The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the fundamental processes of critical analysis and scholarly research at the graduate level by examining texts—both the read and the written—as constructed texts. This course will emphasize two fundamental skill sets necessary for graduate-level work. The first portion of the class will emphasize the key building blocks of critical and textual analysis, taking a cultural edition of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1902) as our centerpiece. The second portion of the class will be devoted to bibliographic and research methodologies; we'll work from Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock  (1714). As a whole, the course will draw where possible on the wealth of resources available in the Washington metropolitan area, including the many world-class libraries nearby.

Looking Closely at Literature, Using the Vocabulary of Analysis

Collaborative Annotated Bibliography for The Rape of the Lock