The Graduate Seminar

Abstract

The three- to four-year long process of completing course-work constitutes the most important stage of your graduate experience, since it helps you (1) to determine your area of specialization and your advisory committee; (2) to accumulate knowledge in your area of specialization (and other areas); (3) to discover your dissertation topic, and (4) to develop the basic work habits and professional research techniques that will carry over into your first postgraduate job. Although graduate courses take several different forms (upperand lower-level courses, workshops, tutorials, pro-seminars, etc.), I use the term “seminar” in this chapter to refer to all graduate-level courses in the humanities, which are characterized by their excellent teacher to student ratio and their focus on highly advanced subjects.