English (ENGL) 491
Directed Studies in Literature

This version of ENGL 491 closed. To current version.

>> Overview | Outline | Evaluation | Course Materials | Course Fees | Course Availability

Overview

Students in ENGL 491 complete an extended research project under the direction of a professor. The research topic will be determined by consultation between the student and the professor. The course of study will normally include extensive library research and the production of a major paper. The research proposal will include the goals of the study project, the procedures, and the deadlines for completing the various phases of the work.

Outline

This course is designed for students who want to pursue a particular topic of study in literature, or the discourse of cultural studies, or both. The massive course text, Cultural Studies, contains explanations about the many aspects of this new area of research. Students are not limited to working on topics from cultural studies, but may choose to study more traditional areas of literature. For example, students could research a topic from the works of Chaucer (1342-1400), Shakespeare (1564-1616), John Dryden (1631-1700), or the woman novelist George Eliot (1819-1880).

Students may wish to work on an American playwright, a Canadian poet, an Australian novelist, or a Native author. Along with authors from this century, students could also consider topics from other media, such as film or opera.

Students may wish to do some interdisciplinary work on topics such as literature and history, literature and philosophy, literature and sociology, literature and the other media, literature and psychology, or literature and education.

Evaluation

To receive credit for ENGL 491, students must achieve a course composite grade of at least "D" (50 percent) in each assignment. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Project Outline and Proposal	Progress Report	Research Paper	Bibliography	Total
10%	10%	70%	10%	100%

Course Materials

Textbooks

Barnet, Sylvan. 1985. A Short Guide to Writing about Literature. Boston: Scott Foresman & Co.

Grossberg, Lawrence, C. Nelson, and P. Treichler, eds. 1992. Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge.

Gunew, Sneja. 1994. Framing Marginality: Multicultural Literary Studies. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Other Material

The course materials include a student manual.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice.
Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.


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