Sample Syllabus for Strategies for Conducting Literary Research, 2e

Catalog Description: Research and Writing about Literature (LIT 3212). This course is designed to teach literary research and writing skills. PR: Grade of “C” (2.0) or better required in ENC 1102 or C.I. Research, writing, and critical analysis skills applicable to upper-level English courses. 3 credit hours

Research-Intensive Course statement:  You will actively engage in research processes and a significant portion of your grade will be derived from course-related project(s) based on original research and/or creative scholarship.

Detailed Description: This course walks you through the process of conducting literary research while helping to refine your library skills. Along the way, we will draw from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Framework. According to the ACRL, “Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers lead to additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field.” We will discuss this concept more in-depth throughout the course. Your goal in the course is to produce a research paper suitable for publication in a literary studies journal.

The course will also focus on a research project created by Jada, an English major who conducted a literary study of James Baldwin’s classic short story, “Sonny’s Blues.”

The basic textbook we will be using for our class is Strategies for Conducting Literary Research, 2e. It has loads of concepts and vocabulary, some of which you may not have encountered before. In a research-based course, your instructor will require you to write a research paper of 5-8 pages, but the knowledge you need to perform this task can fill dozens of pages. Writing about literature is a complicated, often messy process; it needs to meet high standards while incorporating knowledge from other fields such as psychology, history, science, and other arts. It entails knowledge about language, genre, structures, styles, and more. To produce good research about literature, we need to know a lot of things about a lot of things!

Although we will discuss the research process in a linear fashion throughout this course, you’ll find that, in practice, literary research is a highly recursive process. We’re constantly circling back through the process as we write. Because writing instructors are locked into presenting the writing process in a linear way, we tend to discuss it in terms of stages such as preliminary research, drafting, revising, and so on. But writing a research paper requires us to rethink and redo our work at any stage. It’s not uncommon for writers to be in the middle of proofreading (one of the final stages) and realize they need to go back and gather more research. Though this course focuses on research about literature, the skills and knowledge in these chapters apply to many other areas and topics, especially in the humanities.

We have many short exercises in our textbook and they are designed as a scaffold leading up to the final research assignment. As you do each of the smaller assignments, archive it and bring it up again when you do the next one. They are all connected and build upon one another. By the time you come to the final research project, you will have done most of the work already.

Key Objectives for This Course

• Read disciplinary texts and develop a “toolbox” of content knowledge, core principles, and practices.
• Improve research, interpretation, writing, and argumentation skills about literary texts and society by obtaining, critically evaluating, and synthesizing scholarly literature and relevant data.
• Implement appropriate methodologies to address key research problems.
• Gain communication skills through the dissemination of the research (process and product) in appropriate formats and venues, including professional journals and platforms in literary studies.
• A more granular breakdown of course objectives is below:
  • Understand the assignment
  • Identify a research problem
  • Develop audience awareness
  • Enter a scholarly conversation
  • Understand theory’s integral role within humanities research
  • Understand how theory relates to particular research methodologies and methods for gathering evidence
  • Learn to use online library catalogs, database search strategies, library services, citation management, and search alerts
  • Evaluate source credibility
  • Posit your research question
  • Posit a thesis statement
  • Compose a title
  • Define your key terms
  • Write persuasively
  • Write academic prose
  • Steer clear of plagiarism

Course Objectives

1. Students need help to enter into academic and professional discourse. My teaching aims to help you enter these communities by integrating four knowledge areas: literacy, critical thinking, self-knowledge, and citizenship.

• • Literacy is more than the ability merely to read and write; it is also the ability to read reality and to interpret the “instrument panels” (the mediated data streams and theoretical frameworks) that tell us about it. At the university level, literacy means the ability to communicate within academic and professional communities using specialized discourses. From my perspective, I want your literacy skills to be high enough to write for publication in a professional peer-reviewed journal. Such work requires new habits of reading and writing, habits that do not come easily or naturally for most people. Gregory Ulmer used to remind me that a pencil was probably the cheapest technology a person could buy but the most expensive to learn to use effectively. I focus on improving each student’s abilities regardless of his or her skills on the first day of class. You may not reach the level of a professional writer, but with practice you will move closer to that goal.
  • Critical thinking is the ability to assess the merits of an idea or It requires skills in analysis and interpretation. Analysis describes what type a text is, how it functions, details its elements and explains how it achieves its effects. Interpretation declares what a text means, what its major themes are, and what morals or lessons the reader should draw from it. When students become adept at these skills, they are ready to assess the merits of ideas, including their own.
  • Self-knowledge lies at the origins of scholarly learning, beginning with the Delphic Oracle’s instruction to Socrates: “Know thyself!” Self-knowledge is the process of creating an inventory of one’s thoughts and behaviors, discovering one’s values, and checking for congruence. By studying literature, we explore different ways of being in the world.
  • Citizenship is a process of engagement with the world, one that balances empowerment with humility. It begins with an understanding of self, of groups, of traditions, and of actions and their consequences. The citizenship process is like the self-knowledge process. It entails examination of a group’s values and its beliefs and behaviors. Again, theory and the arts are agents for understanding what it means to have responsibility, power, and limitations in our own place and time.

By integrating these four areas, you will gain a sense of confidence about your place in academic and professional worlds. You will have the ability to find, evaluate, and use information. Below are additional goals of the course.

2. To train you to work in the field of literary studies.
3. To identify the formal and stylistic features of a variety of texts.
4. To identify the methods of composition practiced by the producers of such.
5. To learn how to read and incorporate elements from difficult works, including experimental texts, theories that account for such texts’ methods and meanings, and written accounts of complex historical events on your own.
6. To write persuasively about the “how” and “why” of critical and theoretical work, particularly your own. Each act of composition, even in theory and criticism, involves developing the “rules of the game,” a set of constraints about what is and isn’t You will learn to explain and justify the rules of the game for your own as you communicate your findings.
7. To formulate an original research question or objective appropriate to the discipline.

Course Projects and Grading

Projects

• Final research assignment is a literary research project of 5-8 pages (or equivalent) (300 points/30%), aimed at publication in a professional journal or platform. Students investigate a literary work and produce an argument about it. Objectives
  • o use your research skills
  • o apply your knowledge of literary theory and methodology to interpret, critique, historicize, or creatively adapt a work of literature
  • o apply best writing practices, explained in our Strategies for Conducting Literary Research. 2e text, to produce a strong argument within a polished academic research paper

The skills involved in producing this project are required in upper division literature courses. The skills you learn and demonstrate in this work are also transferable to any activity that requires careful reading, critical thinking, rhetoric ability, and effective writing.

Make sure you refer to the textbook for instructions about writing the essay.

You must also include at least three outside sources (in other words, sources that have not been assigned to the class). The works you choose to cite must be scholarly works; in other words, they must be from scholarly journals, books, or websites. You may cite other, non-scholarly works, but do not do so exclusively. Length: 5-8 pages.

• The Foundational Materials assignment (100 points/10%) is a late “midterm” assignment (it comes nearer the end of the course) that compiles five previous assignments—spaced throughout the semester—proposed title, research question, thesis statement, abstract, and annotated bibliography. The assignment requires research into literary works through secondary sources and engagement with original evidence.
• Discussions (100 points/10%). For each of the class modules, discuss at least one question (which can be your own, someone else’s, or just one from any provided by the instructor), but feel free to discuss as many as you’d like. Also, the discussion gets lively if you check back in with it to see if anyone has responded to your post.
• Quizzes (42 total at 5 points each). Quizzes are incorporated in the module pages/textbook and each is worth five points. You have unlimited attempts at each quiz and the best score is recorded in the gradebook.
• A series of 25 scaffolded assignments build towards the Foundational Materials assignment and the Final Research Project:
  1. Types of Research Projects Exercise: Choose the type of research project that most appeals to you (10 points).
  2. Conducting Preliminary Research Exercise: Discuss your previous research experiences and get clarification about the major assignments for this course (10 points).
  3. Personal Notes on Literary Readings Exercise: Meant to capture some basic facts and considerations about the three literary works you are required to read (10 points).
  4. Personal Notes on Works of Literary Theory or Criticism Exercise: Meant to capture some basic facts and considerations about the two literary of literary theory or criticism works you are required to read (10 points).
  5. Identifying a Problem Exercise: Discuss your plan for researching problems your audience considers to be “significant” and “relevant.” Problem identification can be provisional (subject to change) at first (10 points).
  6. Evaluating Relevance/Purpose Exercise: Choose one work of literary criticism or theory and discuss its rhetorical purpose, noting the ways that literary critics and theorists try to persuade their audiences (10 points).
  7. Considering Audience Exercise: Develop a plan for researching what problems your audience considers to be “significant” and “relevant” (10 points).
  8. Searching as Strategic Exploration Exercise: Present a coherent plan for beginning your research and note parts of the plan that need to be more clearly defined (10 points).
  9. Scholarship as Conversation Exercise: Discuss your ideas and feelings about the need to be “original” in their writing; has the fear of being “influenced”by other writers held them back from reading them and studying their work? (10 points).
  10. Theories Exercise: Select the theory or theories you will use for your research project and explain why you made this theory selection over other theories. Discuss what specific concepts from the theory/theories you are most interested in exploring in relation to your chosen literary work and put forward your plan for researching your chosen theory and its major concepts (10 points).
  11. Methodologies Exercise: Select the methodologies you will use for your research project and explain why you made this theory selection over other methodologies. Discuss what specific concepts from the methodologies you are most interested in exploring in relation to your chosen literary work and put forward your plan for researching your chosen methodologies (10 points).
  12. Research Methods Exercise: Select the research methods and skills you will use for your research project and explain why you made this method and skills selection over others. Put forward your plan for learning your chosen methods and skills (10 points).
  13. Interpreting Literary Works Exercise: Practice your reading skills on “Tell Me a Story” by Paul Auster and “Departures” by Storm Jameson using explication, analysis, or comparison/contrast. Do an interpretationof one or both stories, using either an explicatory or symptomatic approach (10 points).
  14. Critiquing Literary Works Exercise: Make a critique of the provided literary anecdote by Walter Benjamin, who was an early 20th century German-Jewish writer. What critical standards will you use? What do you need to know about Benjamin’s writing to adequately critique it? (10 points).
  15. Library Resources Exercise: Using library databases, find three scholarly sources for your research project. Choose a citation management system. Store your citations. (10 points).
  16. Google Scholar Exercise: Using Google Scholar, find three scholarly sources for your research project. Store your citations in your chosen citation management system. (10 points).
  17. Evaluating Scholarly Resources Exercise: Discuss why we need gatekeepers in our disciplines, what efforts we should make to ensure source credibility, the differences between warranted and unwarranted bias, and the significance of disinformation, misinformation, and dismediation (10 points).
  18. Evaluating Your Research Question Exercise: Posit your research question and make sure it meets all the criteria for a good research question listed in the textbook (10 points).
  19. Annotated Bibliography Exercise: First, find six sources that look promising (you can use the ones you gathered working through chapters 6 and 7). List all six. Choose the most relevant three sources.  Annotate the three sources. (10 points).
  20. Writing the Literature Review Exercise: Determine what type of literature review you will use for your research projects and explain why you made this selection over others. Additionally, discuss specific challenges you face in completing an annotated bibliography or a literature review (10 points).
  21. Thesis Statement Exercise: Posit your thesis statement and make sure it meets all the criteria for a good thesis statement listed in the textbook. Also, propose a title, following criteria (10 points).
  22. Title Exercise: Compose a title for your research project. (10 points).
  23. Writing an Abstract Exercise: Write an abstract of 150-500 words following the guidelines in the Writing an Abstract page (10 points).
  24. Avoiding Plagiarism Exercise: Respond as to whether each quote uses citations accurately (10 points).
  25. Additional Resources Exercise: Review and reflect on what you’ve learned in this class (10 points).

Grading

Course Grades

Course Schedule

Week 1: Introduction / “Sonny’s Blues”

Day 1

1. Read the Course Syllabus, Course Schedule, Course Introduction, Course Objectives, Course Policies, Course Projects and Grading, and Tips for Success (seven separate pages)
2. Introduce yourself in the discussion.

Day 2

1. Read Introduction to Strategies for Conducting Literary Research. Read James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” Review the Table of Contents.
2. Take the “Sonny’s Blues” Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.

Week 2: Understanding the Assignment / Types of Research Projects / Conducting Preliminary Research

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 1 Objectives, Understanding the Assignment, Types of Research Projects, and the Final Research Assignment page (four separate pages)
2. Take the Understanding the Assignment Refresher Quiz (5 points) and the Types of Research Projects Quiz (5 ponts). Both quizzes are within the Strategies for Conducting Literary Research assigned chapters.
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Types of Research Assignments Exercise: Choose the type of research project that most appeals to you (10 points).

Day 2

1. Read Conducting Preliminary Research and Calls for Papers.
2. Take the Conducting Preliminary Research Refresher Quiz (5 points), and the Calls for Papers Refresher Quiz (5 points)
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Conducting Preliminary Research Exercise: Discuss three of your previous research experiences and get clarification about the major assignments for this course (10 points).

Week 3: Choose Your Literary Works

Day 1

1. Read three literary works chosen from literary anthologies.
2. Participate in the discusison.
3. Complete the Personal Notes on Literary Works Exercise: include the Title of the literary work, the Author, Publication date, Literary genre / theme, Nation or region of author, Brief description, and Initial thoughts. (10 points).

Day 2

1. Read two works of literary theory or criticism chosen from literary theory and criticism anthologies.
2. Participate in the discussion
3. Complete the Personal Notes on Works of Literary Theory or Criticism Exercise: include the Title of work, Author(s), Publication date, Major theory or type of criticism, Nation or region of author(s), Brief description, and Initial thoughts. (10 points).

Week 4: Identifying a Problem / Evaluating Relevance and Purpose / Considering Audience

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 2 Objectives, Identifying a Problem, and Establishing Relevance and Evaluating Purpose.
2. Take the Identifying a Problem Refresher Quiz (5 points), the Establishing Relevance Refresher Quiz (5 points), the Evaluating Purpose Refresher Quiz (5 points), and the Establishing Relevance & Evaluating Purpose Refresher Quiz (5 points). Please note that these last three quizzes are within the Establishing Relevance and Evaluating Purpose page.
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Identifying a Problem Exercise: discuss your plan for researching problems your audience considers to be “significant” and “relevant” and identify a problem you wish to research. Problem identification can be provisional (subject to change) at first. (10 points)
5. Complete the Evaluating Relevance/Purpose Exercise: choose one work of literary criticism or theory and discuss its rhetorical purpose, noting the ways that literary critics and theorists try to persuade their audiences. (10 points)

Day 2

1. Read Considering Audience.
2. Take the Considering Audience Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Considering Audience Exercise: Explain your plan for researching what problems your audience considers to be “significant” and “relevant” (10 points).

Week 5: Research as Inquiry / Searching as Strategic Exploration / Scholarship as Conversation

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 3 Objectives, Research as Inquiry, and Searching as Strategic Exploration.
2. Take the Searching as Strategic Exploration Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Searching as Strategic Exploration Exercise: present a coherent plan for beginning your research into a literary work (or works) and note parts of the plan that need to be more clearly defined. (10 points).

Day 2

1. Read Scholarship as Conversation.
2. Take the Scholarship as Conversation Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Scholarship as Conversation Exercise: discuss your ideas and feelings about the need to be “original” in your writing; has the fear of being “influenced” by other writers held you back from reading them and studying their work? (10 points)

Week 6: Research Goals / Theory / Methodologies / Methods / Skills

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 4 Objectives, Research Goals, Theories, and Methodologies.
2. Participate in the discussion.
3. Complete the Theories Exercise: select the theory or theories you will use for your research project and explain why you made this theory selection over other Discuss what specific concepts from the theory/theories you are most interested in exploring in relation to your chosen literary work and put forward your plan for researching your chosen theory and its major concepts. (10 points)
4. Complete the Methodologies Exercise: select the methodologies you will use for your research project and explain why you made this theory selection over other methodologies. Discuss what specific concepts from the methodologies you are most interested in exploring in relation to your chosen literary work and put forward your plan for researching your chosen methodologies. (10 points)

Day 2

1. Read Research Methods and Research Skills.
2. Take the Research Skills Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Research Methods Exercise: select the research methods and skills you will use for your research project and explain why you made this method and skills selection over others. Put forward your plan for learning your chosen methods and skills. (10 points)

Week 7: Reading, Interpreting, and Critiquing Literary Works / Intercultural Competence

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 5 Objectives, Reading Literary Works, Interpreting Literary Works.
2. Take the Reading Literary Works Refresher Quiz (5 points) and the Interpreting Literary Works Refresher Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Interpreting Literary Works Exercise: practice your reading skills on “Tell Me a Story” by Paul Auster using explication, analysis, or comparison/contrast. Do an interpretation of the story, using either an explicatory or symptomatic approach. (10 points)

Day 2

1. Read Critiquing Literary Works and Intercultural Competence.
2. Take the Intercultural Competence Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Critiquing Literary Works Exercise: make a critique of an anecdote by Walter Benjamin, who was an early 20th century German-Jewish writer. What critical standards will you use? What do you need to know about Benjamin’s writing to adequately critique it? (10 points)

Week 8: Using Primo / Library Services and Resources / Databases / Citations / Search Alerts

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 6 Objectives, Using Primo, and Library Services & Resources (three separate links)
2. Participate in the discussion.

Day 2

1. Read Database Search Strategies, Citation Management, and Creating Search Alerts.
2. Take the Database Search Strategies Refresher Quiz (5 points), the Citation Management Refresher Quiz, (5 points) and Creating Search Alerts Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Creating Search Alerts Exercise: using library databases, find three scholarly sources for your research project, choose a citation management system, and store your citations. (10 points).

Week 9: Google Scholar / Advanced Search / Sources / Avoiding Disinformation / Secondary Literature / The Annotated Bibliography

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 7 Objectives, Getting the Most Out of Google Scholar, and Advanced Search Features (three separate links).
2. Participate in the discussion.
3. Complete the Advanced Search Features Exercise: using Google Scholar, find three scholarly sources for your research project and store your citations in your chosen citation management system.

Day 2

1. Read Chapter 8 Objectives, Finding Trustworthy Sources, Avoiding Misinformation, Disinformation, and Dismediation, Reviewing the Secondary Literature, and The Annotated Bibliography (five separate links)
2. Take the Finding Trustworthy Sources Refresher Quiz (5 points), the Reviewing the Secondary Literature Refresher and Reading Like a Researcher Refresher Quiz (10 points – both on the Reviewing the Secondary Literature page), and the The Annotated Bibliography Refresher Quiz  (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Evaluating Scholarly Resources Exercise: discuss why we need gatekeepers in our disciplines, what efforts we should make to ensure source credibility, the differences between warranted and unwarranted bias, and the significance of disinformation, misinformation, and dismediation (10 points). 

Week 10: Research Questions

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 9 Objectives, The Art of Asking Good Questions, Refining Your Research Question, and Evaluating Your Research Question (four separate links).
2. Take the Refining Your Research Question Refresher Quiz (5 points) and the Evaluating Your Research Question Refresher Quiz (5 points).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Evaluating Your Research Question Exercise: posit your research question and make sure it meets all the criteria for a good research question listed in the textbook: Is your question clear, complex, and focused? Is your answer arguable? Are you filling a gap or solving a problem? Is your question loaded or leading? Is your question too broad or narrow? Is the scope of your project realistic and researchable within the given timeframe? Do you have the tools &/or technology needed to accomplish your task? Do you have access to the information and resources you will need? (10 points).

Day 2

1. Complete the Annotated Bibliography Exercise: first, find six sources that look promising (you can use the ones you gathered working through chapters 6 and 7). List all six. Then, choose the most relevant three sources.  Finally, annotate the three sources using the provided Matrix Tool to help you organize your research. (10 points)
2. Participate in the discussion.

Week 11 (March 18-20): Inference / The Conceptual and Concrete/ The Literature Review / The Thesis Statement, Title, Key Terms, Formatting and Style / Writing an Abstract

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 10 Objectives, Research as an Inferential and Critical Process, Relating the Conceptual and Concrete, Writing the Literature Review (four separate links).
2. Take the Research as an Inferential and Critical Process Refresher Quiz (5 points) and the Relating the Conceptual and Concrete Refresher Quiz (5 points), the Writing the Literature Review Refresher Quiz (2 quizzes on this page: 10 points).
3. Participate in the discussion
4. Complete the Writing the Literature Review Exercise: determine what type of literature review you will use for your research projects, and explain why you made this selection over others. Additionally, discuss specific challenges you face in completing an annotated bibliography or a literature review. (10 points)

Day 2

1. Read Chapter 11 Objectives, Positing a Thesis Statement, Composing a Title, Defining Key Terms, Formatting and Style Guidelines: MLA, APA, and Chicago, and Writing an Abstract (six separate links).
2. Take the Positing a Thesis Statement Refresher Quiz, Composing a Title Refresher Quiz (5 points), the (5 points), the Defining Key Terms Refresher Quiz (5 points), and the Writing an Abstract Refresher Quiz (5 points)
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Complete the Thesis Statement Exercise: posit your thesis statement and make sure it meets all the criteria for a good thesis statement listed in the textbook. (10 points)
5. Complete the Composing a Title Exercise: make sure your title indicates the literary work, theory and/or method (and it may also hint at the thesis). (10 points)

Week 12: Writer’s Block / Revisions / Academic Prose / Foundational Materials Assignment

Day 1

1. Read Chapter 12 Objectives, Writer’s Block, Structures, Revisions, and Writing Academic Prose (five separate links).
2. Take the Writer’s Block Refresher Quiz (5 points), Structures Refresher Quiz (5 points), Revisions Refresher Quiz (5 points), and the Writing Academic Prose Refresher Quiz (two quizzes on this page).
3. Participate in the discussion.
4. Writing an Abstract exercise: Write an abstract of 150-500 words following the guidelines in the Writing an Abstract page (10 points)

Day 2

1. Read and begin work on Foundational Materials Assignment.
2. Participate in the discussion.

Week 13: Foundational Materials Assignment / Avoiding Plagiarism / Additional Resources

Day 1

1. Foundational Materials Assignment due.
2. Read Chapter 13 Objectives, Avoiding Plagiarism, Additional Resources, and Scholarly Venues (four separate links)
3. Take the Avoiding Plagiarism Refresher Quiz (5 points)
4. Participate in the discussion.
5. Complete the Avoiding Plagiarism Exercise (10 points)
6. Complete the Additional Resources Exercise: reflect on your learning experiences in this class. (10 points)

Day 2

1. Work on your Final Research Project.
2. Participate in the discussion.

Week 14: Final Exam / Final Research Project

Day 1

Final Exam.

1. This is a short exam – multiple choice, true/false, and matching – worth 50 points.

Day 2

Final Research Project due.