Promoting Research in an Undergraduate Shakespeare Course

Authors

  • Matthew Fike Winthrop University

Abstract

This essay concerns the methods I use in my 300-level Shakespeare course at Winthrop University to foster research worthy of frequent conference presentation and occasional publication. In short, my approach is to provide suitable topics and to require multiple stages in the composition and research process. The results, I have discovered, are sometimes phenomenal and clearly superior to the work students did when I first taught the course at Winthrop. I begin, therefore, by contrasting the first version of my Shakespeare course with my more recent efforts.

Author Biography

Matthew Fike, Winthrop University

Matthew Fike received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan, served for nine years as a founding faculty member at the American University in Bulgaria, and is currently a professor of English at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he offers courses in writing and British literature. He has published books on Spenser and Shakespeare, as well as over twenty articles on British literature, American literature, and pedagogy.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 2 (2011): Summer/Fall 2011

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.