Best online masters programs in Literature

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today. This short literature course, based on the first half of the Masterpieces of World Literature edX MOOC, examines how civilizations and cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how that literature has continued to contribute to our understanding of those civilizations and cultures today. Tracing developments in language, writing, and literary genre, this course also travels in time, from legendary accounts of ancient kings to histories of medieval courts and early-modern exploration. The Birth of Literature (The Epic of Gilgamesh).

Literature Online (LION) is a collection of over 350,000 works of English-language literature, including 343,000 works of poetry, 5000 dramatic works, and 2000 prose works. All works are re-keyed from first editions or scholarly editions to ensure accuracy, and full publication and pagination details of the print originals are included. The Criticism section includes articles from over 400 literature journals and indexing from Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL). The Author Pages section includes pages for over 6000 authors.

This course provides doctoral students with advanced research skills and strategies for conducting a literature review. A literature review is a comprehensive investigation of previous research and scholarly articles on a topic. Beginning with a theory that serves to frame, or orient, the study, Chapter Two continues with a comprehensive review of the literature that addresses sufficient directly and indirectly related bodies of literature to show the reader that the researcher has a complete understanding of the topic. By conducting a thorough review, the researcher identifies any gaps in the literature and, therefore, a need for a study.