JCU on Moodle

This course develops your understanding of research and writing in the humanities and your skills in doing both, to help you to prepare your senior thesis in the following semester. While beginning a possible project for the thesis, you will learn how to develop the research questions, materials, methodologies, and arguments of a project, and how to use appropriate styles, structures, and techniques in drafting and revising your writing. Our classes will be based on your own work towards your project, as well as on readings about relevant techniques, analyses of academic samples, library and writing workshops, reviews of exercises and drafts, and much class discussion.

The course proposed below is divided into two main parts: first, we will consider the aspects of a research project and how to develop them, and you will prepare a critical study of materials and an introduction, outline, and schedule for a possible project; second, we will consider academic writing style and how to draft and revise texts, and you will prepare a chapter for the project. However, this is simply a provisional proposal – the topics, structure, and requirements of the course will be decided together as we proceed, based on your projects, your needs and interests, and your progress.