Course Descriptions

This course strengthens students' critical-thinking skils and provides an introductory level understanding of graduate methodologies. Critical thinking exercises will strengthen academic skills for analyzing texts, constructing well-designed and cogent research papers, and engaging in dialogue and debate regardingg ideas and beliefs. Students will learn about differing worldviews and methodologies from the humanities, and social sciences, and reflect on what it means to develop an interdisciplinary approach to research. This includes an exploration of standpoint theory and criticallyl situating the personal perspective within a broader social and cultural context. Research methodologies from a number of scholarly traditions will be introduced, including Feminism and Women's Spirituality, Integralism, CriticalTheory, Postmodernism, Indigenous and Postcolonial Scholarship, Queer Theory, and Participatory Research.