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Intro to Advanced English Studies

Prof. David M. Earle

ENG5009

Tue 5:30 — 8:15

BLDG 51/148

Bldg 50/147

Office Hours:

M-W: 2:30-3:30

T: 4-5 and by appt

Text Box: Welcome to the Introduction to Advanced English Studies. This class is neither a literature class nor an introduction to literary theory. Rather it is designed to be a pragmatic introduction to the skills, expectations, and possibilities inherent to graduate work in the discipline of English Studies and the professions that it prepares you for. It is designed to be pragmatic, hence it is project based. And since the class shall be composed of a wide variety of students, with different career goals, levels of experience and interests, it shall be relatively unstructured in comparison to the usual literature or graduate class; your own interests shall dictate your projects, assignments, and areas of study. Classes shall range from structured lecture and discussion to unstructured work-shopping. The three skill areas that compose the course’s topics are a) professionalism, b) research skills, and c) pedagogical theory. Professionalism shall introduce you to the pragmatics of both graduate work and post-graduate professionalism. Topics shall include an introduction to the major; professor’s expectations of the student; conduct and protocol; the discipline(s) (for example, Doctorate work in English studies, careers in Library Science, creative writing and publishing, etc); professional documents (c.v., job letters, conference abstracts, articles, etc), and further applications of the Masters Degree. Research Methodology includes advanced research ranging from archival work to digital humanities. You will familiarize yourselves with the major resources for research in your chosen field of interest/profession, the major journals and publishers, accessing and working with archival material, and the changing state of these methods in the digital age. Pedagogical Theory teaches you about the major tenets and debates of advanced pedagogy. This is important not only because many of you may pursue teaching and/or teach in UWF classrooms, but also because as graduate students, the classroom is now your workplace, your vocation, and it is important for you to understand the discourse that you are now part of. Classes shall be organized around differing reflexive projects, individual and group, that both teach these subject areas and teach the process and practical experience innate to them. Texts: Most reading shall be made available by me as .pdfs, through email and/or the class website. Whereas I have not ordered books for you, there are resource texts that are generally required for your graduate education, and ones that I will take for granted that you order, own, and refer to throughout the semester. Many of these you should already own or are available online or through Amazon or Advanced Book Exchange (abe.com) at a price much cheaper than our bookstore. These include: The current MLA Handbook, 7th edition. A Glossary of Literary Terms: The two standards are: The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, by Murfin and Ray. Bedford. A Glossary of Literary Terms, by Abrams. Thomson and Wadsworth It goes without saying, The Oxford English Dictionary, available online Subscription to (or access to) a disciplinary journal – to be discussed in class And there are a few suggested texts that will help you immensely The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism (available online through our library, I believe) The Chicago Manual of Style MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition The Elements of Style As well as other reference books central to your area of study And, I feel obliged to mention that there are plenty of introductory texts available for the new graduate student in English, but I am somewhat ambivalent to this genre… Bruce McComiskey, English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline Cindy Moore and Hildy Miller, A Guide to Professional Development for Graduate Students in English