• Individual instructors may assemble a group of texts that will allow students to meet the objectives and specifications of the course. No specific texts are required.

• An examination of a topic in literature, theory, and/or writing that transcends the boundaries of the fixed curriculum.  Typical offerings might include Literary Representations of the War in Vietnam, Nature Writing and the Environment, and Representations of Aging in Literature. 
• Requires permission of the department chair to repeat.
• A further specific description pertaining to this section of the course may be added.

Graduate Course Goals

• Students will demonstrate in-depth understanding of the ways in which the study of literature and language can transcend the boundaries established by a fixed curriculum.
• Students will show comprehension and an application of theoretical and critical foundations for the interpretation of literature of the period through an annotated bibliography and/or oral presentation of 10-12 secondary sources.
• Students will reveal in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of course-related material.
• Students will display their command of academic English and of the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose, including at least 12-15 pages of research-based writing.
• Students will be capable of conducting independent and meaningful course-related research and of synthesizing it in the form of a correctly documented research paper prepared according to current professional standards.

Graduate Program Goals

• This course prepares students to complete successfully the comprehensive oral examination that is required for all M.A. degree candidates.
• This course provides students with literary, historical, and critical contexts related to texts on the department's required reading list.
• Oral presentations in the course strengthen students' presentation skills and prepare them further for the oral comprehensive examination which is required for the M.A. degree.
• Gaining further knowledge of texts in this area strengthens students' content area knowledge, prepares them for taking nationally recognized standardized examinations (such as the advanced GRE subject examination in English), and further prepares them for careers in teaching, writing, and business or advanced graduate-level study.

• To be determined by instructor.

• To be determined by instructor.

• Departmental plagiarism policies
• Other policy statements specific to this class should be included on the syllabus.
• A detailed calendar of readings and assignments should be made available to the class at the first class meeting. A copy should be posted electronically and kept on file in the English department office.
• Students should be expected to come to class, prepared and able to participate.
• MLA style should be emphasized and required on out-of-class essays.