Module Code - Title:
EH6002
-
RESEARCH METHODS IN LITERARY AND CULTURAL STUDIES
Year Last Offered:
2023/4
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
This module is intended to prepare students taking the new MA course in English for advanced scholarship and criticism in English studies, and to prepare them for PhD-level research. It is designed to prepare students for discipline-specific research methods; however, seminars and workshops will emphasize the practical advantages of inter-disciplinary research strategies.
Syllabus:
This course will enable first-year postgraduate (MA) students to locate primary resources, including books and manuscripts, and to be able to utilise and assess the qualities of different types of electronic sources which exist in the field of their chosen topic. The module draws upon the expertise of faculty members with diverse research experiences. Seminar discussions and assignments will require students to focus on those resources specific to their individual research plans, and their chosen literary-historical contexts. Educating students in issues surrounding bibliography and editorial processes, this module provides a practical introduction to the materials and the expertise required to conduct original, and ultimately publishable, postgraduate literary research.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to apply a critical and cogent awareness of:
Epistemological and methodological issues involving the literary archive.
The practical advantages of inter-disciplinary research strategies.
Frameworks in which to compare, contrast and combine different methodological approaches.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to apply a critical and cogent awareness of:
How to reconstruct, where possible or profitable, the intellectual, biographical, political, and cultural contexts in which literary texts are produced.
How to locate primary resources, including books and manuscripts.
How to utilise and assess the qualities of different types of electronic sources which exist in the field of their chosen topic.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
This module will be taught through a combination of lecture, seminar discussion and practical application of course ideas and materials with a view to enhancing students's research capabilities in advance of their minor dissertations. Seminar discussions and assignments will require students to focus on those resources specific to their individual research plans, and their chosen literary-historical contexts.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Altick, Richard Daniel (1981)
The Art of Literary Research
, New York: Norton
Ballenger, B (2004)
The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers 4th edn
, New York: Pearson Longman.
Harner, J. L. (2008)
Literary Research Guide. 5th ed
, New York: MLA
Other Relevant Texts:
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester - Year to be First Offered:
Module Leader:
tina.otoole@ul.ie