Foundations in Critical Reading and Research introduces students to current practices and conventions of graduate scholarship in Language and Literature, core literary theories, and foundational Humanities skills. In the first part of the course, students will read essays by noted scholars and writers from the twentieth century alongside a well-known fairy tale, modern fantasy novel, and epic poem, using the set theoretical texts to consider different approaches to these pivotal works. As the course progresses and expands to include works in other genres and forms, students will learn about several different literary theories, weighing the strengths and limitations of different critical lenses against differing texts and types of texts. Along the way, students will practice reading closely (and writing about it!), crafting and developing thesis statements and analytical paragraphs, using Signum’s library resources, citing and integrating primary and secondary sources, organizing short and long work, responding to criticism, and revising their work.
Each week will include a full-length (90-minute) lecture on the primary text as well as a shorter practical lecture or pair of lectures applying critical theories and secondary readings to that set text and introducing foundational writing and research techniques.