Here are the questions people said they'd like to have explored and the people who are going to spend the next week exploring them (list updated as of Sunday afternoon):

• 9 (#31) Is there a difference between the practice of male writers and the female writers during the 18th century? Was their subject matter different?
• Georgia Brown
• Matt Pain
• Colin Belyea
• 6 (#30) Why was Alexander Pope one of the most famous writers of the time?
• Jenna Hamilton
• Kirsten Graham
• 5 (#32) What prompted the switch from the 17th century poetry of love and pastoral poems to the 18th century satirical writings?
• Michael Taggart
• 4 (#28) Who is agreed to be the most acclaimed satirical writer of the 18th century and why?
• Nicole Demerchant
• 4 (# 7) What do academics / critics agree are common themes in 18th century literature written by women?
• Elizabeth Harrison
• Maisa Leibovitz
• 4 (# 6) How did people access literature? and based on the literacy rate of the period and access to published works, how does the literature of the period represent the culture?
• Andréa Peters
• 4 (# 1) What were some motives for the use of satire?
• Kale Robinson
• 3 (#29) How did scientific advancements affect faith and religion?
• Paige Guptill
• 3 (#27) Where do critics feel the gothic novel falls within the general history of English literature?
• 3 (#26) What specifically is the "graveyard poet"?
• Tom Creagh
• 3 (#20) What role did drug culture play in 18th century literature?
• Jeremy Fowler
• Ianic Roy Richard
• Amber Carroll
• 3 (# 9) How did Swift's religious views influence or become prevalent in his works?
• Sarah Reicker
• 2 (# 3) Is there a correlation between increased literacy rates and new types of literature (i.e. the novel)?
• 2 (#22) What were some major scientific breakthroughs of the period? Did they affect the themes of literature?
• 2 (#17) What were the early projects of the Royal Society of London, and what where the impacts of the project afterwards? Are there any lasting impacts today?
• 2 (#14) How did authorities respond to Newton's combining of theology and science in his work? Was he threatened in similar ways to Galileo? Or were his ideas well received?
• 2 (#11) Who are critics / academics / writers who address the topic of censorship and what do they say?
• Mitchell Walsh
• 2 (#19) What do scholars say about eighteenth century philosophy?

Your aim is to spend the time you'd budget for this course between now and Monday finding a useful answer to your question, writing it up as a draft report and posting it on the Questions for Exploration forum.  But, just as important as your report, and more immediate, is to keep a specific, step by step diary of everything you do as you look for an answer to your question. And by everything, I mean everything: if you search for something on line, keep a record of your exact search terms and where you used them; if you looked in a book, note exactly what book it is, how you found it, and what you did as you looked; if you went to the library and asked a research librarian for advice, transcribe as closely as you can what she said, and did; and so forth.

If you were not in class, email me as soon as possible with your preferences (remembering that the best choices will be those fewer people are working on and more people are interested in the answers to).

If you have second thoughts -- if you start on a question and think it looks like a really bad idea -- email me with an alternative suggestion. (But do keep track of everything you did to explore the first one.)

Post your draft report on the Draft reports on second set of short questions forum before class time Monday, and bring your research diary to class with you.