SENIOR SEMINAR

WGST 498

Instructor: Ann Marie Nicolosi

Office Hours: Tues, 3:30-4:30, Weds. 2:00-3:00, Fri. 11:15-12:15

Telephone: x2276

E-Mail nicolosi@tcnj.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In this seminar students will produce a research paper (25 pages) applying feminist theories and methodologies. Students will choose a research topic and develop their own projects using the methodology best suited to their specific needs. In addition, they will share their work with other students, providing analysis and critiques of one another's papers in progress. There will be common readings and students will also choose readings from required texts pertinent to their projects and present these readings to the class.

COURSE TEXTS

The following books are required and are available at the bookstore:

Devault, Marjorie. Liberating Method: Feminism and Social Research. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999.

Fonow, Mary Margaret and Judith A. Cook, eds. Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

Harding, Sandra, ed. Feminism and Methodology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene, Christina Gilmartin and Robin Lydenberg, eds. Feminist Approaches to Theory and Methodology: An Interdisciplinary Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Reinharz, Shulamit. Feminist Methods in Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Each student is required to provide a proposal, bibliography, outline, draft and final paper. You must provide enough copies of the outline and the draft for your fellow students. Draft copies must be available at least one week prior to the due date. Papers will be presented in a conference-like format that WGST minors, majors, faculty, interested staff, and WILL program participants will be invited to attend.

Students are required to choose two readings from the course texts that are not already assigned that are specific to their project and present these readings to the class (choices are due one week before the presentation so everyone will have a chance to read them).

Final grades will be determined by the product. Included in this determination are the following:

Participation 15%

Oral Presentation 15%

Annotated Bibliography 20%

Final Paper 50%

COURSE READINGS

January 22	Intro to the course Discussion about potential topics/interests
January 29	Discussion of sources, traditional and electronic Harding, "Intro: Is There a Feminist Method?" DeVault: Chapter 9 "Speaking up Carefully: Authorship and Authority in Feminist Writing," Chapter 10 "Metaphors of Silence and Voice in Feminist Thought, " Chapter 11 "From the Seminar Room: Practical Advice for Researchers"
February 5	Reports on topic development Reinharz, Chapters 3-13., Conclusions Harding, Conclusion "Epistemological Questions" Acker, Joan, Kate Berry and Johanna Esseveld, "Objectivity and Truth: Problems in Doing Feminists Research, ' in Fonow Cannon, Lynn Weber, Elizabeth Higginbotham and Marianne L. A. Leung. "Race and Class Bias in Qualitative Research on Women" in Fonow.
February 12	Reports on topic development Reading choices for Feb. 19 due
February 19	Interdisciplinary forum Presentation of selected readings Reading choices for Feb. 26 due
February 26	Interdisciplinary forum Presentation of selected readings
March 5	Proposals Due Discussion and presentation of proposals
March 12	No Class Spring Break
March 19	Outline and annotated bibliography due Discussion and presentation of outlines and bibliographies
March 26	First drafts due
April 2	Discussion of first drafts
April 9	No Class
April 16	Discussion of work in progress
April 23	Discussion of work in progress
April 30	Open discussion on final revisions/problems/etc.
Special Conference Schedule	Final papers and oral presentation of papers due.