ST106 Foundations of Horror Research

Introduction

Five modules in, you have read closely, compared, applied theory and written to a rubric. This module makes the method explicit so that Year Two, where every assignment is a research assignment, does not depend on luck.

Six weeks, each a skill. Turning a topic into a research question that can actually be answered. Finding sources and judging them: what peer review is, why a publisher's name matters, when a fan site is evidence and when it is not, and how to check a comics fact. Reading academic writing efficiently and taking notes that keep quotation, paraphrase and your own comment apart, which is what the research-note tool in your Green Book is built for. Referencing in a recognised style, with the special case of citing a comic. Building an argument in the way academic writers do, entering a conversation rather than announcing an opinion. And revising: the difference between a draft and a finished piece.

The two assignments are practical. An annotated bibliography on a topic of your choosing from Year One, and a research proposal for an essay you might write in Year Two. Both produce things you will use.

Learning objectives

• Formulate a research question that is specific, answerable and worth asking.
• Find sources through library catalogues, open-access directories and databases, and judge their credibility.
• Read academic writing strategically and record it in notes that separate quotation, paraphrase and comment.
• Reference books, articles, films and comics correctly in MHRA style.
• Construct an academic argument that engages with what others have said.
• Plan, draft, revise and reflect on a piece of writing to a word limit.

Lessons

Unit 1: Week 1: From topic to question

What makes a research question worth asking.

1. From topic to questionBooth's method: topic, question, problem, and why "Swamp Thing and the Gothic" is not yet a question.100 min

Unit 2: Week 2: Finding and judging sources

Catalogues, databases, open access, and credibility.

1. Finding and judging sourcesWhere academic work lives, how to reach it without a university login, and how to tell what a source is worth.120 min

Unit 3: Week 3: Reading and note-taking

Strategic reading, and notes you can use.

1. Reading academic writing and taking notesHow to read an article or chapter for its argument, and how to record it so you never plagiarise by accident.120 min

Unit 4: Week 4: Referencing

MHRA, and how to cite a comic.

1. Referencing, and citing comicsMHRA style in practice, the special problems of comics, and academic honesty as a habit rather than a rule.100 min

Unit 5: Week 5: Argument

They say, I say: entering the conversation.

1. Building an argumentGraff and Birkenstein's moves, the thesis statement, and the difference between an opinion and a case.120 min

Unit 6: Week 6: Drafting, revising, proposing

From skeleton to proposal.

1. Drafting, revising and the proposalThe working habits of a finished piece, and how to write the research proposal that opens Year Two.120 min

Core texts

• Required The Craft of Research Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup and William T. FitzGerald

  Parts I to III.

  Library
• Required "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

  The introduction and first six chapters.

  LibraryBuy
• Required MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses Modern Humanities Research Association, edited by Chloe Paver

  Keep it open.

  Open accessOpen access

Secondary reading

• Recommended How do I cite one issue of a comic book from a volume containing multiple issues? MLA Style Center

  Week 4.

  Open accessLink
• Recommended Citing Comics (UCLA Library research guide) UCLA Library

  Week 4.

  Open accessLink
• Recommended Grand Comics Database Grand Comics Database contributors

  Week 2.

  Open accessLink
• Recommended Comics Studies: A Guidebook Charles Hatfield and Bart Beaty (editors)

  Week 1.

  LibraryBuy
• Recommended The Undergraduate Research Handbook Gina Wisker

  Week 6.

  Library
• Recommended Alan Moore and the Gothic Tradition Matthew J. A. Green (editor)

  Week 3, as the worked example.

  LibraryBuy
• Recommended Green smile, interrupted: the frustrated ecological possibilities in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing University of British Columbia thesis (author as listed in the repository)

  Week 2, as the worked example.

  Open accessOpen accessSource requires verification

Assessment

Two assessed pieces. The first is an annotated bibliography of six sources on a Year One topic, with a credibility judgement for each. The second is a research proposal for a Year Two essay: question, rationale, method, sources and plan.

Source requirements

Assignment 1 is a research assignment requiring six sources, at least three of them academic, all referenced in MHRA style. Assignment 2 is an independent research project: you choose the question and identify the sources, and the proposal is assessed on how well you have done both.