This short booklet explains the purposes of the dissertation and the criteria by which it will be assessed. it helps students understand the context of their course work; the need to take an active role in shaping their studies; and the importance of thinking ahead about the components of the dissertation and the quality of scholarship they will need to demonstrate.

This textbook addresses the neglect of practical research methods in cultural studies, and provides readers with clearly written overviews of research methods, along with guidelines on how to put these methods into operation.

Following a scene-setting Introduction which reflects on the state of "theory" today, the 11 chapters in this volume introduce new areas of critical thinking which go beyond the standard "isms": Literary Reading in a Digital Age; Critical Making in the Digital Humanities; Thing Theory; MemoryWork and Criticism; Body, Objects, Technology; Criticism and "The Animal"; Multimodality and Linguistic Approaches to Literary Study; Critical and Creative Practice: Conditions for Success in the Writing Workshop; Affect Theory; Spectrality; Critical Climate Change; and Historicising.

For graduate students and faculty in literary and cultural studies, Eric Hayot addresses everything, from granular concerns such as sentence structure and grammar, to big-picture issues, such as adhering to genre patterns for successful research and publishing, and developing productive and rewarding writing habits,

MacDonald argues that the academy has devoted more effort to analyzing theory and method than to analyzing its own texts. Professional texts need further attention because they not only create but are also shaped by the knowledge that is special to each discipline. Her assumption is that knowledge-making is the distinctive activity of the academy at the professional level; for that reason, it is important to examine differences in the ways the professional texts of subdisciplinary communities focus on and consolidate knowledge within their fields.