This subject creates an opportunity for intensive reading on the candidate's research project. Lectures and seminars direct students to identify classic texts, watershed publications, leading scholars, and current debates in their chosen field of research. While expanding their knowledge of existing scholarship, they will become aware of the discursive structures and academic protocols that govern their discipline. What theoretical approaches are used? What does the field of research require of its scholars? What makes their work authoritative? What sources do they use? What questions guide their research? In what context? How has the discursive field changed over time? Such questions direct the formulation of a research project of current relevance.