Book Review: The Reluctant Communist

Title: The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea
Author: Charles Robert Jenkins, Jim Frederick
Softcover: 232 pages
Publisher: University of California Press (March 25 2008)
ISBN-10: 0520259998
ISBN-13: 978-0520259997

Former U.S. Army Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins' shocking story of dishonorable defection, perpetual hardship, and an unlikely romance unfold in this ghostwritten memoir told now decades after his "release" from North Korea. TIME magazine correspondent Jim Frederick assists in crafting a regret-filled attempt of rectifying Jenkins' 1965 defection and subsequent life across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into hostile territory. His life in North Korea was indeed extraordinary but is everything what it seems on the surface?

Jenkins' originally published his memoir in Japanese in 2005 and was then translated into Korean in 2006; this English language edition tells his unbelievable story from his unlikely desertion while leading a patrol, to his discovery of three other American defectors, to his adjustment to new life in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Because of his unique willingness to cross over, Jenkins and the other defectors occupied a unique position in North Korean society; not fully trusted yet strangely revered as "Cold War trophies". Some even rose to celebrity status after portraying despicable foreigners in popular propaganda films.

Although Jenkins mostly lived in rather spartan conditions, he's quick to point out that others in the North Korean countryside were not as fortunate during times of famine. His apparent ineffective brainwashing sessions were constant and government-assigned minders persistently dictated his day-to-day life. His residence changed often as did his assigned jobs; sometimes making fish nets other times teaching English. However regimented his life was, he still found himself in a situation to fall in love with a Japanese abductee. What happens when Jenkins leaves North Korea I'll leave for the reader to discover.

His narration is seductively easy to follow and makes appropriate detours when explanations are necessary to clarify context. The reader is cautiously drawn in to empathize with Jenkins and his plight. His story is told simply with few obvious embellishments. However, I'm still not fully convinced that the whole story is being fully disclosed. Jenkins' relationship with the other Americans is of particular interest, partly because some of the accounts conflict with what fellow defector Joe Dresnok recalls in the 2006 documentary Crossing the Line.

What concludes is a peculiar tale of almost Hollywood caliber. Reportedly, American film producer Brett Ratner has secured the rights to make a film adaption of Jenkins' story. One can only hope it's better than Tower Heist. That's not asking for much.

- - -

I've been interested in this story since I first came across it a few years ago. I posted about Joe Dresnok and Robert Jenkins before but after seeing Crossing the Line (2006) I always wanted to hear a different side of the story. The excellent British documentary focuses on Dresnok's story while Jenkins' 2008 memoir tells his side. There are a few conflicting accounts which I will leave open for those curious.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and wished I picked it up sooner. It gave me more of a rounded view of the life those four men lived. I only wish we could have known more about Abshier and Parish.

Book Review: Chain of Amber

Title: Chain of Amber
Author: Mary Linley Taylor
Softcover: 169 pages
Publisher: The Book Guild Ltd (1992)
ISBN-10: 0863326064
ISBN-13: 978-0863326066

Mary Linley Taylor was an amazing woman who lived an extraordinary life. This book is her post-humously published autobiography which primarily focuses on her life in Korea in the early 1900s with her husband, gold mining entrepreneur and foreign correspondent Albert Wilder "Bruce" Taylor.

Mary's journey starts with her privileged upbringing in England and moves to her involvement with an international acting company which brings her to India, Japan and eventually, "settles" in Korea. Her sunny disposition combined with a feisty rebellious streak provides the reader with plenty of witty observations and humorous anecdotes. Indeed, Mary had remarkable experiences all over the peninsula. Her interactions both with notable Koreans and distinguished foreigners are testament to her character. A fearless traveler, she traversed dangerous mountain trails, roughed it in gold mining camps, and even traveled to England via Siberia; clearly she was resilient for a lady of her social standing. Furthermore, she was compassionate to Koreans and held an atypical affinity for her adoptive home away from home.

Having been well educated, her writing is thoroughly readable and detailed for being collected from her personal diary. For example, a charming reoccurring theme surrounds her lifelong attraction to amber and is used throughout the book. Taylor was also an accomplished artist and her sampled work is impressive. Although sparse, the illustrations and photos included illuminate her narrative and give life beyond mere description to many of her friends and locations.

A criticism I should point out includes her frustratingly lack of dates in many of her entries. It's difficult to pinpoint when exactly certain events occurred. Otherwise, there's sufficient surrounding context. Another gripe is the book's limited British pressing; this isn't an easy book to find.

Chain of Amber has plenty excitement, romance and tragedy to go around. Mary was an integral member of the Seoul foreign community for years and this book is her lasting legacy. Her exciting life abroad can be optimistically summed up in her own words: "These are the experiences that lend a fairy-tale quality to life in the Orient. In some ways, one gets so much more than one expects and, in others, so much less than what one counts on, that life is filled with infinite variety". Perhaps more poignant of a close comes from her last chapter "...a longing came to me to share my life experiences with others...the thought crystallized into a need...'I'll write a book,' I said out loud, 'whether anyone reads it or not.'"

- - -

I pulled another "If you give a mouse a cookie". After I finished Chain Of Amber, I noticed that Mrs. Taylor did not have a wikipedia entry, despite plenty of information available. So, I created a rough startup page that I hope grows into a proper reference over time.

I can't remember who or what encouraged me idea to pick up this book, but I was pleasantly surprised to finally get around to reading it. I worried that it would be full of hoity-toity judgments of barbaric Koreans but it couldn't be further from that. It's an amazing memoir. For one, Mrs. Taylor lived an adventurous life, wrote of her experiences with great emotion and left behind a wonderful testimony of her travels. Also, we share the same birthday.

I was amused at how many of her observations from almost a hundred years ago are still relevant today. Here is one especially funny observation about Engrish advertisements in Japan:

• "The shop signs seemed funnier than ever to me that day: Tom Cock-Eye, the tailor, advertised in English, The Monkey Jacket Make for Japanese; a ladies' tailor sign read: Ladies have fits upstairs, there was also a photographer's sign which read: Photographer Executed Here, and a barbor shop announced that he was, A First Class Head Cutter." (p.34)

I was surprised to discover that their old house is still standing in Jong-no. Had I known that, I would have visited it when I lived in Seoul. Oh well, something to look forward to next time we visit.

There's also a short documentary floating around out there about the house called Mr. Taylor’s House by Mi-Jin Lee and Se Mee Kim of Bassim Media. I can't find it online yet, but it sounds fascinating by the description:

• "There is an old fashioned, western type house in the center of Seoul, South Korea. We are going to meet people who once lived in this house and people who still live in the house. We will follow three of them: an American family, the Taylors who built the house in 1923 and the 92 years old son (Bruce Taylor) who spent his childhood in this house. We will also meet 82 years old inhabitant, Jeong, Wooyoung who has been living in the room, used to be a Taylor’s study for about 40 years and a 28 year-old young man, Choi, Sunghoon who recently moved into this house. Through these people’s personal stories with the house, we will get to know a fascinating aspect of Korea, its momentous history and its future."

Lastly, and most interestingly, while searching for references I was very pleasantly surprised to see that her son has written his own memoir. I surely am going to pick this one up, too.

Happy Holidays!!!

The English Grad Studies office will be closed from December 16 at 3 pm through the holidays.  We will reopen on January 2.  

What are the guidelines of a Public Abstract?

Public Abstract in Thesis or Dissertation:

Beginning 29 August 2011 (i.e., fall 2011 semester), all theses/dissertations must include a PUBLIC ABSTRACT in theses/dissertations . This is a mandate from Graduate Council.

Guidelines for Public Abstracts

-Must be included in ALL theses/dissertations submitted to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies beginning 29 August 2011 (papers already in the cycle are not included);

-Length of the abstract is to be determined by the student (no length restriction) in consultation with committee members;

-The public abstract is to convey the purpose of the research to the PUBLIC, so the language of the abstract should be “street language” or layman’s terms;

-Placement in the thesis or dissertation: immediately after the regular abstract (be sure to include PUBLIC ABSTRACT and its page number in Contents).

Book Review: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Title: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Author: Barbara Demick
Softcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (December 29, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0385523904
ISBN-13: 978-0385523905

Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times' triumphantly successful Nothing to Envy uncovers a romantically human side of North Korea and her disenchanted citizens. Surrounding six multifarious North Koreans' dramatic, decades-long oral histories are brilliantly told starting from humble, loyal beginnings to eventual controversial defection. This memorable documentation of ordinary citizens and their amazing survival through unspeakable danger and life-altering trauma is requesting only a receptive audience.

The reader gains a truly well-rounded viewpoint of the times from six different perspectives. From the propped-up and powdered Pyongyang façade to the gritty and industrial Chongjin rail yards, this overarching story starts in the homes of many ordinary citizens who survived countless obstacles growing up in the notoriously restrictive The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Some fortunate few were hand-picked to attend prestigious universities while others had practical duties to provide for their families any way possible. Others still, like homeless children infamously known as "kotjebi" (꽃제비), wondered the streets in packs and stole to survive.

Among the personal anecdotes include a dumbfounded medical physician's practical denial of Kim Il-sung's 1994 death. Also, seemingly regardless of social class and family backgrounds, all eventually felt the squeezing grip of famine sweeping across the country in the late 1990s known as the Arduous March. It was through this increasingly inescapable reality that survival became paramount included any and all options; no matter how illegal or dangerous. Each story's journey is more astonishing than the last. Most satisfying is when the reader finds out what they have been up to since the original manuscript was constructed.

Demick's writing style evokes a pleasantly familiar tone. While reading, I drew respectable comparisons to John Hersey's groundbreaking classic Hiroshima. Lo and behold, Demick was a student of Hersey's which makes Nothing to Envy a successful nod of appreciation to his tutelage. Like Hiroshima, you'll find a similar chronological pacing of alternating narrators as well as develop a personal attachment to the people who tell their remarkable journey in amazing lucidity.

I can recommend this book without reservation as it will obviously appeal to human rights minders, North Korean experts looking for oral history reports, and a handful of academics interested in totalitarian dictatorships, wide-spread economic systems failure, and human trafficking. I also want to earnestly suggest this book for the intimate character-driven narratives that appeal to any and all. You feel for this people. You realize that they are no different than any other ordinary people born into extraordinary circumstances. Some were disillusioned with their government from the get-go while others were staunch supporters of their ideology. For better or for worse, their sincere stories are unabashedly told here.

- - -

For those that can stomach their sadness, you are rewarded with their joys. I was reminded of 2008's 크로싱 (Crossing). For those who have seen it, you have any idea of what to expect.

I applaud Ms. Demick for her well-deserving work.

Book Review: Pioneer American Businessman in Korea

Title: Pioneer American Businessman in Korea: The Life and Times of Walter D. Townsend
Author: Harold F. Cook
Softcover: 104 pages
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society Korean Branch (July 20, 1981)
ISBN-10: 8993699119
ISBN-13: 978-8993699111

Harold Cook's final publication reads more smoothly than his exhaustive exposé Korea's 1884 Incident: Its Background and Ok-kyun's Dream. As an adaptation from his doctoral thesis, suppose it should be massive. However, Pioneer American Businessman in Korea was published almost ten years later and is much more pragmatic without compromising Cook's trademark investigative writing style.

As the title suggests, this is a thorough biography of occidental businessman Walter Townsend (1856-1918). Like Dr. Cook, Townsend was a successful businessman in both Japan and Korea. Packed into this slim book is the definitive story of Townsend's successes and failures which are intermittently woven into pertinent members of the foreign community in Korea of the time. From his meager beginnings as a wristwatch salesman for an American trading company in Yokohama to setting up his own import and export business in Chemulpo (present day Incheon), Townsend's tale is truly remarkable. Cook pulls no punches as not only to dig into Townsend's documented past but goes further by including an appendix of the extended Townsend family heritage.

Among the author's admirable writing qualities is his frank honesty. When certain holes of data were regrettably not available or could not be clarified, Cook openly admits their absence and instead allows the reader to speculate. These courteous gestures appear often and are appreciated. Considering that Townsend left only two remaining pieces of personal correspondence, Cook likely had a difficult time telling his tale, however this comes off as of no consequence. The portrait Cook paints is remarkably extrapolated considering his limited resources of the time. Keep in mind that this book was conceived well before the convenience of having readily available research on the Internet. Ironically, this book, which claims to follow the life of a single overseas businessman, is more detailed and varied than Intrepid Americans, Bold Koreans, a book with a similar premise written decades later that claims to cover several early entrepreneurs.

Another intriguing writing quirk Cook employs is a frequent use of French and Latin phrases. Many of these sparingly sprinkled phrases are charming cognates such as "laissez-passer" and "chargé d'affaires" while others such as "sine prole" and "inter alia" are not sufficiently identifiable without proper context. A Latin ignoramus like myself was left begrudgingly scratching my head and mumbling mea culpa.

Sadly, this book is increasingly difficult to obtain outside of Korea. Reprints are fortunately available from the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, with whom Cook was actively involved in during his time in Korea. Also, save for one slightly overexposed portrait of Townsend, this book contains no illustrations. This is a shame because seeing early Chemulpo would have been an appropriate visual treat.

Harold Cook surely felt an entrepreneurial instinct to pen a book about a captivating businessman who braved cultural misunderstandings and financial roadblocks only to emerge as a long-standing, successful foreign resident in Korea. Townsend was truly a pioneer and could not have asked for a better biographer.
- - -

I seldom do this, but I contacted the author's family in hopes of understanding the brilliant man that Dr. Cook was. It seems that this obituary notice is the closest thing I can find online about his life. I hope that through correspondence, I can find more about the man who left such an indelible mark on Korea's history.

Book Review: Intrepid Americans: Bold Koreans

Title: Intrepid Americans: Bold Koreans--Early Korean Trade, Concessions, And Entrepreneurship
Author: Donald Southerton
Softcover: 169 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (October 21, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0595370683
ISBN-13: 978-0595370689

International business consultant and author of A Yankee in the Land of the Morning Calm, Don Southerton aims to present a look into early examples of American entrepreneurship in Korea. However, the unique title's ambition might leave more questions than answers.

At only 169 pages in length, Intrepid Americans, Bold Koreans essentially revolves around the professional career of one such American businessman, Henry Collbran, as well as the ill-fated tale of American "pirate" ship, the General Sherman. Both are covered in moderate detail but venture little outside of their immediate impact on history.

Hollbran's story is fascinating and fortuitous. The road to the lucrative goldmining concessions that he obtained with his partner, Harry Bostwick, through the influence of diplomat Dr. Horace Allen were certainly worthy of note. His good fortune is carefully mapped out and delightful to follow. However, the narrative is short and doesn't delve into other businessmen of the time who certainly had remarkable stories to tell.

The infamous General Sherman narrative, while entertaining and well-constructed, includes debatable historical inaccuracies. Southerton claims that after the crew was killed in 1866, the ship was returned to America and eventually sunk outside Wilmington, North Carolina in 1874; unfortunately, this is not a widely accepted fate. The story of the ship's involvement in Korea is fascinating but its history is frustratingly convoluted. For one, the Sherman was once known as the USS Princess Royal. Another problem is that there were numerous ships with the same name built around the same time. For example, one was a mammoth 774 ton screw steamboat while the another was a 187 ton tinclad river gunboat.

Furthermore, the topic of early Korean businessmen is hardly covered at all. Despite being part of the book's title, Southerton barely mentions Korean businessmen; Yi Chae-yon (이채연) of Seoul Electric Company and Doosan Group founder Park Seung-jik (박승직) are only cursory mentioned. Unlike the Collbran and the General Sherman chapters, no such detail is found in the Korean chapter.

Thankfully, the included appendixes and endnotes are helpful, welcome resources for further research. Also, the numerous pictures and charts that Southerton include are appropriate and greatly enhance the narrative. However, some illustrations are clumsily laid out away from the surrounding text, forcing a lone photo to occupy an entire page. It's a small but obvious visual compliant.

The end result is merely a quick glance into the subject. I was disappointed in the book's short length, because what is there is mostly good stuff. Intriguing contents notwithstanding, what you get doesn't encompass the book's broad title. If you're interested in how Koreans interacted with early American entrepreneurs, this isn't what you're looking for. I had high hopes but was ultimately disappointed. The author has had a successful career in Korea and is capable of writing a much more thorough work than what has been published.

- - -

Fortunately, there's lots of other examples of Southerton's work that can be found on his company's publication page including free ebooks such as this bilingual history of Chemulpo (Incheon). I wish Southerton would have put a more polished product out because I did like what he had to say, however brief it was. I'm still looking forward to checking out his historical fiction, though.

From Ryan Moeller

This is just a friendly reminder of the graduate student talks taking place MONDAY afternoon from 4:00-7:15pm in the university inn, room 507. light refreshments will be provided during the break.*

Please come by as you are available. The students are looking forward to your participation in their research discussions!

* the students in english 6480/7480 and i would like to thank the department of english for providing the refreshments and the university inn and conference services, especially Mara Christensen, for providing the meeting space.

Full Description:

In what appears to be becoming a great and grand tradition in the department of english, i am pleased to invite you to attend our graduate students' research talks next monday, december 5th, from 4:00-7:15pm in the university inn, room 507. light refreshments will be provided.

There will be two panel discussions that apply our course readings on critical theory, technology, and writing to a diverse range of research sites, from the work of James Joyce to social media to Apple retail stores:

4:00-5:15 | Evaluating Filmic Literature, Website Readability, and Goldman-Sachs' Complicity in the late-2000s Financial Crisis | Matthew Winters, JoLynne Berrett, and Mike Smith (political science)

5:15-6:00 | refreshments and social hour

6:00-7:15 | Complexity and Rhetorics of Social Media and Spaces | Adam Bair, Matthew Hall, Russ Rampton, and Rebecca James

pPesentations will last 15 minutes each, with time at the end of each panel for discussion. Please feel free to drop in and drop out as may be necessary this busy time of year. I hope to see many of you there!

Important Notice about Spring Registration:

If you have not already enrolled for Spring 2012 classes, please do so by Monday, December 5.  Some of our graduate seminars are currently under-enrolled and thus in danger of being canceled.  The department will make cancellation decisions next week based on enrollment.

Book Review: Please Look After Mom

Title: Please Look After Mom (엄마를 부탁해)
Author: Kyung-Sook Shin (신경숙)
Translated by: Chi-Young Kim (김지영)
Softcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Knopf (April 5, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0307593916
ISBN-13: 978-0307593917

Seemingly effortlessly translated into English, Please Look After Mom unabashedly attacks the heart and leaves the speechless reader in a state that can only be remedied by picking up the phone and calling your mom. Internationally recognized author Shin Kyung-Sook's unforgettably poignant 2008 novel is the recipient of several literary awards. However, is it all just culturally specific schmaltz lost on American readers or is there enough literary substance to warrant its international acclaim?

The story is about an elderly woman who accidentally becomes lost amidst a busy Seoul subway stop and her selfish family's frantic, consequential search. The book is contextually divided into four narratives: the critical eldest daughter, the favorited eldest son, the nomadic absentee husband, and finally the saint-like mother herself. Each chapter delves more into the tender, borderline naive characterization of the mother and the subsequent guilt felt by those who ultimately failed to live up to their proper familial roles. The characters are humanly flawed but forgivingly empathetic. You find yourself criticizing almost each family member for their insensitivity but then apologetically root for their redemption.

Culturally speaking, the setting is a striking contrast between socially progressive Seoul-centered modernization and war-torn traditional country-side values that are more and more lost with each passing generation. The mother's poverty-stricken childhood is but a dim memory to her doted children who knew little of her sacrifice and sorrow. Other than a few culturally contextualized moments, the narration needs very little pretext for the average non-Korean reader to appreciate the depth of this story. After all, everyone has a mother.

That's the general consensus with this touching story. At some part in most people's lives, like the characters in the story, we all have an epiphany and realize that our own mothers were not born mothers but instead chose to be mothers. Even though my own mother's personal sacrifices were naturally different than the ones described in the book, her loving presence is echoed in this story, as many other readers, too, have expressed.

It's indeed a sentimental Korean tear-jerker but thankfully it's also well-written enough to be almost effortlessly appreciated by an international audience. Having read the English version, I'm anxious to read the Korean version in hopes to further pick up on certain nuances that were likely to have been inescapably lost in translation, such as the subtle differences between "Mom (엄마)" and "Mother (어머니)" and the title's ambiguous message (엄마를 부탁해) which could be interpreted as either a dutiful order or a spiritual request.

- - -

This novel doesn't exactly pertain to Korean studies, but it is a work that deserves to be talked about. It's got me wondering what else I'm missing in Korean literature, that's for sure.

Summer Postscript:

It occurs to me, after a faculty member voiced concerns about yesterday’s blog post regarding summer, that I need to make sure you understand how our summer grad offerings typically work.  In the past the department has not received a budget for summer grad courses from the upper administration.  Typically, however, we are able to offer a limited number of summer, one-week workshop courses through the RCDE (Regional Campuses and Distance Ed program).  These courses are offered on faculty initiative and desire to teach, and normally they have to reach a certain enrollment to “make.”  That is the reason Dr. McCuskey originally requested that we assess interest in his potential course (please talk to him directly or other faculty members about potential courses they may offer).

I want to reassure you that I don’t think that Dr. McCuskey’s course will be the only graduate offering this summer.  The Fife Folklore course is a regular offering.  Creative Writing typically offers one or two workshops.  American Studies faculty are presently considering a course.  In the past, PhD students have had courses in Specialized Docs.  There may be others I have not heard about yet.  However, fair warning: this is no guarantee any of these courses will be offered, and we won’t know the final list for summer until some time in January.  As DGS, I do not make decisions about what will be offered, but I will try to keep you apprised of course availability once we have a better sense.  My only goal is to keep you informed as best I can.
                                                                                            --Evelyn Funda, DGS

Book Review facelift

I've been prompted by the failure of Books.LivingSocial to merge my book collection over to LibraryThing. I like it so far. What's more is that I've gone back over my previous reviews and spruced them up a bit. Nothing major, just a few typo fixes and some rephrasing.

I'm happy that I left such detailed notes about how I felt about these books. Rereading what I wrote reminded me that I actually paid attention and cared about the subject matter. I strongly recommend others to do the same. I had almost forgotten that I had read certain titles until I looked back at both my notes on the inside cover and scattered all over almost each margin - let alone the review online. It's inspired me to pick up some new books that have been collecting dust on my shelf.

So, I give you the new and improved book review list.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

The School of Graduate Studies has just announced that have three tuition waiver awards available for Spring semester.  As is is sometimes the case in academia, this is on short notice and we must forward applications on a very quick turn around.  Please realize these three tuition awards are going out to entire Grad School, so availability is very limited.

If you are interested in applying for one of these awards, follow the instructions in the Call for Applications.

Completed applications are due in Dr. Funda’s mailbox NO LATER THAN MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21 AT 5 PM.

Note:  We anticipate another round of tuition waiver award applications in early Spring semester (for fall semester). Typically, we have a few more waiver available at that time.  Please watch the blog for notice of that application round in January.  Meanwhile, you can consider this as training/practice for that.  

The following is from the School of Graduate Studies:

Tuition Awards:

These tuition awards cover the in-state portion of tuition for master's students that are nominated by the student's academic department. Students must be registered full time, work at least .25 FTE (10 hours/week) as a graduate assistant for the duration of the semester, and have at least a 3.3 GPA. These awards are distributed on a competitive basis.

Criteria of School of Graduate Studies: A 3.5 GPA and quantitative and verbal GRE scores at the 70th percentile or above; awardees must be full-time, matriculated students and must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher. Students must not have exceeded the 70-credit limit to be eligible for this scholarship.

Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowships 2011-2012

The Fellowship program's purpose is to encourage scholarly use of Berea's non-commercial audio collections that document Appalachian history and culture, especially the areas of traditional music, religious expression, spoken lore, and radio programs. Awards in support of such research range from one to two months, with stipends of $3,000 per month.
The fellowships must be taken up between July 2011 and June 2012. All Fellowship supported work must be finished by June 30, 2012. Fellows are expected to be in residence during the term of the fellowship and are encouraged to participate in campus and community activities.
Proposals are continuing to be accepted until December 15, 2011 for projects that will be completed by June 30, 2012.

Berea's recordings collections are especially strong in the areas of traditional music, religious expression, spoken lore and radio programs. They include extensive documentation of fiddle and banjo tunes; ballads and songs; Old Regular Baptist singing and preaching; folktales and legends; and related interviews with musicians, preachers, and storytellers, 1950 to the present. Radio material heard in the region for the years 1936 to the mid 1950s, documents a wide range of Kentucky, national, and world political figures and events. Entertainment programs include country music, soap operas, musical variety shows and sporting events.

There is no application form. Applicants are asked to submit a proposal that includes:

1. Identifying and contact information, applicant's background and interest in the particular subject area.
2. A summary of the proposed project.
3. Detailed description of the anticipated use of Berea collections. Please discuss specific collection material and their relevance to the project.
4. Anticipated research outcomes (e.g., teaching, print publication, web-based resources).
5. The length of time needed for the project (one month minimum, two months maximum), and preferred dates of residence. The duration of award is requested by the candidate, but the final decision is made by the Fellowship Committee.
6. Three letters of recommendation from colleagues familiar with the applicant's work and who are qualified to judge the proposal. For graduate degree candidates, the recommendations must include those of the professor directing the applicant's research and the department chair. Applicants are responsible for contacting all persons providing recommendations.

For information about Berea's Sound Archives and other traditional music collections, see http://www.berea.edu/hutchinslibrary/specialcollections/specialsound.aspx

For additional information about Berea's Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowships, see http://www.berea.edu/hutchinslibrary/specialcollections/amfp/amfp.asp

Proposals or inquires should be sent to

Harry Rice
Special Collections & Archives
Berea College, Berea, KY 40404
harry_rice@berea.edu

Don’t forget:

  Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the monthly Brown Bag with Evelyn!
Bring your lunch and your “freak out moment of the month!”
We’ll also talk about whether and how grad students should publish.
Time and Location:  12:30 in Brewer Conference Room (308).  

Are you on target with your paperwork for Spring 2012 Graduation (Plan A or Plan B Thesis or Dissertation)?

Fall Semester:  If you are planning to graduate in Spring 2012, you should have the following done by end of the Fall semester:

1. Supervisory Committee Form (See http://usuenglishgrad.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-my-supervisory-committee-and.html)
2. Program of Study Form (see http://usuenglishgrad.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-program-of-study-form-and-why.html
3. Proposal Defense Form, if you are doing a Plan A thesis or Dissertation. If you are doing a Plan B thesis, you need to have a defense meeting with your committee, but there is no paperwork that needs to go to the grad school.  http://usuenglishgrad.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-is-thesisdissertation-proposal.html
4. PhDs:  Complete Application for Candidacy form ( http://www.usu.edu/graduateschool/degree_completion/pdf/App_Candidacy.pdf)
5. Recommended:  To get up-to-date on Grad School’s formatting requirements, attend one of the Thesis Workshops. (See http://www.usu.edu/calendar/event.cfm?eventID=7867&show=today&day=16&month=11&year=2011)

Spring Semester Deadlines:

1. If you are doing a Plan C, you need to have in your Plan C Program Completion for to Grad school by Feb 15. (see http://www.usu.edu/graduateschool/degree_completion/pdf/Comp_Req_PlanC.pdf)
2. If you are doing a Plan C, your committee needs to schedule your comp exam for sometime during Spring semester.
3. If you are planning on an MA (rather than an MS), you need to complete language requirements and fill out for before March 1 (see http://usuenglishgrad.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-are-language-requirements.html)
4. If you are writing a Plan A thesis or a PhD dissertation, you need to schedule and hold your thesis/dissertation defense on or before April 4 (if you plan to have your name appear in commencement records).  If you want to participate in commencement, but you don’t care if your name appears in the program, that defense date can be as late as April 27.  HOWEVER, please be aware that a minimum of two weeks before this date (March 21 or April 13), you need to have your paperwork to schedule the exam plus all committee signtures submitted to the School of Grad Studies. This is called the “Appointment for Examination” Form http://usuenglishgrad.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-do-i-schedule-and-prepare-for-my.html. This is a hard deadline, and the grad school holds to it.  
5. You should allow your committee a MINIMUM of two weeks to read your thesis or dissertation before the defense.  Your chair will need to approve your thesis or dissertation before you can ask for the defense, so allow yourself plenty of time to get the chair’s go-ahead on your final draft. (Talk to your chair. They may expect you to submit a final draft of your thesis or dissertation for their approval as early as February).  
6. All students: Graduation paperwork done with School of Graduate studies by April 4 (payment form, student survey, commencement data card, alumni file card—see grad school website)

For the Grad Schools Completion and Commencement Deadlines, see:
http://www.usu.edu/graduateschool/commencement/pdf/Commencement_Deadlines.pdf
Commencement info:
http://www.usu.edu/graduateschool/commencement/

What is the difference between “Non-matriculated” and “Matriculated”

Student Classifications

A matriculated graduate student has been accepted by a department, with the concurrence of the dean of the School of Graduate Studies, to an approved graduate degree program and has enrolled at the University. A student may be accepted on a provisional matriculation basis when (1) information, such as GRE scores, is yet to be received by the School of Graduate Studies, or (2) when a missing prerequisite or academic deficiency must be remedied. The conditions and time limit for remedying these deficiencies must be specified to the student in writing at the time of admission. If the conditions are not met as specified, the student’s participation in the degree program will be terminated. International students cannot be admitted on provisional status.

A full-time matriculated graduate student must be one of the following:

Registered for 9 or more graduate credits; or

Registered for 6 or more graduate credits if employed as a graduate assistant for 15 hours per week or more; or

Registered for 3 graduate credits with all required credits completed (the student’s Program of Study must have been submitted to the School of Graduate Studies); or

Registered for at least 3 graduate credits during the semester of the final thesis/dissertation defense or, in a nonthesis degree program, the last semester of coursework required on the student’s Program of Study.
Note: To defer a loan or to receive student loans, graduate students must be registered for at least 6 credits.

A matriculated-probationary graduate student has been placed on warned status because of inadequate progress in his or her degree program. The conditions to be met and the time limit for meeting them must be specified to the student in writing at the time he or she is placed on probation. If the conditions are not met as specified, the student’s participation in the degree program will be terminated.

Graduate assistants and fellowship recipients must be full-time matriculated students with a GPA of 3.0 or above, and must be registered each semester of the assistantship or fellowship, except
summers.

A nonmatriculated postbaccalaureate student holds a bachelor’s degree, is enrolled for USU coursework, but has not been accepted to a graduate degree program. If an application for graduate studies has been submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, a student may apply through the School of Graduate Studies to enroll as a nonmatriculated student. A letter must be submitted from the graduate department head or graduate program coordinator giving permission for the student to be entered on the computer as a nonmatriculated student. If the student does not intend to pursue a graduate degree, the student should apply to the undergraduate Admissions Office to enroll as a nonmatriculated student. A maximum of 12 semester credits earned as a nonmatriculated, postbaccalaureate student may be used in a graduate degree program, but only if approved by the student’s supervisory committee.

English Department Policy Regarding Non-Matriculated Students:

Our graduate classes are reserved for students who either have been fully admitted to our department or have an active file under-review at least 30 days before the start of classes. Even non-matriculated students must undergo admission review in order to enroll in our courses.  This is to ensure that students have the ability to do the level of research and writing required in our courses.

Students who want to be considered for enrollment as a non-matriculated student must have their file substantially complete and ready for review at least thirty days before the first official day of the semester in which they wish to enroll. To have a file substantially complete, the student would have the following on file: Grad School application form, Letter of Intent,  Transcripts, at least two of three letters of recommendation, Writing Samples, and CV or resume; writing samples and CV or resume are sent directly to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). The DGS will then inform the student if the admissions committee has recommended temporary non-matriculated status and if the committee has stipulated any provisions.

If non-matriculated students are admitted, they may enroll on a semester-to-semester basis; typically non-matriculated students are only allowed to enroll for one semester, and they are expected to become fully matriculated by the end of their first semester.  Non-matriculated students are admitted with a clear set of provisions. Provisions may include: completing a course with certain grade expectations, receiving satisfactory scores on the GRE or G/MAT, providing additional writing samples, and/or providing additional letters of recommendation, especially from faculty teaching the course in which non-matriculated students are enrolled.  Non-matriculated students must meet with the Director of Graduate Studies by the end of each semester in which they are enrolled to review their progress.  At that time, they may provide additional documentation and ask to have their file reviewed for a second time and be considered for full matriculation.  Permission to enroll in a course as a non-matriculated student does not guarantee full acceptance to a graduate program at a later date.  

Are there special requirements for international graduate students to enroll?

An international student must be admitted to a degree program and hold a valid F-1 or J-1 visa before enrolling in classes at Utah State University. A student on an F-1 or J-1 visa must maintain full-time student status throughout the degree program. For other information about the University, he or she can contact the International Students and Scholars Office, Utah State University, 0140 Old Main Hill, Logan UT 84322-0140, tel. (435) 797-1124.

Questions

If you have questions about your degree, please see the DGS, Evelyn Funda. You can schedule an appointment through Candi Checketts or Katelyn Anderson.

Video Games as Text, Text as Play

The University of Wyoming is accepting abstracts for its upcoming graduate student conference: Video Games as Text, Texts as Play.  The conference will be held the second weekend of April, Thursday the 12^th to Saturday the 14^th.  Abstracts will be due by January 15^th.  Our keynote speaker will be Judd Ruggill, Assistant Professor, Arizona State.

As many of the growing number of gamers and game scholars could tell you, video games are texts, and these texts that games present are an emerging field of study and an emerging field of narrative.  Video games are growing in terms of size, story, and maturity, and are an important part of modern day popular culture.  This is why we must examine them more carefully in an academic setting.  And those tools used to critique and appreciate video games can also be used on more traditional texts in the context of play, allowing for fresh looks at classic texts.  

Just as video games can be analyzed as forms of narrative or rhetoric, texts can be analyzed via the idea of play.  Play presents itself in a variety of forms, like the association  of novels, comics, and film with leisure, as well as the more serious "play" presented in a variety of theoretical approaches, or any other method of examining how texts and the idea of play could interact.  We would welcome any papers that look at this idea in creative ways.

Video games also offer the academic community new opportunities as educational tools, allowing educators to reach their students in more hands-on ways.  For example, students can examine historical conflicts and controversies from the perspective of those directly involved, choose how they would act in those situations, and see what their actions lead to.  We invite you to submit your conference papers on a variety of topics that will allow us to better understand what, as a culture, we appear to be moving towards as the narrative form of choice.

We also welcome works of creative nonfiction that deal with these topics.

Possible Topics:

            How does the role of first person narrative change in video games?  What does the reader experience while actively undergoing the events of the narrative, vs. passively experiencing them?

            What does the ability of choice in a narrative do for the experience of reading the text?  Is the player more connected to the characters by choosing the actions and outcomes of that character?  Or is a specific, single narrative path that allows all players to experience it in a similar way a better kind of narrative?

            How is sexuality dealt with in video games?  How is sex depicted, and what happens when controversy arises?  How does this differ from more traditional narrative forms?  What about games with all characters being unrealistically bisexual?

            How is feminism handled in video games?  What, if anything, establishes characters like Samus as feminist characters?  Is there a double standard with women with exaggerated female characteristics, like Lara Croft, being attacked as problematic from women, while exaggerated male characteristics in characters, such as Marcus Fenix, are not?

            What impact does race have on games?  Why are so many player characters white; what does that do to the narrative?  How could/should race be used?  Why are games like Resident Evil 5 criticized because the villains are black?

            What is the difference between reading an evil character and actively playing one?  How does that change the experience of the text?

            Why are video games so oriented towards violence?  What about the textual form of video games makes violence such a common choice in game play?  Is this healthy for the medium?  How does this affect games in the larger culture?

You are of course not limited to these.  Also feel free to submit a proposal for a panel at the conference, on any related topic.

            However, we discourage any papers about whether violent video games lead to violent behaviors in children.

Both merit-based and need-based scholarships going toward conference attendance may be available to interested parties.  If you would like to apply for a need-based scholarship, please contact uwplayology@gmail.com for more information.

Please submit your 200-300 words abstracts before January 15 via www.uwplayology.com.  We will let you know no later than February 15.  Please include contact information, your institutional affiliation, and any audio/visual requirements.  Any questions can be answered by contacting the conference organizers using the website or emailing the conference organizers at uwplayology@gmail.com.

Is there a time limit for completing a degree?

A master’s degree must be completed within six years of matriculation. A doctorate must be completed within eight years of matriculation.

Coursework that is more than eight years old may not be used for a graduate degree. If permitted by the departmental or interdepartmental degree program policy, a supervisory committee may allow revalidation through testing, following a plan developed by the supervisory committee and approved by the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. The results must be verified in writing to the graduate dean by the student’s major professor or other person(s) responsible for the testing. Work experience cannot be substituted for out-of-date coursework or used for revalidation.

Graduate credits from another institution that exceed the eight-year limit at the time of degree completion may be transferred to a USU graduate degree only if the student’s supervisory committee provides a justification acceptable to the graduate dean. Then, the revalidation procedures described above apply.

Wait One

Funny how a single belated post updates and at the same time disappoints.

I'm currently serving in the United States Navy so consistency and quality of postings are likely to be even more scant than before. Believe me when I say that not a day goes by when I wish I could devote all of my day to simply studying the Korean language and the history of her people. Unfortunately, bills have to be paid.

Whether this blog falls into further obscurity is irrelevant, really. I use it to track my personal passions and clearly they have been on hold for some time. I'd like to think that one day I'll get back into a routine that allows me to read more about Korea.

Oh and it seems I backed the wrong horse in regards to linking book reviews. Books.LivingSocial.com has ceased operations and with it, all of my online library of reviews. Thankfully, I still have them here. I suppose step one will be to re-create my online library based on my physical library.

Any suggestions?

What are Deadlines for Spring 12 completion of degree?

Please click here to see a table of the deadlines for the 2012 completion and commencement deadlines.

New Things!!

Our November Brown Bag has been set!! Click here for details.

What is a Thesis/Dissertation Proposal Defense and do I need a form for that?

After you have written your thesis or dissertation proposal and have approval to move forward from your Supervisory Committee chair, your entire committee will convene to discuss the proposal. Your chair will arrange for that meeting.  At that meeting, members of your committee will give you feedback about the viability of your project, its scope, additional sources you might consider, etc.  Then the committee will ask you to briefly leave the room so that they can vote on approving the proposal.  After the vote, the committee may ask for revisions to the proposal or they may approve the proposal with the caveat that you agree to their suggestions.  Before the meeting is over, the committee should sign and date the Thesis/Dissertation Proposal Defense Form.  It is your responsibility to bring this filled-out form to the thesis/dissertation proposal defense meeting.  This form simply formalizes the agreement between the student and the committee members regarding the topic and content of the thesis or dissertation. After you have signatures of all your committee members, put the form in DGS’s mailbox (Evelyn Funda, DGS).  

NOTE: Students proposing a Plan B thesis do typically meet with their committee to defend; however, they do not need to fill out a form.

Fill out the Thesis/Dissertation Proposal Defense Form here.  
***If you are having troubles viewing the document, it may be that you need to upgrade software on your computer. You can also pick up a hard copy from Candi Checketts, RWST 312 E.***

New Page!!!

We have recently added a new page to the blog titled Financial Aid. This is still under construction and will have updates often so please remember to check this page for scholarships, fellowships, etc.

We posted a few items today and yesterday about scholarships so be sure to check them out as the deadlines for these are fast approaching.

Good luck!!!

What should be included in a Plan A or Plan B Creative Thesis Proposal?

Guidelines for Plan A and Plan B Creative Theses
A creative thesis may be in any genre or combination of genres. The thesis proposal, if done well, will aid you in writing the critical introduction to your work, a key component to the creative thesis. Keep in mind that the goal of the thesis proposal is to demonstrate to your committee that you have the necessary background to complete your thesis, that you have organized your thoughts, and that you are able to place your work within a larger tradition.
1) TOPIC
In this section, your goal is to describe the prevailing themes of your work and/or the questions at the heart of your project. Those writing poetry and fiction theses may find it most appropriate to explore the themes they will be addressing, typically two or three larger ideas that their work centers on. For example, the loss of innocence, the mutability of the natural world, how a relationship unravels. Creative nonfiction writers might feel more comfortable naming the questions that they are asking: what does a certain moment in your past have to say to the rest of your life, what is the relationship between natural history and personal history, how does one recover from trauma.
Whether asking questions or stating themes, your goal in this section is to describe why the questions/themes matter (to you as a writer and to others) and how your approach is like and unlike other writers. While your thesis will have a literal subject (which will be described in detail in the next section), here you are getting at the deeper subject. Potentially the themes/questions will intersect with one another, and you can describe why this intersection is particularly useful. In other words, why are you framing your work the way you are and how will the juxtaposition of these ideas move your reader? These themes and/or questions need to be clearly stated and then elaborated on because much of the rest of your proposal (as well as your thesis itself) relies on them. You need to choose between one and three questions/themes to explore, many more and your committee will most likely feel you are not focused.
2) STRUCTURE
In this section you need to address both your choice in genre and your choice of form within genre. You will need to demonstrate that you are familiar with the conventions of your chosen genre and have made choices based on those conventions. Your committee will be looking to see that you think in sophisticated ways about genre and that your choice of genre aligns seamlessly with the themes you are exploring or the questions you are asking.
In this section, you will also need to describe the literal structure of the piece. For poetry, what is the arc of the poems, how will the individual poems move to form a greater whole? For fiction, what are your organizational or underlying principles (plot, character, imagery, or something else) and how do those decisions reflect the theme of your work? For nonfiction, you will want to address choices between lyric, linear, or modular forms, the scope of the work, the stance of the narrator, the use of research. In all cases, you want to make sure your committee understands literally what your work is about, as well the connections between form and deeper subject.
3) LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section you will return to the themes and/or questions that you addressed in your opening paragraphs. Here you need to summarize and discuss the work of other writers whose work bears upon each theme/question.
A literature review does several things:
●    It helps provide a context in which to locate your work, showing the existence of a creative conversation/tradition in which you are about to participate.
●    It establishes your readiness to enter the conversation, showing that you know the appropriate literary tradition.
●    It allows you to shape the conversation, giving your own reading of what has been written so far about the topic.
Your literature review should be organized by the themes/questions you developed earlier. There should be an inherent connection throughout your proposal between what you are writing, why you are writing, and how you are writing, and these connections are informed by both personal experience and the literary tradition. Your literature review will include both examples of the themes/questions you are exploring (meaning poems, stories, or books that center on the same themes), as well as examples of critical and creative essays and books about your genre (for example, writers who discuss fragmented form or confessional poetry).
4) PROCEDURES
This section must demonstrate how you plan to undertake your project. What have you already written? What must you still write? What research will you undertake—interviews, field visits, observation, journaling? All creative work has a research component to it—even if that research is simply listening to conversations at the local diner to learn about dialog. Here, you need to describe the actual labor of your project—what will you need to do, when, and how?
5) OUTLINE
You will need to provide a tentative outline of your thesis, with chapter/section headings and a few lines of explanation under each. As in the literature review, it may help readers if you include transitions to help explain the rationale for your organization of the thesis. Your readers will want to know why you have divided it this way and why you have chosen this sequence for the sections. Help them see and understand the logic of your organization.
6) TIMETABLE
Problems occur in thesis defenses most often when committee members have not had time to read the thesis, to make suggestions, and to see those suggestions incorporated in a revised version that they have time to read before the defense. Your proposal should include a schedule that you plan to follow for completing the research and writing the thesis. Bearing in mind the Graduate School’s deadlines and your own plans for graduation, identify a tentative defense date and work backwards from that. Meet with your committee to determine deadlines that are appropriate for all involved. At the very least, make sure your timetable meets the deadlines listed below:
Submit first complete draft to committee members at least 4 weeks before defense. Draft should be returned to you with comments at least 3 weeks before defense. Schedule defense date with the Grad School at least 2 weeks before defense. Resubmit revised draft to committee at least 10 days before defense.
You may conclude this section by identifying the first or next step you plan to take in your project.
7) BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography at the end of your proposal should be a list of works you have cited and or consulted. Like the rest of your thesis proposal, it needs to demonstrate a deep understanding of the field. Follow the citation style favored in your field—e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, etc. You should also buy the Publication Guide for Graduate Students at USU from the Bookstore, or download it from the Graduate School website.
MODIFICATIONS FOR PLAN B CREATIVE THESIS PROJECTS
A Plan B creative thesis involves the same creative and intellectual work. It is just shorter. Students should work with their committee chairs to determine whether Plan A or B makes most sense given their particular needs, constraints, and goals.
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
Every creative thesis must include a critical introduction that places the work within a larger conversation. These are typically ten to fifteen pages for Plan A thesis projects and potentially shorter for Plan B. Much of the work you do for your thesis proposal—especially the literature review and the section on structure—will aid you in writing your critical introduction. Work with your committee to determine the length and particular parameters for your project. No creative thesis will be accepted without this accompanying document.

What should be included in a Plan A Thesis or Dissertation Proposal?

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING A PROPOSAL

The proposal has two purposes: to help you define and clarify your project for yourself and to communicate it clearly and convincingly to your Supervisory Committee. As they read your proposal, they need to understand what you plan to do, why it’s worth doing, how you are going to be able to do it, and how they might help you. You should assume this audience is sympathetic but also skeptical. They want to be on your side, but they want to be convinced that it’s a cause worthy of their time and effort. The most prevalent questions in their minds as they read are likely to be “why?” “how?” and “so what?” Try to anticipate these questions by providing explanations and rationales for your decisions wherever it seems needed.

The guidelines below are arranged in typical sequence, and if possible you should use the numbered headings to organize your proposal. Proposals are typically approximately pages plus a bibliography, all double spaced. Some are longer. An extensive, well-developed proposal is a good investment of time and effort, since it can form the foundation for the early pages of the thesis or project itself.

The guidelines below refer to Plan A theses but should be understood to apply equally to Plan B projects.

1) THESIS TOPIC

A thesis must obviously have a topic—it must be about something—and you should declare this at or near the beginning of your proposal. Beyond that, however, the thesis should identify and address a research problem. All scholarly research projects are driven by problems, which means that they are motivated by a scholar noticing something in his or her field that demands attention. For example, your research problem might take the form of a perceived knowledge gap: you find a subject where little work has been done, not much is known, or many questions remain.

Alternatively, the problem might be that you believe a much-discussed topic demands a critical reexamination in light of new theory or an overlooked perspective; or that a potentially useful connection to another field has not been made and should be explored. The problem could also take the form of a dilemma, puzzle, obstacle, or contradiction that the field needs to confront and resolve or overcome in order to move ahead.

Creative projects, too, may be seen as being driven by a problem--an idea that has not yet been explored in a particular genre, for instance.

In light of the preceding paragraph, the first section of your proposal might address the following headings and questions:
a) Context and research or creative problem

What will your thesis be about?

What will be the subject matter?

What problem will your thesis address?

Why is this problem important to your field? Why does it need to be addressed?

(In this opening section it may also be appropriate to explain how and why you chose this subject matter—what personal connection it has to you.)

b) Scope

What will be the scope or range of your thesis? What material will it include, and why? What material will it exclude, and why? What do you aim to accomplish in this project and what will you not be able to do? Where will you draw the line that marks the outer boundary of your project? (Think about the logic or principle that determines the scope of your thesis. For example, a project might be limited to a specific time period, to a particular geographical area, or to a defined genre of literature, or to a particular author or school of authors, or to a social group.)

c) Research or creative questions

At this point in your proposal it may help to state your research or creative questions. These questions will motivate and guide your work, and your whole thesis will ultimately be your attempt to answer these questions. (A specific “thesis statement” is simply an answer to a research question, but the best thesis statements are the result of asking the right research questions.)

You might be able to boil down your thesis project to one main question, followed by several subsidiary questions that elaborate and explicate the main question. Alternatively, your thesis might be driven by several distinct but related questions that address different parts of the problem or attack it from different angles. Again, each of these questions might need some follow-up questions to make the question clear. Since these questions are the core of your thesis project, it’s worth spending some time considering how many you need to ask, how they relate to each other (e.g. in parallel or in series), and how best to word them.

Identifying and phrasing your research or creative questions will help you bring the project into focus before you embark on it, and while you are working on it you may find it helpful to keep returning to your questions periodically. Reconsidering them from time to time can help renew your motivation and to keep you on track. Revise the questions as necessary to reflect any evolution or refinement of your purpose in the project.

In the opening paragraphs of your thesis proposal, where you describe and explain your topic, the problem, its significance, and the scope of your thesis project, you are establishing a context for your questions. This context should help your readers anticipate your questions, so that when they read them they will readily understand what the questions mean and why you are asking them. In this section, and elsewhere in the proposal, you may need to define key terms for your readers, especially if you are using them in specific or unusual ways. Misunderstandings occur when readers recognize terms but don’t recognize the particular ways they are being used.

2) LITERATURE REVIEW

Like most scholarly journal articles, a thesis proposal should contain a section where you review relevant literature, summarizing and discussing the work of other scholars or writers. Doing so accomplishes several purposes:
It allows you to show how near or far the field has already come to answering your research questions (which may have been the subject of years of discussion by others).
It helps provide a context in which to locate your project, showing the existence of a scholarly or creative conversation in which you are about to participate.
It provides evidence that the subject is important enough to your field to have generated discussion .
It establishes your authority to enter the conversation, showing that you are up to speed with the discussion and would be a credible participant.
It allows you to shape the conversation, giving your own reading of what has been written so far about the topic.
This last point indicates the need to think about how you will organize the literature review. Can you divide the literature into groups, each representing a similar perspective on the topic? What would be the best sequence in which to present the works of other scholars? What organizing principle might you follow? How can you communicate your reading of the scholarly discussion by adding forecasting statements, transitions, and summaries?

You don’t want to distort or misrepresent the work of others unfairly to make your own look better, but your thesis proposal is an argument for a particular perspective on the subject matter, and the literature review should play an important part of the support for that argument. A good review of literature will not only represent other writers’ work in ways they would find reasonable and acceptable but will also interpret and evaluate that work according to your own point of view. As much as you are able to at this point, identify which writers will be your most important sources, explain why, and explain how you plan to use their work to inform yours. At the end of your literature review, it might be useful to revisit your research questions, reminding your readers how your project will extend the discussion you have just reviewed.

Shaping your literature review into a well-structured argument with the characteristics outlined above will help you avoid the tendency of literature reviews to be tedious, plodding summaries, devoid of any opinion or point—the kind of prose that a reader feels tempted to skip. A well-written review of literature should be compelling reading.

3) PROCEDURES
a) Research and analysis

This section of your proposal explains how you will go about your work. If you are doing primary research, what methods of gathering data will you use, and why? If you are doing secondary research, what else will you read besides what you have discussed in your literature review, and how do you plan to analyze your material? If you are doing creative work, it may involve considerable research and analysis too, before the main work of writing begins.

This section might be the best place for you to explain what theory will guide your work and why. It is also the place to mention your experience as a researcher and writer. How has your prior work prepared you to do this project? If your project will involve learning new methods, how will you acquire that expertise? What sources of help are available to you?

At this point in the proposal you should also explain whether or not your research will require Institutional Review Board (IRB) clearance. The IRB ensures that primary research does not endanger or compromise the privacy of human subjects. (If you plan to do folklore fieldwork, see one of the folklore faculty members before approaching the IRB.)

b) Outline

What form will your thesis take when it is finished? For instance, will it follow a traditional thesis structure with chapters? Will it involve forms of creative writing? Multiple genres? Extensive appendices? Electronic or audiovisual media? Provide a tentative outline of your thesis, with chapter headings and a few lines of explanation under each. As in the literature review, it may help readers if you include forecasts and transitions to help explain the rationale for your organization of the thesis. Your readers will want to know why you have divided it this way and why you have chosen this sequence for the sections. Help them see and understand the logic of your organization.

c) Timetable

Problems occur in thesis defenses most often when committee members have not had time to read the thesis, to make suggestions, and to see those suggestions incorporated in a revised version that they have time to read before the defense. Your proposal should include a schedule that you plan to follow for completing the research and writing the thesis. Bearing in mind the Graduate School’s deadlines and your own plans for graduation, identify a tentative defense date and work backwards from that. Make sure your timetable meets the deadlines listed below:

Submit first complete draft to committee members at least 4 weeks before defense.

Draft should be returned to you with comments at least 3 weeks before defense.

Schedule defense date with Grad School at least 2 weeks before defense.

Resubmit revised draft to committee at least 10 days before defense.

You may conclude this section by identifying the first or next step you plan to take in your project.
4) BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography at the end of your proposal should be a list of works you have cited in your proposal. Your committee may also ask for a separate list of works you have consulted (but not cited in the proposal) and works you are planning to consult. Follow the citation style favored in your field—e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, etc. You should also buy the Publication Guide for Graduate Students at USU from the Bookstore, or download it from the Graduate School website.

For more on proposals, see the essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education ( http://chronicle.com/article/Demystifying-the-Dissertation/128916/)