I’ve had trouble getting some of my students (in a 200-level political science course on “Democracy & Democratization”) to engage in the semester readings. So finally I decided put together a handout to walk them through a single article.
They mostly read articles (no real “textbook,” except for Alan Siaroff’s Comparing Political Regimes as a “guidebook”), about 4-5 per week. The articles are primarily drawn from Journal of Democracy, Current History, and similar journals (more “profound” than Atlantic but not nearly as technical as APSR). They are specifically less “technical” (JoD & Current History are sold at Barnes & Nobles across the country). The articles are a mix of case studies (currently) and thematic (earlier in the semester) in focus.
How to read: worksheet
How to read: annotated article
I’m linking the original article (and my margin notes) as well as the handout. I hope it’s useful to someone. I modeled it after the classic “How to Read in College” example by Timothy Burke (a history professor at Swarthmore).
Looks very good. But how do get students to read your worksheet? (Smiley face)
Actually, I didn't get them to read it at all. We have "smart rooms" at Dickinson. I projected the article on the wall, handed out copies of the worksheet to all of them, and then read through it line by line as they followed along. When appropriate, I pointed to specific parts of the annotated article.
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