Graduate Office - Literature and Criticism Course Offerings By Semester

Course schedules are subject to change.  Please see Cathy Renwick for more information.

FALL 2005

ENGL 674 Bibliographical Methods

Dr. Jim Cahalan

Monday 6:00-9:00

The IUP graduate catalog's course description of ENGL 674 is simply "practical training in special methods and materials of research in English," which (while accurate) doesn't say nearly enough.  This course, which I've taught on seven previous occasions over a dozen years, is for me one of my favorites, because this is the course in which we get to discuss and do many of the things that normally only get talked about in, say, the lounge.  For example, instead of merely gossip about the job market in the hall, we'll read essays about it and talk about it in the classroom.

As in the traditional "Bib Methods" course, we'll use the most current edition of the MLA Style Manual and gain a command of documentation.  But we'll also read about current issues in our profession.  In fact, I'll stress that documentation is itself a professional issue.  When one is fighting for space in an article or book with a page limitation, for example, documentation becomes much more than merely "academic" or simply a matter of any one "right way."

Practice will also interrelate with theory in this course, as a typical essay is a critical history of a literary text.  Trying to make sense of major critical responses during different periods to a Shakespeare play, for example, is a great way to learn how to find research shortcuts.  You'll also do some work on the Internet and write about that.  And I'll want you to learn how to prepare a paper for publication or presentation; here you may be able to connect your ENGL 674 with a paper for another course.  Thus, this will be very much a hands-on course, with lots of discussion and workshops, two or three papers, and an option to select alternative grading options.  See you in the fall!

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