This course introduces students to some of the key methods currently shaping 21st-century literary studies. The course introduces scholarship, debates, methods, and professional trends in the field of literary studies, considering questions of theory and interdisciplinary application. It is designed to train students in the methods that they will use to conduct literary research. The course interrogates the changing role of the author and reader, genre, form, and structure in light of the major cultural changes of the 21st century. In doing so, it builds on the core skills students have learned in previous and current modules, particularly in relation to close reading, intellectual history, and the cultural context of literary texts, to encourage students to develop a more sophisticated critical language with which to engage with contemporary critical thinking.