The author discusses the shift from criticism-as-explanation to criticism-as-performance that has taken place in literary criticism over the past five decades, and the resultant surge in published offerings to what has become a diminishing audience. The question of supersaturation applies to the institutions that demand and reward humanities…

The third article in a series of excerpts from seminars sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution on knowledge collaboration focuses on the humanities and social sciences. Reasons for the relatively greater frequency of collaborative research in the natural sciences are examined, and examples of collaborative projects in the humanities and social…

Concern for the state of the humanities is a choice, not a necessity, for research administrators, but by fostering the humanities in any way, research administrators can nurture a vital tradition and a resource that contributes to the institution's basic purposes. (Author/MSE)

This paper argues that there is no other way to describe history, and particularly the personal life history of people, apart from in the form of a narrative. It also suggests that as history is not understandable, save in the form of a narrative, the narration as such "makes" history. Drawing on the findings of a research project on…

A humanist describes his reaction to instruction in research methodology, and specifically statistical measurement, from initial discomfort, through confusion, to reassessment and reinforcement of his own assumptions and instructional intentions. The experience in specifying outcomes helped enhance his intuition about teaching. (MSE)

Proceedings of a conference on independent research institutions and scholarly life in the 1980s, which was sponsored by the Institute for Research in History, are presented. Summaries of workshops and the general session transcript are presented along with an introductory essay. A working papers essay is also included to delineate the major areas…

National research policies are today driven by the concept of the "knowledge society", in which development is deemed to follow the application of new ideas. Australia, like other countries, has encouraged partnerships between the universities and industry. This essay examines how Australian scholars in the humanities have responded to…

The Independent Study in the Humanities Fellowship program for teachers of grades 9-12 has been sponsored since 1983 by the Council for Basic Education under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program awards $3,000 fellowships for summer study to outstanding teachers of English, foreign languages, history, and other…

The debate over the nature, purpose, and structure of the doctoral dissertation is examined, particularly as it relates to the humanities and social sciences. Issues discussed include supervision policies and practices, the advising relationship, the culture of research and collaboration, differences between disciplines, resolution of research…