Assignments

English 6601 Methods of Research, Fall 2021

T 5:00-7:45 p.m., Arts & Sciences 342

In-Class Activities

1. Introduction to Textual Scholarship

To streamline our discussion of textual scholarship, let's break into four groups of two or three students each. Groups will respond to the following key issues in the Greetham chapters and share their discussion with the larger class.

Greetham, "Finding the Text: Enumerative and Systematic Bibliography"
- What is enumerative bibliography?
- What is descriptive bibliography?
- What is analytical bibliography?
- What are some systems for enumerative bibliography?
- What are some resources for scholarly research?
Greetham, "Evaluating the Text: Textual Bibliography"
- What are some types of evidence in a handwritten manuscript that can help to determine textual transmission or provenance?
- Describe some scribal variants such as mechanical variants (misreadings, omissions, additions) and determined variation (changes of subject, modernization or normalization).
- Describe some technological and electronical errors.
- How are end materials and dustjackets significant in materialist textual scholarship?
Greetham, "Criticizing the Text: Textual Criticism"
- What is a scholarly edition and what are some critical judgments that must be made in its production?
- What is the Alexandrine school of analogy in classical textual criticism?
- What does biblical textual criticism do with the multiple variants and versions of biblical texts?
- What is the textual skepticism of the Late Medieval and Renaissance eras?
- Describe the debate between authorial intention and historicism in modern textual scholarship.
- What is the best-text theory of textual scholarship? What is filiation theory?
- What is the sociology of the text?
- What is Greg-Bowers eclecticism?
Greetham, "Editing the Text: Scholarly Editing"
- What is a critical edition? What is a non-critical edition?
- What is a manuscript fascimile? What is a print facsimile?
- What are some documents intended for publication that an editor might consider when creating a critical edition? What are some private documents that an editor might consider in creating a critical edition?
- Describe the editorial debate among authorial intent, eclecticism, and best-text theory.
- How might electronic storage affect the future of critical editions?

Revised and Expanded Paper

The dual purpose of the Revised and Expanded Paper is for students to acclimate to the graduate- and professional-level processes of revisiting prior work, updating arguments, and conducting additional research based upon self-criticism and professional feedback from colleagues in the field.

Original Paper Selection

Select a one or two recent research papers that you believe need both further development of interpretation and further research to help prove your argument.

Original Paper Workshop

Send one or two potential papers to the class in GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Revised and Expanded Paper Workshop by Sunday, August 21, at noon. Read your classmates' papers in advance of Tuesday's class. During Tuesday's class, we'll discuss each paper's potential to revise the argument, expand the argument, and add additional research. After class, you will use class feedback to help you decide upon one paper to revise and expand

Annotated Bibliography, Research Strategy, and Revision Plan

Annotated Bibliography

Find 10 scholarly, secondary sources (books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles) that will help you further develop your literary interpretation, format the sources in MLA style, and provide a 75-100 word summary of each secondary source's argument as well as how the secondary source interprets and illuminates the meaning of the primary text, i.e., the literary work. Do not simply summarize the topic, provide the thesis. I recommend answering the following questions:

What question, issue, or topic is the source investigating?
What is the source's thesis or conclusion regarding the work of literature?
How does the source help your understanding of the work of literature?

Research Strategy

Provide a paragraph length summary of how you found the secondary sources. For instance, list the library databases you used and secondary sources' works cited you consulted.

Revision Plan

Finally, provide a paragraph length explanation of how you plan to revise your original paper. For instance, discuss the new research you will incorporate, how you will amend your interpretation, and how you will expand the argument.

I suggest using this template. The annotated bibliography, research strategy, and revision plan is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Revised and Expanded Paper on Tuesday, September 6.

Revised and Expanded Paper

The revised and expanded paper must be one-third to one half longer than the original paper and incorporate at least 5 new secondary sources. For instance, if the original paper was 10 pages long and had 5 secondary sources, the revised and expanded paper should be 13-15 pages long and have 10 secondary sources. Highlight revised and expanded sections of the final paper. It is due Tuesday, September 13 in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Revised and Expanded Paper.If you revised your annotated bibliography based on feedback, also resubmit your bibliography, research strategy, and revision plan on Tuesday, September 13.

Date	Due
S, 8-21	1-2 Potential Papers
T, 8-23	Paper Selection Workshop
T, 9-6	Annotated Bibliography, Research Strategy, and Revision Plan
T, 9-13	Revised and Expanded Paper

Textual Scholarship and Book History Annotations

While we were studying the history of the book, you worked on revising and expanding a previous research paper. This project provided the opportunity to practice the research methods learned in your undergraduate programs (researching and writing an annotated bibliography) as well as refine your argument and integrate additional research to a previous paper. Now, the textual scholarship and book history project allows us to practice the methods of textual scholarship learned in the Greetham, Kirschenbaum, and Rside articles.

The class will select a work of literature and then individual students will be assigned to research its textual issues (such as the debate between differing scholarly editions or translations), its publication history (discuss its different editions), and its readership history (discuss its critical and social reception, both then and now). Each of you will find and annotate three sources pertaining to your assigned topic.

Some examples of topics include the inclusion of T. S. Eliot's notes in the publication of The Waste Land, the 2011 Touch Press Media editions of The Waste Land, the 1965 original publication of Sylvia Plath's Ariel versus the 2004 restored collection, and the original 1922 publication of James Joyce's Ulysses versus Hans Walter Gabler's 1984 edition.

Topics

Bring one or two possible topics to class on Tuesday, September 6; and the class will finalize a topic (the class choose Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

Annotations

The list of sources will be compiled by one or two students (Colin Bishoff and Crystal Jackson volunteered); and the professor will assign sources to students (here is the list of assigned sources). Most, but not all, sources are collected here. On Tuesday, September 27, submit your two assigned annotations of 75-100 words each to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Textual Scholarship and Book History Project.

Scholarship Summary

While the textual studies project requires you to practice your annotation skills and learn more about textual criticism, the scholarship summary compels you to practice more comprehensive summary skills while learning about a new scholarly discipline and sharing your understanding with the class.

The scholarship summary, which will summarize a category of modern scholarship, should

be 3-4 pages long,
be formatted in MLA style in Word format (I suggest using this template),
summarize the main tenets and questions the method uses to approach literature,
define key terms and explain important concepts,
and include questions that a literary scholar using the method would ask of a work of literature

Due Date

The summary is due by the start of class on the scheduled day in two places:

GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Discussions > Scholarship Summary
GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Scholarship Summary

Sign Up

Scholarship Presentation

After revising and expanding a research paper and then researching a textual issue in a published literary work, you will research a form of modern scholarship: historical scholarship; comparative literature; cultural studies; feminisms, genders, sexualities, race and ethnicity; or migrations, diasporas, and borders. After signing up for a scholarly method, read the corresponding chapter from Nicholls' Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literature. Compose a 10 source annotated bibliography comprised of overviews of the scholarly approach as well as theoretical sources that founded the scholarly approach. Do not include the in-class chapter in your bibliography. In a 30-45 minute presentation, share your research findings with the class, teach the scholarly approach, and engage class discussion about the approach. Do not simply summarize the in-class chapter in your presentation (that's what the scholarship summary was for); instead, demonstrate your synthesized understanding of the research into the critical methodology.

Due to the class size, some critical approaches will have two students. Each student is individually responsible for researching 10 sources and presenting at least 20 minutes; however, the students should coordinate sections of the critical approach into meaningful presentation sections. For example, one student could focus on feminism and gender studies while another could focus on queer theory and sexuality studies.

Due Date

The 10 source annotated bibliography is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Scholarship Presentation on the day you are assigned to teach the scholarly approach. Your project will be graded in terms of annotated bibliography quality (range of overviews and theoretical sources, quality of annotations), presentation quality, and understanding of the scholarly approach.

Sign Up

Sign up here for one Scholarship Presentation (P) and one Scholarship Application (A) from different scholarship approaches at least two weeks apart.

Scholarship Application

In addition to researching and presenting on a modern scholarly approach to literary studies, you will also research and teach a literary work from the perspective of a modern scholarly approach: historical scholarship; comparative literature; cultural studies; feminisms, genders, sexualities, race and ethnicity; or migrations, diasporas, and borders. Select a work of literature (poetry, fiction, drama, film, television, graphic literature) that you would like to research and teach to the class using the assigned method for which you are scheduled. Compose a 10 source annotated bibliography comprised of critical sources (scholarly journal articles, books, book chapters) interpreting the literary text from the assigned critical lens. Lead class discussion of the literary work for 30-45 minutes by employing the critical approach and using your bibliography to inform your teaching.

Text Selection

On Tuesday, August 30, students will suggest two possible texts (poetry, fiction, drama, film, television, graphic literature) with which to complete the scholarship application; and the class will finalize the texts based on variety of genre and historical period.

Due Date

The 10 source annotated bibliography is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Scholarship Application on the day you are assigned to teach the work. Your project will be graded in terms of annotated bibliography quality (range of critical sources, quality of annotations), understanding of the critical approach, and application of the critical approach, and teaching of the literary work.

Sign Up

Sign up here for one Scholarship Presentation (P) and one Scholarship Application (A) from different scholarship approaches at least two weeks apart.

Thesis Proposal

You have revised and expanded a research paper, researched the textual history of a work of literature, and applied a scholarly methodology to a work of literature. Your final assignment is to research and compose a potential thesis proposal (MA students) or a long journal article (MFA students). First, select a topic and obtain instructor approval. Then, create a 20 source annotated bibliography composed of both theoretical sources that ground your scholarly methodology (no less than 5) and critical sources that interpret your selected literary work(s). Finally, develop a 3-4 page thesis/article proposal that articulates the topic's significance, originality, and critical methodology; poses research questions; reviews the research in the annotated bibliography; and offers tentative conclusions based on the preliminary research of the annotated bibliography. PapersOWL also offers thesis proposal guidelines.

Topic Selection

Prepare one or two potential topics for Tuesday, October 18 for class feedback and instructor approval. You will share your topic(s) in class.

Student	Topic
Ben Benson	representations of heroes' trauma (Sir Gawain and Sanderson) critical sources on Sir Gawain and Sanderson theoretical sources on trauma studies
Colin Bishoff	symbol of satan in heavy metal videos critical sources on heavy metal music and videos theoretical sources on film and short video
Ashlee Brown	Twilight through fandom and girlhood studies lens critical sources on Twilight theoretical sources on fandom studies and girlhood studies
Rebecca Hathaway	Biblical influence/allegories in Great Expectations critical sources on Great Expectations theoretical sources on historicism, cultural studies, and feminism
Crystal Jackson	representations of women or children in Stephen King's fictions and its film adaptations (to be finalized) critical sources on (to be finalized) theoretical sources on (to be finalized)
Dan Johnston	gonzo journalism from Hunter S. Thompson to Anthony Bourdain critical sources on Thompson, Bourdain, and others like David Foster Wallace theoretical sources on gonzo journalism
Julia McCool	influences on Jane Austen's Emma or representations of Emma in film adaptations of Emma (to be finalized)
Tiffanie Moore	significance of abstract aesthetic background such as colors, environments, foods, and historical events in Woolf novels critical sources: Virginia Woolf novels theoretical sources: feminism and existentialism
Jeff Taylor	New England Transcendentalism, Thoreau, and higher law critical sources: Transcendentalism, Thoreau, perhaps Emerson theoretical sources: historicism
Nathanael Williams	portrayal of unassuming everyman in fantasy fiction such as The Lord of the Rings critical sources: history of the everyman archetype, Tolkein texts, Tolkein influences on later everyman texts theoretical sources: cultural studies

Thesis Proposal Conferences

Meet with your instructor about your project (annotated bibliography, presentation, proposal) by Tuesday, November 15. Sign up here.

Student	Conference Date & Time
Ben Benson	Thursday, October 6, 3:30 p.m.
Colin Bishoff	Thursday, October 20, 10:45 a.m.
Ashlee Brown	Thursday, October 20, 4:00 p.m.
Rebecca Hathaway	Thursday, October 20, 10:30 a.m.
Crystal Jackson	Tuesday, October 18, 3:30 p.m.
Dan Johnston	Tuesday, November 15, 4:15 p.m.
Julia McCool	Thursday, October 13, 10:30 a.m.
Tiffanie Moore	Thursday, November 3, 3:30 p.m.
Jeff Taylor	Thursday, October 27, 4:15 p.m.
Nathanael Williams	Thursday, October 27, 4:30 p.m.

Thesis Proposal Presentations

Present your annotated bibliography (in progress, but at least 10 annotations should be completed and shared), your research questions, and possible preliminary findings in a 10-15 minute presentation on Tuesday, November 22 or Tuesday, November 29. Sign up here.

Time	Student
T, 11-22
T, 11-22
T, 11-22
T, 11-22
T, 11-22
T, 11-29
T, 11-29
T, 11-29
T, 11-29
T, 11-29

Thesis Proposal

Submit your final project (20 source annotated bibliography and 3-4 page proposal) to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Thesis Proposal on Friday, December 9. Your project will be graded in terms of quality of annotated bibliography (range of sources and annotation of sources) and quality of proposal (topic context, research questions, tentative findings). Retrieve feedback approximately one week later in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Thesis Proposal. You can access your final grade in the course via PAWS after Wednesday, December 14. Here's how to calculate your course grade.