This proseminar focuses on the research methods, writing, and critical and analytical skills necessary to produce a successful graduate-level research project in the humanities. Attention is paid to the development of close-reading skills and to strategies of textual analysis, as well as to the vocabulary for describing the structural and iconographic features of artifacts. In the fall, section 1 focuses on gothic fiction, section 2 focuses on religion in America, and section 3 explores literature, art, and architecture in Vienna around 1900. In the spring, section 1 focuses on the social role of intellectuals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and section 2 focuses on religion in America. Prerequisite: a satisfactory score on the mandatory
test of critical reading and writing skills. In addition, at the first class meeting, students must complete a writing assignment that demonstrates their graduate-level reading comprehension and ability to write coherent, logical arguments. (4 credits)