A Brief Overview of Research and Sources in English

Research in the field of English is varied. Within George Mason University’s own faculty, professors are doing research on the connection between Shakespeare’s characters and the times they were written in. Another professor is doing research on how the brain works and how learning takes place. On Google Scholar, I found hits for research done on the presence of women and Islam in early modern English literature (Women and Islam in Early Modern English Literature by Bernadette Andrea http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fzrjqgThl-wC&oi=fnd&pg=PA12&dq=english+literature+trends&ots=T19-J_J12H&sig=HCrlTikf5uw1g2oO4Os05xcDL54).

For my particular concentration of Nonfiction Writing and Rhetoric, there is research being done on the difference of rhetoric in different presidents. I could not find any current trends or theories specifically about copy editing, but I have read the advice from Bill Walsh, a copy editor for the Washington Post. He has some interesting advice such as, “If I catch an error somebody else missed, that doesn't mean I would have caught all the errors that person caught” (http://www.theslot.com/).

According to U.S. News & World Report, the best schools for English in 2009 were University of California—Berkeley, Stanford University, Yale University, Columbia University, Harvard University, and University of Pennsylvania (http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-english-schools/rankings/).

The National Council of Teachers of English is an important association to English majors who wish to become teachers. At my job with the NVWP, we have several publications published by NCTE that are used in the training of our Teacher Consultants. The American Copy Editors Society is an important association for copy editors. They provide training and aim to help the rise of copy editors in different “different journalistic endeavors” (http://www.copydesk.org/).

The best publication available to writers is the Writers’ Market. It is an annual publication that contains information on a myriad of publications, what they publish and information on how to submit works. It is a wonderful resource that can lead writers to explore the large world of publications available to them.