ENGL 103 LEC 809: Case Studies in Research: Dystopia Redux

R. Fowler

The research process is foundational to English 103: Case Studies in Research. Students can expect an in-depth and focused approach to content and a multi-stage introduction to this process. Students will learn how to pose questions, locate library and other materials, analyze evidence, engage with theories and/or knowledge built from research, and produce arguments in conversation with their peers in class and scholars working with the same or similar materials. The theme around which this course is built, using three novels, a short story, and various articles is “dystopia redux.” Why does it make sense to revisit dystopia in our current political and social climate? What can we learn about humanity’s response to dystopia from narratives that imaginatively render a dystopic world? The work of framing research inquiry will evolve from instructor to student over the course of the term: thus, students increasingly and progressively undertake to devise their own research questions and pursue their own research, culminating in a major essay. This course values research as a mode of inquiry and a creative process for making knowledge, not just a clerical process of collecting pre-set answers.