Dr. Roberta Seelinger Trites438-3651

Office: STV 409B; Office hours: MW

ENG 401: Introduction to Graduate Studies

Fall 2007

Course description:

This course has three goals: to teach students bibliographic and research methods, to introduce them to critical theory, and to introduce the English Studies model as a series of epistemologies. The first third of the course will involve research and bibliographic instruction. The second will be a discussion of the ways that various literary theories work together to form a field that allows for multiple interpretations. The final third will be a discussion of how the three areas of English Studies (writing, linguistics, and literature) intersect in the study of one text, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Required texts:

David G. Nicholls, Ed. Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and

Literatures, 3rd edition (2007)

Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (U of California P, 2002

edition)

Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th Edition

On-line readings and Milner e-Reserves, identified below by author

Course requirements:

Each student will conduct a series of short writing assignments, as well as researching and writing one longer seminar paper. The short assignments will be given throughout the semester, but the topic of the seminar paper will be determined by each individual student, based on her or his own interests.

Seminar paper: 25%

Critical review of journals:15%

Book review:15%

Annotated bibliography and abstract:15%

Mock comprehensive exam15%

Class participation:15%

Policies:

  • Students are expected to attend class. It is impossible to imagine how students who have missed more than three classes will be able to complete all of the expectations for this course (or any graduate course).
  • Any assignment that is late will be penalized one letter grade per day that it is late.
  • I expect you to have read the assignments listed on the syllabus before you come to class. Having thoroughly read all materials prior to class is a standard expectation of all graduate classes. (All novels and articles need to be read entirely before class begins on Thursday.)
  • Proofread everything you turn in, because grammar, organization, MLA style, and mechanics are a substantial part of every grade you receive in graduate school.
  • I will not discuss any evaluation I have given your work until at least twenty-four hours after you have received the evaluation.
  • You earn your grade by performance, not by negotiation. Unless I have made an error of computation, please do not ask me to raise your grade.
  • Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TTY).

Communication:

I consider communication between the student and the instructor a key factor in maximizing students’ learning. Please feel free to email me at the address above; I find email exchanges with students very fruitful.

I also encourage you to drop by my office during office hours or to contact me to set up an appointment. Students are my top priority; don’t be afraid to contact me! Alternatively, Diane Smith, the graduate secretary, will be happy to help you schedule an appointment with me: ; 438-3651.

I expect students to treat each other respectfully at all times both in class and outside of class. Sometimes, discussions will touch on controversial topics. When we treat each other with as much civility and professionalism as possible, our discussions will generate the best possible learning environment for all students.

Webpage:

ASSIGNMENTS:

Library assignment/Critical review of journals:

I would like each of you to review the major academic journals in the subdiscipline of your choice. (Examples would include technical writing or rhetoric or African-American literature or children’s literature or TESOL or women’s literature, etc.) To conduct your review, you should look at multiple issues of each volume and determine what its major purpose is and how you believe it connects with its discipline. Additionally, please include information about the current editor and how submissions are handled. Typical student papers will review between six and ten journals and will be approximately 8-10 pages.

Book review:

Book reviewing is a major academic skill. Since knowing how to read book reviews is as important as knowing how to write them, I suggest that you read several book reviews of academic books in major scholarly journals in preparation to writing your own review.

Each student will select one academic book within the field of English Studies from a list that I will circulate. Your review should be approximately 5-6 pages long, and it should include the following elements: bibliographic information about the book at the top of the first page; a one paragraph summary of the book’s argument; your analysis of how this book has contributed to the field; and any criticisms that you find in the book’s logic or research.

Annotated bibliography and abstract:

In preparation for your seminar paper, I would like you to write an annotated bibliography and present me with a preliminary abstract of your paper. An abstract is a succinct 100-250 word description of your project that includes your thesis statement and how you will support your argument. An annotated bibliography includes two features: a bibliography of the research materials you will use in developing your paper and, following each bibliographic citation, a one or two sentence summary of the book or article that you have cited. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES MUST ADHERE SCRUPULOUSLY TO MLA STYLE.

Mock comprehensive examination:

Master’s and Ph.D. students alike take comprehensive examinations in the English Department at ISU. To prepare you for these examinations, I will ask you to take a 75-minute examination assessing one passage from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using one of the theoretical approaches that we have discussed during the course of the semester.

Seminar paper:

A seminar paper is a sustained work of original scholarship. Generally speaking, seminar papers are approximately 20 pages long, and they reflect both the student’s research on the topic and the student’s original scholarly argument. In most seminars, the seminar paper covers some aspect of the course that is being taught. In this course, students may choose a topic of their own interest, although I expect each student to confer with me before finalizing the topic. STUDENTS WHO DO NOT DISCUSS THEIR PAPER TOPIC WITH ME IN ADVANCE WILL FAIL THE ASSIGNMENT.

ENG 401: READING SCHEDULE

August 23: Defining English Studies

August 30: Writing and rhetoric as academic discipline(s)

Guest speaker: Professor Amy Robillard

  • Susan Jarratt, “Rhetoric,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • David Bartholomae, “Composition,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • Additional reading, TBA

September 6: Defining library research

  • MEET AT MILNER LIBRARY, FLOOR 6

September 13:Defining the academy: scholarship and pedagogy

  • Bruce Robbins, “The Scholar in Society,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • James Berlin “Where Do English Departments Come From” [login = “reserve”; password = “text”]
  • Robert Scholes, “A Flock of Cultures” (from his book The Rise and Fall of English) [on e-reserve at Milner Library, under “Trites”]

September 20:Language, Linguistics, and TESOL

  • Doris Sommer, “Language, Culture and Society,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • Paul Hopper, “Linguistics,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • Heidi Byrnes, “Language Acquisition and Language Learning,” Intro to Scholarship in MLL
  • Library project/critical review of journals due

September 27: Literature and Theory

  • Culler, Literary Theory, pages 1-54 (Chapters 1-3)
  • Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,”

October 4: Rhetoric, Poetics, and Narrative

  • Culler, Literary Theory, pages 55-93 (Chapters 4-6)
  • Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” [on e-reserve at Milner Library, under “Trites”]
  • Foucault, “What is an Author?” [on e-reserve at Milner Library, under “Trites”]

October 11: Performance and Subjectivity

  • Culler, Literary Theory, pages 94-132, (Chapters 7, 8, and Appendix)
  • Other readings TBA
  • Book review due

October 18:History, biography, and publishing

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (including notes 373-451)
  • Clark, Kiddie Lit, Chapter 4 “The Case of the Boys Book” (Milner e-Reserve)

October 25: Writing and revising

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn459-509
  • Annotated bibliography and preliminary paper abstract due

November 1: Literary studies

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • Smiley, “Say It Ain’t So, Huck” [Milner e-Reserve]
  • Morrison, “This Amazing, Troubling Book” [Milner e-Reserve]
  • Wallace, “The Case Against Huck Finn” [Milner e-Reserve]
  • Smith, “Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse” [Milner e-Reserve]

November 8: Linguistics and dialect

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • David Carkeet, “The Dialects in Huckleberry Finn” [Milner e-Reserve]
  • Shelly Fisher Fishkin, Chapter 1 of Was Huck Black?, “Been a listening all the night long,” (13-49, notes153-69) [Milner e-Reserve]
  • McKay, “‘An Art So High’” [Milner e-Reserve]
  • Mark Twain, “Sociable Jimmy” (to be distributed)

November 15:Mock comprehensive exam

November 29: Paper writing and writing workshop

December 6: SEMINAR PAPERS DUE; review, oral presentations (5 minutes each) of seminar papers, and wrap-up