Department of English

This is an upper-level seminar for junior English majors who plan to enroll in the Honors Program and write honors theses next year.  The theme of the course is "Literature and Society," and a major emphasis will be on the ways that literary criticism can function as a tool of social understanding and social change. But more narrowly, the purpose of the course is to prepare students to perform the research necessary to write a successful honors thesis.  Toward this end, the class will
be held part of the time in a computerized classroom, and students will be interacting with each other, with the professor, and with students and professors on other campuses (including virtual campuses) through their computer terminals.   All basic techniques and resources of online research will be covered, as well as the more conventional techniques and resources of library research.  The class will undertake various group projects, problem-solving exercises, and organized visits to Van Pelt and other libraries.  Written work will include many brief writing assignments and one 12-15 page research paper.