AJ34110 The Profession of English Spring 2014: March 7, 21; April 4, 18; May 16 Fridays 10.30-13.30, SAC Instructors: Martina Horakova, Bonita Rhoads, Jeff Smith Description This course introduces students to the professional skills necessary for success in literary scholarship and teaching at institutions of higher learning. It consists of two projects which draw on the research and writing that students have done so far and plan to pursue in the future in their primary field of study. The assignments in these projects cover, for example, the making of a CV, organizing research material, becoming familiar with research opportunities and potential sources of funding, formulating grant and scholarship applications, composing conference presentation proposals, revising a presentation into an article and submitting the article for publication in a scholarly journal, getting oriented in current curriculum trends, and designing a course syllabus. Students will explore, draft, peer-review, workshop, and revise a variety of interconnected assignments, gradually building up a course portfolio. Note: In order to strengthen our academic community and to initiate further intellectual exchange, students are also encouraged and expected to participate actively in the department’s research seminar, organized loosely on Fridays afternoons on the same dates of The Profession of English seminar (though not all dates will be covered). Assessment: Publishing and teaching project 40% Dissertation research project 40% Class participation 20% Please submit the course portfolio (a folder or a CD which will include evidence of all the supporting documents, drafts, and revised versions for the two projects) to Tomáš Hanzálek by noon on Friday, May 30. Session 1/ March 7 instructor: Martina Horakova Assignment I: Publishing and Teaching Project, Part 1: The Making of a CV Your CV is usually your first introduction to a grant agency/ host at another university/ employer/ conference organizer/ publisher. As with everything else in the discipline, it is important to develop your own style while at the same time keeping up with the latest developments. What are the current expectations and possibilities? a. Find the CVs of three well-known scholars in your field and rank them, with some rationale of your ranking. b. Update your own CV. Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 3, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment II: Dissertation Research Project, Part 1: Introducing your research and main thesis During your time in the PhD program, as well as after you finish it, you will be asked on different occasions (from a casual conversation up to an annotation in a grant proposal) to briefly describe what your dissertation project “is about”. This may prove surprisingly difficult to do sometimes. So this simple activity asks you to practice expressing complex ideas clearly and simply. Can you summarize your topic and main argument accurately in no more than three sentences? Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 3, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment III: Look at the other participants’ assignments in ELF and submit feedback on one person’s assignments in the forum for that week by noon on Thursday, March 6. Note: since everyone’s work should be covered, please indicate in ELF whose assignment you’ll provide feedback on as soon as you make a choice. It’d be also great if you could comment on different people’s assignments throughout the semester instead of the same person’s. Session 2/ March 21 instructor: Bonita Rhoads Assignment I: Publishing and Teaching Project, Part 2: Preparing a Conference Presentation Attending a conference is an integral part of the publication process: it sets a focus and a deadline, it provides an opportunity to get feedback from other experts, it offers exposure to other people’s research, and it is a chance to network. Many conferences are organized annually by an international association. Where would you like to go and why? a. Find three conferences within a year from now (past or future) that would be appropriate for a paper you have written or are working on right now. Rank them, with some rationale of your ranking. b. Whether or not you actually plan to attend the conference, prepare an abstract according to the submission guidelines in your top choice. Edit your paper to a ten-minute oral version for a presentation in class. Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 17, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment II: Dissertation Research Project, part 2: Keywords Sooner or later, you will have to start framing your research theoretically. Finding a theoretical concept(s) that allows you to think about your primary materials in a more abstract way might be a good start. Please provide a one-page keyword definition (it can be a cultural/philosophical concept, a literary strategy, a specific (sub)genre, etc.). Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 17, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment III: Look at the other participants’ assignments in ELF and submit feedback on one person’s assignments in the forum for that week by noon on Thursday, March 20. Session 3/ April 4 instructor: Jeff Smith Assignment I: Publishing and Teaching Project, Part 3: Preparing a Grant/Scholarship Application To conduct research in your target culture and in libraries that have the necessary resources, you will most likely need to apply for a grant or a scholarship at some point in the program. What opportunities are there in your field of study? a. Find three potential sources of funding to support your research and study the application guidelines. Rank these sources, with some rationale of your ranking. b. Whether you actually plan to submit the application or not, fill in the application form and put together all the supporting materials required for your top choice. Submit this information, with whatever other materials the conference requires, as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 31, and bring a copy for your reference in class. (You will present your paper and get feedback on your presentation in class). Assignment II: Dissertation Research Project, Part 3: Methodology Another aspect you will have to decide on is the methodology you will apply in your research. Even though it can change, shift and combine throughout your research, try to decide at this point which methodological approach would best suit your materials and describe it on one page. Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, March 31, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment III: Look at the other participants’ assignments in ELF and submit feedback on one person’s assignments in the forum for that week by noon on Thursday, April 3. Session 4/ April 18 instructor: Bonita Rhoads Assignment I: Publishing and Teaching Project, Part 4: Preparing a Journal Article Revising a conference presentation into a publishable article is hard (and it does not seem to get much easier with time). It helps to be invited to submit the article for consideration in a special issue or an essay collection, by a certain deadline. But often it is up to your own initiative to seek out publication opportunities and then keep to your own deadline. Trying to balance the realistic with the ideal, what are your best options? a. Find three publications that would be appropriate venues for your paper and rank them, with some rationale of your ranking. b. Revise your paper according to the submission guidelines for your top choice and write a letter to the journal or collection editor. Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, April 14, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment II: Since preparing a journal article is quite a demanding job, focus on assignment I only and on providing a short feedback in assignment III for this session. Assignment III: Look at the other participants’ assignments in ELF and submit feedback on one person’s assignments in the forum for that week by noon on Thursday, April 17. Session 5/ May 16 instructors: Jeff Smith, Martina Horakova Assignment I: Publishing and Teaching Project, Part 5: Preparing a Course Proposal Ideally, your research fuels your teaching and vice versa, even though you will probably need to develop a much broader variety of courses than your research focus covers. Based on the situation at Masaryk University or at a university where you would like to work after graduation, what kinds of courses would you be most likely to teach? a. Find three BA-level syllabi in your area, and rank them, with some rationale of your ranking. b. Design your own BA-level course and a related MA-level course. Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, May 12, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment II: Dissertation Research Project, Part 5: The State of the Existing Scholarship Evaluate the sources you will be relying on in your research and identify what the most pressing need for future scholarship is. How does your dissertation project contribute to satisfying this need? Submit this information as an echo-assignment in ELF by noon on Monday, May 12, and bring a copy for your reference in class. Assignment III: Look at the other participants’ assignments in ELF and submit feedback on one person’s assignments in the forum for that week by noon on Thursday, May 15.