One of the benefits of being a graduate student is that you get to pick your own topics for research and study.  Rewarding topics now include more diverse fields and methods than ever before.  Possible fields of interest within English and represented in our department cover literary history, literary theory, literary forms and genres, rhetoric, composition, professional writing, technical writing, information technology, creative writing, pedagogy, linguistics, gender studies, film and television studies, and popular culture. Since the M.A. program in English requires that you write a Master's Thesis, the sooner you define a research interest the better.

As a graduate student, you will be learning to professionalize how you think, speak, and write about your intellectual interests. Current academic in the humanities discourse includes some 3700 journals and serials alone, but learning to find it requires knowing how to match your interests to this rich world of published resources, many available both online and in print.  This assignment uses the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Bibliography to help you define your own intererests, and to familiarize yourself with some current writing in fields matching those interests.  The best way to familiarize yourself with current styles suitable for presenting research is to read published writing.

Assignment
Whether in D. H. Hill Library (recommended for the efficiency of retrieving holdings there and the speed of web access) or from a campus computing lab or your own online computer, open your browser to the Hill Library Home Page:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu

Select the "Find Articles" link. Select the "Alphabetical list of databases." Select "M." Go to MLA Bibliography 1991-2002/06.
At this point you will be prompted to login to WebSPIRS and to prove that you are affiliated with NC State. login as follows:
User id = your unity user id (formula is first initial middle initial first 6 letters of your last name [suspercript])
Password = your unity password.  that is, your social security number without hypyhens. to change your password after your first successful login go to: http://www.ncsu.edu/passwords

Ia.  Abstracts in PMLA. In WebSPIRS database menu, select MLA Bibliography 1991-2002/06. First click on  "Database Information" to familiarize yourself with the basics of the online resource and its searching method. Then use the search space after the "find" (with "words anywhere" checked). Choose a keyword search.  Choose a keyword or phrase that best captures our interests.  To limit your results to the PMLA journal, follow your keyword with "and PMLA."  For example;   rhetoric and PMLA.  Find one listed essay in PMLA that best matches your interests. Using the save or email to yourself buttons, save a file copy of the bibliographic information for it. Choose the Check Holdings to get the location of PMLA in print inside Hill library. Go to it and find your article. Make two copies of the abstract and one of the complete text of this essay. You will need this copy of the full essay for Assignment 2.

Ib. Abstracts in other journals.Return to WebSPIRS database menu and select MLA Directory of Periodicals. First click on  "Database Information" to familiarize yourself with the basics of the format and searching method. Then use the search space for a keyword search.
Enter the same key words you did for your MLA Bibliography search, but without the "and PMLA.".  Your key word(s) will return hits on titles of journals, books, and collections with essays on your topic of interest. Read the titles of journals that publish essays most relevant to your interests.  Familiarize yourself with as many of these journals as you can by reading the Full Display version of the entry.  If you see a "PI" code and it says "abstracts," you know the journal includes abstracts.  However, if there is no PI code the journal may still include abstracts, but you'll have look at an issue in D. H. Hill  to see. In some cases, you can do this via a link after "EC" that will take you to an online home page for the journal, but in all cases you can select the "Check Holdings" button. It will display whether there's an online copy available, and will always give the holdings of the print version in Hill.
Once you have selected the journals of interest, to find the specific essays and abstracts, use the "Databases" selector button on the right menu in WebSPIRS to change to MLA Bibliography, 1991-2002/06. Rerun your same keyword search in this database, and this time it will give you specific essays rather than just titles of journals.

From these essays, choose 2, mark them as selected (check box), save a copy of the bibliographic information for each as above.  Find these 2 journal essays, either online or on the shelf or in current periodicals, make two copies of each abstract from each of the two journal essays with material of greatest interest to you.

Ic. Abstracts in Dissertation Abstracts International
Return to WebSPIRS database menu and select Dissertation Abstractions International (DAI). First click on  "Database Information" to familiarize yourself with the basics of the format and searching method. Then use the search space for a keyword search.
Enter the same key words as before.  Select one dissertation that best matches your interests and choose the "display records with citation and abstract."  Save a file or email copy of the bibliographic information first, and then save/print two copies of the abstract.

Id. Abstracts of NCSU Theses
Return to the Hill Library Home Page (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu)
In the search window, choose the keyword option and search using either of these two methods:
your keyword(s) followed by "and theses"   or     this phrase  "english and theses"  You should see at least some hits that are MA theses in English. If you aren't sure, click on the title. If the call number is LD3921, you've got one.
Select one MA thesis that best matches your interests. If it is recent, it may well be available in full text online."  Save a file or email copy of the bibliographic information first, and then save/print two copy of the abstract to the thesis.

II. Collect your 5 abstracts, 1 from PMLA, 2 from journals of your choice, 1 from DAI, and 1 from NCSU M.A. theses.  Read each abstract carefully and write a 1- or 2-page response (single-spaced or double, but computer printed or typed, not handwritten) that answers these three questions: 1) what is the most significant feature that all of these  abstracts have in common? 2) what features do they share with unpublished, undergraduate academic writing? 3) how do they differ most significantly from undergraduate academic writing?  Feel free to mark up the copies of the abstracts if it helps you to analyze them.

Bring your copies of all abstracts to class. Hand in one copy of each abstract and your response papers.

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