I still find the survey course a useful if problematic opportunity. I
did an experiment this semester that worked out well; about a month into
the syllabus, I offered the students the opportunity to pick their own
readings by raising options and voting on each future choice (given a
set page number minimum, and some common sense). They made some
adventurous choices that I wouldn't have anticipated, such as getting
really into Jonson's poetry. One student came into my office and said
that it was fun, if a bit disorienting, adding that it was hard to see
thematic unity. Then he said, "But, I guess thematic unity would be
reductive, wouldn't it?"
Hardin, Richard F wrote:
> In the 60s we abandoned "survey" courses for "major author" ones--so
> in the medieval to 1800 course we'll cover 10-12 authors, spending a
> few weeks each on Chaucer, Spenser, & Milton (I try to do all of
> Paradise Lost). Our majors are at something of a disadvantage in not
> knowing the "minor" authors. The problem is really the GRE test in
> Literature, which I don't think should be very seriously considered
> when looking at a grad school applicant.
> Dick Hardin, U of Kansas
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *E. Jane Hedley
> *Sent:* Friday, November 17, 2006 3:00 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Statement of purpose -- what should go in it?
>
> Thanks very much for these remarks, which I too will find helpful
> in advising undergraduates who are grad school bound.
>
> I have a related question; at Bryn Mawr we long ago abandoned
> "survey" courses--for a variety of reasons, one being that
> students tend not to take ownership of their own learning to the
> degree that we like to see if they are studying "the canon" in a
> course that is perforce lecture-driven. What holds our major
> together are methods of literary study rather than "coverage"--we
> don't have any chronological requirements either. Our students
> sometimes express the worry that this puts them at a disadvantage
> in taking the GRE subject test; we suggest they browse the Norton
> anthology and assure them that score is less important anyway than
> the statement of purpose, the writing sample, and other evidence
> of sophisticated engagement with--well, issues of gender race
> class and postcolonialism, not to mention prosody and ekphrasis
> and trauma theory. Are we right about this? Are our students
> indeed better off taking "Spenser and Milton," "Renaissance
> Lyric," "Post-colonial Fiction" and the like, rather than a two or
> three semester survey?
>
> Jane Hedley
> Bryn Mawr College
>
>
> At 03:15 PM 11/17/2006, you wrote:
>
>> David, I can speak only for my own department: when
>> reading statements of purpose for application to our Ph.D.
>> program, we look mostly for evidence that the applicant has a
>> lively and elastic intellect. Lists of interests--e.g. "I want
>> to work with issues of gender, race, class, and
>> postcolonialism"--are far less useful than brief, striking
>> examples of literary problems that interest the student--or brief
>> descriptions of bits of research that the student has done (in
>> addition to the writing sample) which the student would like to
>> continue to pursue. We do not expect a coherent plan for the
>> dissertation, and unless the student has applied for a fellowship
>> that is tied to one area of research (e.g. southern American
>> literature) we do not hold the student to the areas in which his
>> or her statement of purpose has expressed interest--though I can
>> imagine that some doctoral programs might need to hold the
>> student at least to the initially-declared historical period.
>>
>> It is good for applicants to demonstrate the degree to
>> which they have worked with, and would like to continue working
>> with, any particular modes of literary theory and criticism, but
>> lists of "isms," theorists, or critics are next to worthless.
>> Again, very brief descriptions of original issues that the
>> applicant would like to approach using specifically named aspects
>> of this or that theoretical approach are both more interesting
>> and more useful. We are not mentally checking off a list of
>> theories that the student should know; instead, we want assurance
>> that the student is aware of, and can work with, current
>> scholarship of some sort.
>>
>> The student who professes a wide-eyed interest in
>> everything is not advancing his or her case.
>>
>> For our program, it is not usually advantageous for the
>> student to specify a professor with whom she or he would like to
>> study; that professor may be about to retire or may already have
>> a large number of doctoral students. Of course, if an applicant
>> truly doesn't want to come to this program unless she or he can
>> study with a particular professor, the applicant should probably
>> name that professor.
>>
>> It is useful if the applicant can indicate some
>> understanding of the profession she or he has chosen. We worry
>> when applicants give as their sole reason for entering a doctoral
>> program some variation on the declaration that they love to
>> read. Such applications are not summarily dismissed from
>> consideration, but it is to applicants' advantage to demonstrate
>> in some way that they are actively interested in the whole
>> profession and that they understand they will not spend the rest
>> of their lives curled in an easy chair reading.
>>
>> If the statement of purpose includes a philosophy of
>> teaching, the applicant should understand that it is hugely
>> difficult to articulate such a philosophy without sounding like
>> every other applicant out there. It's usually best to convey
>> one's pedagogical theories through brief, powerful anecdotes
>> about one's own teaching or someone else's, rather than through
>> mind-numbingly predictable declarations that one wants to
>> challenge students, to integrate one's research into one's
>> teaching, to teach students to question, and so on. On the other
>> hand, the applicant should be aware that a startlingly unusual
>> pedagogical philosophy--or one that sounds dogmatic--might make
>> the admissions committee wonder whether the applicant will be
>> flexible in meeting the department's needs.
>>
>> Some students need to be reminded that the statement of
>> purpose should be proofread with agonizing care.
>>
>> Dot
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 08:46 AM 11/17/2006, you wrote:
>>
>>> Earlier this week, someone who is applying to graduate school
>>> (not one of my own students at ECU) asked me to review his
>>> statement of purpose (SOP). This I was happy to do -- the
>>> student is well read, hard working, and bright. However, my
>>> department doesn't have a literature PhD and I don't get to read
>>> these things very often. Could the Jedi Knights who do comment?
>>> Specifically, what should the SOP cover? Should it describe a
>>> project that the student wants to work on in graduate school, or
>>> is that too narrow? Does it matter? Is the SOP really just a
>>> method for uncovering psychos before they arrive on campus?
>>>
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Dr. David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org
>>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>> English Department Virgil reception, discussion,
>>> documents, &c
>>> East Carolina University Sparsa et neglecta coegi. -- Claude
>>> Fauchet
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
--
Michael Saenger, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
PO Box 770
Southwestern University
Georgetown, TX 78627
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am to 11 am, and by appointment
Phone: 512-863-1787 Fax: 512-863-1535
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