Research
Undergraduate Research
The department supports undergraduate research through funding for individual projects and paid assistantships to work with professors on their research. An Honors Thesis can be a great way to undertake research in English studies. In addition, the Department of English and the University both fund undergraduate research through the following programs:
Research & Travel Grants
The English Department disburses up to $2,000 yearly in grants to conduct or present research, including travel to conferences or to pursue archival or field research, among other possibilities. Funding is also available for off-campus research related to Honors Thesis projects.
Past Examples
- Technical Writing Conference
- 18th-Century Studies conference in Charleston
- Literature Conference at SUNY Oneonta
- JFK Library Boston – Hemingway research
- Library of Congress research on libretti
- AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference
- Society for Technical Communication Annual Conference
- Internship at the Folger Shakespeare Library
- Research in Dublin, Ireland on Bog Bodies
- Cultural Rhetorics Conference
- Project on Nuclear Issues Conference
Research Assistantships
The English Department funds multiple undergraduate research assistantships each year. Awards pay up to $1,000 per student at a rate of $15 per hour. Faculty apply to the department for funding on a rolling basis to hire an undergraduate to assist with a research project. Open positions are announced via the undergraduate newsletter, so be sure you sign up. As part of the award, students are required to present their work at one of the University’s undergraduate research showcases.
Past Examples
- Herman Melville marginalia research with Prof. Dawn Coleman
- Textual Editing Assistant for The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and 18th-Century Literature with Prof. Misty Anderson
- Research on Knoxville’s Native Mounds and Museum Displays with Prof. Lisa King
- Pedagogy for International Students with Prof. Russell Hirst
- Phillis Wheatley Poetry Project with Prof. Katy Chiles
- Literary Knox author and content research with Prof. Bill Hardwig
- Frederick Douglass Day Project with Prof. Katy Chiles
University Funding
The University also offers substantial funding for undergraduate research, at the initiative of both faculty and students. For more details on those opportunities, see here.
Funds are also available from the university for student travel to present research off-campus.
Digital Humanities
Literary Knox
Literary Knox seeks to bring Knoxville’s literary history to life both virtually and concretely, providing maps, biography, and contextual information to connect visitors with these important cultural figures.
Maria Edgeworth Letters
The Maria Edgeworth Letters Project is a collaborative digital edition of letters written by Maria Edgeworth and shared by over 30 archives around the world.
The R/18 Collective
The R/18 Collective is a group of international scholars committed to dramaturgical knowledge in the service of theatre makers and other researchers focusing on the theatrical repertoire from the 1660s to the 1830s.
Recent Faculty Books
- Theatre and Medicine
Stanton B. Garner, Jr. Bloomsbury Press, 2023 Theatre and Medicine… Read more: Theatre and Medicine - The Many Deaths of Inocencio Rodriguez
Iliana Rocha Tupelo Press, 2022 Winner of the BERKSHIRE PRIZE… Read more: The Many Deaths of Inocencio Rodriguez - Classical Projections: The Practice and Politics of Film Quotation
Eleni Palis Oxford University Press, 2022 Quotations are a standard… Read more: Classical Projections: The Practice and Politics of Film Quotation - Christian Identity, Piety, and Politics in Early Modern England
Robert E. Stillman University of Notre Dame Press, 2021 The… Read more: Christian Identity, Piety, and Politics in Early Modern England - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2nd Norton Critical Edition
Laura Howes W.W. Norton, 2021 Marie Borroff’s acclaimed verse translation,… Read more: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2nd Norton Critical Edition - Evelyn Scott: Background in Tennessee with a Critical Introduction
Bill Hardwig UT Press, 2021 Born Elsie Dunn in 1893… Read more: Evelyn Scott: Background in Tennessee with a Critical Introduction - Down
Erin Elizabeth Smith Stephen F. Austin Press, 2020 Erin Elizabeth… Read more: Down - Poetics of Emergence: Affect and History in Postwar Experimental Poetry
Benjamin Lee University of Iowa Press, 2020 Experimental poetry responded… Read more: Poetics of Emergence: Affect and History in Postwar Experimental Poetry - Interaction, Language Use, and Second Language Teaching
Stanton B. Garner, Jr. Routledge Press, 2020 This book presents… Read more: Interaction, Language Use, and Second Language Teaching - The Narrow House by Evelyn Scott with Critical Introduction
Mary E. Papke Wentworth Press, 2019 Evelyn Scott’s first novel,… Read more: The Narrow House by Evelyn Scott with Critical Introduction - Network of Bones: Conjuring Key West and the Florida Keys
Sean Morey Texas A & M University Press, 2019 Both… Read more: Network of Bones: Conjuring Key West and the Florida Keys - At Briarwood School for Girls
Michael Knight Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019 The award-winning author of… Read more: At Briarwood School for Girls - Revising the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Authorship from Manuscript to Print
Hilary Havens Cambridge University Press, 2019 Revisions form a natural… Read more: Revising the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Authorship from Manuscript to Print