of Shakespeare plays. Assignments will be directed toward a term project on a writer or work of the students' choice; students are encouraged to use project as the basis of their MA thesis. This course should not be taken in the first semester of the MA program.

REQUIREMENTS:
sample bibliography; compilation of internet resources on an author; annotated bibliography; essay on critical paradigm shift (based on annotated bibliography)

REQUIRED TEXTS:
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 4th ed. MLA.
James L. Harner, Literary Research Guide. 3rd ed. MLA.
M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Shakespeare, Hamlet. Ed. Susanne Wofford. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Bedford/ St. Martin's Press.
David Scott Kastan, Shakespeare After Theory. Routledge.

ASSIGNMENTS:
The main assignment in the course will be a paper that accounts for a paradigm shift in the criticism of a work, an author, or a topic. This paper will be the culmination of a number of bibliographic assignments. Choose a work, author, or topic with which you already have developed some familiarity, preferably from another graduate course. Your choice should also reflect the topic you might consider as the subject of your MA thesis. You will find it helpful to think of your final paper and the assignments leading up to it as preparation for your MA thesis.

Assignment 1: Internet resources
Assignment 2: Bibliography
Assignment 3: Annotated bibliography
Assignment 4: Final paper: critical paradigm shift

COURSE OUTLINE:

Introduction: the MA thesis and the kinds of research; choosing a subject, author, or theme for bibliography assignment and term paper

Harner: distinguishing between major and minor sources

Sept 12 MLA Handbook: the forms of citation and their variations
SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER
Assignment 1 due: list of on-line resources

Oct 3
Before the critical revolution: New Criticism
Abrams, "New Criticism," "Phenomenology and Criticism"
Assignment 2 due: bibliography

Oct 10
Before the critical revolution, continued

Oct 17
Library meeting

Oct 24
The Revolution
Abrams, "Modernism and Postmodernism," "Semiotics," "Deconstruction"

Oct 31
The Revolution, cont.

Nov 7
Hamlet as example: Wofford, "A Critical History of Hamlet, in Wofford, 181-205

Nov 14
Hamlet and Deconstruction
Murfin, "What Is Deconstruction?" in Wofford, 283-293
Margerie Garber, "Giving Up the Ghost," in Wofford, 297-329

Nov 21
Hamlet and Feminism
Murfin, "What Is Feminist Criticism?" in Wofford, 208-215
Elaine Showalter, "Representing Ophelia," in Wofford, 220-240
Assignment 4 due: annotated bibliography

Nov 28
Hamlet and New Historicism
Murfin, "What Is New Historicism?" in Wofford, 368-376
Karin Coddon, "Such Strange Desygns," in Wofford, 380-400

Dec 5
History vs Theory
Kastan, Shakespeare after Theory, 15-58

Dec 12
Authorship, authority, and the varieties of meaning
Kastan, Shakespeare after Theory, 59-108

Dec 19
Review
Assignment 5 due: essay on paradigm shift

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