120023 SE MA-Seminar (Literature/Cultural Studies - Final Module 6) (2020W)

The aim of this webinar is to turn the writing of your thesis into a useful and meaningful EXPERIENCE/PROCESS. As Umberto Eco has suggested, to collect documents and data methodically, to order ideas rigorously, to give an organic form to our thoughts and arguments, to exercise communication and critique are key 'life skills' and experiences that matter well beyond the completion of your thesis.

In this course we will critically engage with excerpts/chapters from the following two books: Umberto Eco's "How to Write a Thesis" and Steven Lynn's "Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory".

In the first part of the course we will work hard to develop the above mentioned skills; in the second part - after having grasped how to circumscribe and choose a topic, how to collect data and documents – we will turn to Lynn's text. We will familiarize ourselves with different theories and methods as well as with various working tools. We will learn how to define the terms we use, how to write in a clear way and how to become efficient communicators.

Each participant will have to present work samples to the group, to write an introduction of their thesis as well as a short theoretical and critical review of terms and methods of their choice.