You've just earned your literary criticism bachelor's degree, and you're considering graduate school. To get anything out of your next degree, you need a goal. Make a goal statement for yourself. How should you do it? .
Instructions
1. Define why you want to pursue post-graduate education. You're passionate about it, right? Consider your career options. Wendy Griswold, author of "Recent Moves in Sociology of Literature," best illustrates the point here: "The sociology of literature is like an amoeba: it lacks firm structure, but has flowed along in certain directions nonetheless." Similar to literature's countless interpretations, your career can blossom in different ways. Become a novelist or short-story writer, a book reviewer for a major publication, a teacher, a blogger, or a librarian. After four years of college, you should focus on what path makes you happiest. Challenge yourself, though.
2. Once you've chosen a career path, make an outline of further action. You've heard about the importance of outlines since elementary school, but this is vital for post-graduate success. Suppose you choose to blog as a literary reviewer. A few examples of good literary blogs include Bookslut, The Millions, and Blogcritics, which you can browse by clicking the links below under Resources. Blogcritics reviews all kinds of literary works, not just the stuff written on paper. Don't forget to choose a graduation date an include it in your outline. The master's degree will give you even more career opportunities.
3. You've developed a master plan. But mini-deadlines make the master plan work. Something small due tomorrow is easier to handle than something big due in the inconvenient, forgettable future. If you're a blogger, review a book one day and compare two works the next. Based on the aforementioned blogs, diverse and repetitive interpretation inspires fresh ideas. As the reviews pile up, keep tabs on comments you receive from readers either weekly or monthly, depending on your blog frequency. This online approach stimulates interested, two-way communication.
4. Don't limit yourself to a single literary criticism career. The nature of your business welcomes multiple paths. You can even pursue different careers at the same time. Because of your inherent, diverse mindset, feel free to teach, write novels, or work in a library. Talk with colleagues and mentors to see what they advise.
