Mary Isbell’s Profile

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing (Fall 2025, Section 02H)

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing (Fall 2025, Section 02H)

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing (Fall 2025, Section 13)

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing (Fall 2025, Section 13)

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing

Syllabus and assignments for students enrolled in Dr. Isbell’s Seminar in Academic Inquiry and Writing

Why did that movie make you cry? Why does that novel make you feel like you can do anything? Why do you always feel better after listening to that stand-up comic? How is it possible that you fell in love with that fictional character? This class will explore how story impacts our brains by taking an unconventional approach to the study of literature and psychology. We will approach stories as tools that do work on our brains and design hypothetical experiments that may challenge the limitations of current technology. Students will select new stories to read, chronicle their own unique reading experiences, research how the emotions they experience have been studied, and design new experiments to study the complex and fascinating relationship between story and the brain.

Why did that movie make you cry? Why does that novel make you feel like you can do anything? Why do you always feel better after listening to that stand-up comic? How is it possible that you fell in love with that fictional character? This class will explore how story impacts our brains by taking an unconventional approach to the study of literature and psychology. We will approach stories as tools that do work on our brains and design hypothetical experiments that may challenge the limitations of current technology. Students will select new stories to read, chronicle their own unique reading experiences, research how the emotions they experience have been studied, and design new experiments to study the complex and fascinating relationship between story and the brain.

How do we decide what creative works to engage with? How did people discover what they loved before the Internet? How often is an algorithm influencing what we choose to watch, read, or listen to? What is the relationship between recommender systems and human reviewers? Are social media influencers critics?

How do we decide what creative works to engage with? How did people discover what they loved before the Internet? How often is an algorithm influencing what we choose to watch, read, or listen to? What is the relationship between recommender systems and human reviewers? Are social media influencers critics?