English 203

Description

This is a practical writing workshop intended to facilitate and accelerate the transitions from qualifying exams to prospectus conference, from prospectus conference to first dissertation chapter, and from the status of student to that of scholar. It is meant to provide a collaborative critical community in which students can try out successive versions of their dissertation projects and learn how others are constructing theirs. It will include a review of a range of prospectuses from the past to help demystify the genre and enhance understanding of its form and function; a set of writing and bibliographic exercises intended to galvanize thinking about the task and to structure various points of entry into it; discussion of each others' drafts; possibly special classes on related tasks such as applying for fellowships and grants to support dissertation projects or submitting portions of the work to conferences or publications; and whatever other kinds of support students may feel they need at this stage that a prospectus writing workshop can provide. If all goes according to plan, it will end with every member of the workshop having submitted a draft prospectus to his or her committee ... and so too with a celebratory party.