Graduate Studies - Department of English, Case Western Reserve University

This course focuses on methods and resources for research in English, including substantial treatments of narrative, poetics, and close-reading skills. It introduces graduate students to questions of textuality, genre, medium, authorship, reception, historiography, and bibliography. It features an introduction to the library, special collections, InterLibrary Loan, and print and computer databases (including Internet resources and the Oxford English Dictionary). Over the semester, students will develop a sense of the history of the profession and its current structures, norms, and functions. The Research and Methods course invites students to develop professional attitudes toward the study of English language and literature, presents forms of study meant to remain useful to students throughout their careers, and offers a common base and vocabulary to students whose professional interests will inevitably diverge in the course of their study.

II. Composition Core (3 credits)

All new graduate Teaching Assistants who have not taken a comparable course at the M.A. level are required to take the Teaching Composition Seminar.

Teaching Composition

Teaching Composition (English 400) concentrates its attention on practical pedagogy, focusing on basic composition theory and pedagogy and introducing new graduate Teaching Assistants to the writing programs at Case Western Reserve University. It focuses on the construction of syllabi, the framing of assignment sequences, the evaluation of sample students' writing, and the design of classroom activities. For further training in teaching writing, students are encouraged to take Composition Theory (500) or Rhetorical Theory (501).

III. Theoretical Distribution (3 credits)

All graduate students are required to take at least one of the following courses that treat intensively theoretical concepts and critical reading. Students who have not had a comprehensive introduction to theory at the MA or undergraduate level should take English 487. Students who have taken an introductory course should consider one of the Topics in Theory courses.

Critical Theory

This course introduces graduate students to literary and critical theory. English 487 presumes no prior knowledge of theory, but students should have taken Research and Methods and demonstrate strong close-reading skills.

Topics in Theory

These courses treat intensively a focused area of theoretical inquiry. Topics in Theory courses include our current regular offerings in Composition Theory (500) and Rhetorical Theory (501), as well as a range of topics offered under the designations English 502 and English 524. These seminars may include Narrative Theory, Poetics and Prosody, Linguistics and Semiotics, Feminist Theory, Film Theory, Cultural Studies, and The Construction of Authorship. Independent Study (590) may also be appropriate for some students fulfilling this distribution. The courses counting toward the Topics in Theory distribution presume that students have been exposed to literary and critical theory at the MA or undergraduate level (i.e., in a prior course or its equivalent). Students should also have taken the Research and Methods course, and demonstrate strong close-reading skills.

IV. Preprofessional Workshops for Doctoral Students

All graduate students seeking a doctorate in English are required to enroll in these preprofessional workshops, and MA students may attend the "overview" meeting of the Job Market Workshop if they wish. These workshops are not taken for credit hours, but they are required by the English Department for graduation.

Publication Workshop

In this workshop (optional for MA candidates), students rework a paper for publication in a journal or an essay collection. Upon choosing a project, the student identifies a journal or a volume (in response to a call for papers) and tailors his or her project according to the format and focus of that publication. The seminar has as its primary components a systematic overview of the publication process and a workshop that involves regular peer-review. At the conclusion of the workshop the faculty member leading the seminar gives an impartial reading of the student's final article to determine its readiness for submission and to offer further advice. The Publication Workshop should be taken in the fall of the second, third, or fourth year; it may be audited in the fall of the first or fifth year. Students may enroll in the Workshop more than once. NB: This requirement may be satisfied after advancement to candidacy.

Job Market Workshop

In this workshop, students learn to read the MLA job list, to make contacts, to construct an academic vita, to write a dissertation abstract, to draft cover letters for jobs for different institutions, to interview, and to construct a teaching portfolio. The workshop consists of approximately three sessions offered in September (one "overview" meeting, and two workshops for vitae and job letters) and a round of mock interviews in December. All students are encouraged to attend the "overview" meeting at any point, and as many times as they wish, but only students planning to apply for jobs during the academic year should enroll in the workshop and interview sessions.

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