Importance of coursework?

[Imaginary]

What is the significance of coursework, all told? I am thinking of taking a course on psychoanalytic, Marxist, and feminist theory, but it's a choice between that or a postcolonial literature and theory class. I don't have coursework in either, but I am relatively familiar with postcolonial literature and theory in general. Does the course work matter that much, or will the exams and dissertation help to mitigate lack of evidence of experience on my transcript?

 

 

[ProfLorax]

What is the significance of coursework, all told?

Having just wrapped up coursework, I can give you my perspective. I've been told repeatedly that coursework isn't really a factor on the job market. If a hiring committee is hiring a postcolonial literature assistant professor, the committee will want to see a dissertation, conference presentations, and a publication or two on postcolonial lit--not so much how many courses the applicant took in postcolonial lit and theory.

 

That being said, there are many other ways coursework can be significant. 

• You can use coursework to fill in any gaps of knowledge you have in your field/area. 
• You can use coursework as an opportunity to read some of the texts that will for sure be on your exam (for example, I took a rhetorical theory course because I know that rhetorical theory will be a big part of my exam, so now I'm acquainted with many of the major texts on my reading list).
• You can use coursework to establish a relationship with a professor you may want to serve on your committee (I took a course way outside of my interests just to have the opportunity to get to know a specific professor).
• You can use coursework to start thinking toward your dissertation (I have at least one seminar paper that will likely be turned into a dissertation chapter). 
• You can use coursework to explore a field that interests you and you want to learn more about just for fun (and who knows? This field could in fact shape your dissertation!).

Also, talk to your advisor! He or she may have some ideas about what courses will be most beneficial for you at this juncture, as well as the skinny about which professors to avoid. 

[ComeBackZinc]

It depends, in my experience. You've got to be able to credibly say that you have the background necessary to teach certain classes. And coursework, in many places, is deeply tied to secondary areas/specializations which will be important on the market. A couple course substitutions here or there won't make much difference. But there are non-trivial differences between different secondary areas on the market. The other thing is that if you are pursuing some sort of a hybrid identity, your coursework can help to reassure one camp or another that you are part of their team. I think an example of where coursework is particularly pertinent includes research methods, although this will be less relevant to you as you are in literature.

 

In my opinion, two aspects of coursework are particularly important even if individual courses aren't taken that seriously on the market: one, because you should be turning seminar papers into articles for publication, or for chapters if not, or for conference papers at the very least. Write nothing longer than a couple pages for free; always think of where you can pitch your papers after some revision and expansion. Second, coursework is where you learn. I'm a lot less dumb now because of coursework.

[lifealive]

Take whichever class you want and whichever you think will be more interesting and relevant to you and your goals.

 

To be very honest, I don't think that coursework was all that important ... to a point. Yeah, certain classes were really instrumental in filling the gaps in my own sub-field. But the classes that were unrelated to my sub-field? I just don't even remember them now. I don't even remember what I wrote seminar papers about. Some of them felt a lot like busywork. I could never credibly say that I could teach X simply because I took a class five years ago in X.

 

And yeah, in an ideal world, your seminar papers could be used to lay the groundwork for dissertation chapters, but this didn't happen for me at all. I ended up doing my dissertation on a completely different topic, and I ended up focusing on works that I hadn't even put on my exam list. Three or four of the authors I focused on didn't show up at all in my coursework or exams.

 

One thing I really do regret, though, is not taking a class in digital humanities. One was offered my first year and I switched out of it. Bad, bad.

Edited December 1, 2014 by lifealive

[jrockford27]

Edit: didn't realize this was bumped by a spambot from 4 years ago.

Edited March 22, 2018 by jrockford27