ENGL 103 B17: Case Studies in Research

D. Fuller

In this course we will learn and develop research skills, critical thinking and academic writing skills. Our material (or case study) will be contemporary examples of disaster and survival stories in different media, most notably a literary novel (Emily St John Mandel's 'Station 11') but we will also examine a recent TV show, and a film. If you are interested in online games there will also be an opportunity to investigate how disaster and survival stories work in that medium. These examples of contemporary dystopian stories will give us plenty of scope for thinking about how best to critique different types of texts, and how to approach different media with appropriate analytical techniques. They also raise urgent and topical questions about how we treat the environment, how we value and use the arts and science, and what it means to be human in the twenty-first century.