CORE 112: Context, or the Lives of Texts

Activity: Putting Texts in Context

1. Choose a text from the syllabus that was published at least two years ago.
2. Make a copy of the Google doc linked below and edit it based on the text you're using.
3. Give an overview of how to search using year of publication limits, and how to search for an author or title as a subject. (This exercise works best with the libraries' main Search, because it asks for different types of sources.)
4. Have students break into groups and complete the questions on the Google doc below.
5. Use their answers to discuss the cycle of scholarly information, including how different trends in scholarship have treated the same text, the length of time it takes to publish different sources, and the different purposes that books, scholarly articles, and reviews serve.
6. Discuss the challenges students may have if they are writing about a recently-published text, and strategies (like expanding to author or genre) they might employ.

This activity (a Google form) could be used in class or as homework, assigned to individual students or to small groups. Choose a text from the syllabus that students have already read.

Make a copy of the template below - "Tracing a Scholarly Conversation - CORE112."

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