Prof.

Pat Michaelson
JO 5.108 972-883-2767
Individual meetings: appts. on T and W, and always after class
HYPERLINK "mailto:pmichael@utdallas.edu" pmichael@utdallas.edu

HUSL 6390.001
Research Methods in Literary Studies
Fall 2010

What do scholars in literary studies do in addition to reading the text? This course
will teach students the research methods that they will need to write seminar papers,
dissertations, and beyond. This will be a hands-on, “workshop” experience. Each week,
we will discuss a particular kind of research, then practice it, then share our results the
following week. At the end of the semester, students will pursue a substantial research
project of their own choosing, culminating in a 15-page paper.

Required text:
Gabriele Griffin, ed., Research Methods for English Studies

Schedule

Part One: Finding and Evaluating Evidence

Aug 25 Exploring the UTD library

Sept 1 1. Discuss library exercise

2. Finding your scholarly community

Sept 8 1. Discuss annotated bibliography

Using unique archives (Griffin cptr 2)
Tour of UTD aviation archives led by Dr. Paul Oelkrug

Sept 15 1. Discuss archive exercise

2. Interviewing (Griffin cptrs 4 and 10)
 Guest: Dr. Betty Wiesepape

Sept. 22 1. Discuss interviews

2. Digital humanities (Griffin cptrs 8, 12)
Guest: Dr. Sara Steger

Sept 29 1. Discuss digital exercise

2. Editing and annotating literary texts
Guest: Prof. Theresa Towner
Reading: Eliot and Owens, chapter 6
Look at and bring to class a scholarly edition of a literary text.

Part Two: Using Evidence to Make Arguments

Oct 6 Discuss research projects and conventions of scholarly argument

Reading: Perry, “Sleeping With Mr. Collins”
Michaelson, “Reading Pride and Prejudice”
Radway, Reading the Romance, chapter 3

Oct 13 Book history

Reading: Eliot and Owens, cptrs 4 and 5
Feltes, Modes of Production of Victorian Novels, cptr 1
Patten, “Dickens as Serial Author”
Darnton, “Readers Respond to Rousseau”
The Great Cat Massacre, cptr 6 (etext)

Oct 20 Ethnography of readers (Griffin cptr 7)

Reading: Essays in The Ethnography of Reading by Long, Boyarin
Review Radway

Oct 27 Biography (Griffin cptr 3)

 Guest: Prof. Tim Redman
Reading: Look at and bring in 2 contrasting biographies of one subject.
Redman, “Ezra Pound and American Populism: The Enduring
Influence of Hailey, Idaho,” Paideuma 34.2-3 (nd), 13-36

Nov 3 Cultural Studies (Griffin cptr 9)

Guest: Prof. Michael Wilson
Reading: Wilson, “’The Despair of Unhappy Love’”
Greenblatt, “The Mousetrap,” from Practicing New Historicism

Nov 10 History of Language and Literature (Griffin cptr 6)

Reading: Michaelson, Speaking Volumes, cptr 1
Hunter, Before Novels, cptrs 1 and 2

Nov 17, 24, and Dec 1

Research presentations. Format TBA.