Event Title
Session A Lightning Talks - Undergraduate Teaching: Reading Primary Resources: Building Context for Literary Interpretation
Location
Library Classroom
Start Date
18-3-2016 1:00 PM
End Date
18-3-2016 2:00 PM
Description
Primary resources are integral to literary research, most often taking the form of original texts and manuscripts that are analyzed and interpreted by scholars; however, incorporating a wider variety of primary resources in the classroom introduces students to important information about the historical and cultural context of the work in question, extending and enriching their analysis. This brief talk will provide an example of a hands-on learning activity using primary resources, in both print and digital formats, for upper division students in English Studies at the University of Puget Sound.
In a unique library session, students examined a range of primary documents, including letters, legal documents, newspaper articles, and speeches focused on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919) to establish the historical and cultural framework for E.M. Forster’s novel Passage to India. As students confronted conflicts and gaps in the documents, they also developed skills to participate in the evaluative and interpretive practice of context building. To successfully complete the session, students came together to share their interpretations of the documents, discussing the context in which Forster’s novel first appeared and the shifting debate of British sovereignty in India. Through the exploration of these artifacts and records, students learned how to think creatively and critically, to acknowledge ambiguity, to reason, and to ask questions – all core components of information literacy that ultimately enrich their analysis and interpretation of a text.
Session A Lightning Talks - Undergraduate Teaching: Reading Primary Resources: Building Context for Literary Interpretation
Library Classroom
Primary resources are integral to literary research, most often taking the form of original texts and manuscripts that are analyzed and interpreted by scholars; however, incorporating a wider variety of primary resources in the classroom introduces students to important information about the historical and cultural context of the work in question, extending and enriching their analysis. This brief talk will provide an example of a hands-on learning activity using primary resources, in both print and digital formats, for upper division students in English Studies at the University of Puget Sound.
In a unique library session, students examined a range of primary documents, including letters, legal documents, newspaper articles, and speeches focused on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919) to establish the historical and cultural framework for E.M. Forster’s novel Passage to India. As students confronted conflicts and gaps in the documents, they also developed skills to participate in the evaluative and interpretive practice of context building. To successfully complete the session, students came together to share their interpretations of the documents, discussing the context in which Forster’s novel first appeared and the shifting debate of British sovereignty in India. Through the exploration of these artifacts and records, students learned how to think creatively and critically, to acknowledge ambiguity, to reason, and to ask questions – all core components of information literacy that ultimately enrich their analysis and interpretation of a text.