This required orientation course introduces all graduate students in the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities to the full range of academic, administrative, and social expectations for students, and the environment in which they must meet those expectations. This course describes program requirements; university, college, and program policy; and offers information about the full range of resources available to the students in support of their program. It also offers basic tutorial and instruction related to the use of Moodle (our learning management system), library resources, and other key tools used to support student learning.

Introduces graduate students to the concepts and practices of contemporary literary and cultural criticism. Surveys poststructuralist, psychoanalytic, Marxist, new-historicist, postcolonial, feminist, and gender theory, bringing these perspectives to bear on key literary and historical texts.

Involves a year-long independent research and writing project culminating in a paper of approximately 60-80 pages under the supervision of one reader with expertise in the subject area. Requires permission from the GCS director and advisory board and a proposal approved during the semester before the course is taken.