PREREQUISITES:
Graduate Standing in the English Graduate Program; or permission of instructor.

TEXTS AND OTHER COURSE MATERIALS:

Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. 1972. Reprinted, Oak Knoll, 2002.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 2nd Ed. MLA, 1998. OR MLA Guide for Writers of Researhc Papers
Greetham, D.C. Textual Scholarship: An Introduction. Garland, 1994.
Harner, James. Literary Research Guide. MLA, 2002.
Shillingsburg, Peter From Gutenberg to Google. Cambridge, 2006.
Additional readings will be available at the course website

GENERAL OBJECTIVE:
To support the department's pedagogical mission as stated in the departmental philosophy

COURSE PURPOSE:
5340 is one of three foundation courses for a graduate students in literature, creative writing, and linguistics, required for PhDs and an option for MAs. This course prepares students to undertake research on the graduate level, preparing them for careers as literary professionals. Students will gain a thorough grounding in using library resources and in applying bibliographic theory.

Students will undertake intensive literary research, creating enumerative and annotative bibliographies, and writing a textual history and/or research guide for their topic. Students will consider the technological aspect of books by analyzing their physical characteristics (binding, cover, printing, font, impression, etc.) as well as their nature as socially constructed material objects. Students should expect to complete a variety of practical skills-building exercises in analytical and descriptive bibliography and in textual editing (including a project in TEI-coding for electronic editions). Students will learn methods of project management, practice professional discourse, and apply bibliographic theory.

This is not a course in literary analysis or literary criticism, but in the historical, cultural, and technological contexts of books, contexts which are essential to any understanding of a literary work.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENTS (IN ITALICS)
At the end of this course, students should be able to

1. identify and use the range of bibliographic resources available to aid literary study
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, Research Tools exercises, enumerative and annotative bibliography
2. explain terms associated with bibliography, textual criticism, and history of the book
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, hands-on signature folding/bookmaking/printing, formal papers
3. explain and demonstrate the ways bibliographers, textual critics and book historians examine texts
   classroom discussion, daily work and homework, hands-on signature folding/bookmaking/printing, Descriptive Bibliography exercises, textual criticism exercises, enumerative and annotative bibliography, formal papers, scholarly edition
4. articulate differences between various modes of textual criticism
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, formal papers 1 and 3, scholarly edition
5. discuss and apply bibliographic theory
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, descriptive bibliography and textual criticism exercises, formal papers 1 and 3, scholarly edition
6. assess and evaluate scholarly editions according to published standards
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, formal paper 1, scholarly edition
7. plan, design, and prepare a scholarly edition for an electronic environment
   Classroom discussion, daily work and homework, textual criticism exercises, formal paper 1, scholarly edition
8. integrate theories and techniques of bibliography, book history, and textual criticism into your own research
   classroom discussion, daily work and homework, enumerative and annotative bibliography, papers 1, 2 and 3
9. demonstrate the ability to manage complex (and sometimes competing) projects over time
   all work, particularly scholarly edition, papers 2 and 3
10. write persuasively, clearly, and effectively about textual studies
    formal papers, informal writing, research exercises

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Class Participation, Daily work, Homework 10%
Research Exercises 60%

• Research Guide 10%
  
• Textual Criticism I: Transcription 5%
  
• Descriptive Bibliography 5%
  
• Textual Criticism II: Annotation 5%
  
• Textual Criticism III: Collation, Variants and Stemma 10%
  
• Enumerative Bibliography 5%
  
• Annotative Bibliography 10%
  
• Scholarly Editing for the Web, using TEI-Coding 10%
  
Review of a Scholarly Web Project 10%
Paper I: Textual History 10%
Paper II:Reflective Essay, incorporating bibliographic theory 10%

GRADING SCALE:
A = 100-90 B = 89-80 C = 79-70 D = 69-63 F = 62 or below

Students must earn the lower-range number exactly; final averages will not be rounded to reach the higher grade range.

EXTRA CREDIT POLICY: Typically extra credit is not a part of a graduate course.