Required Texts


 

 

The following is the only required book that must be purchased for the course.  (Other assigned readings are online.)

 

 

 

 

Methods for Studying Online Materials:

All other assigned readings are online.  To maximize your ability to learn from online materials please be sure you have a system for reading, storing, organizing, and annotating the materials. (Special Assignment:  Be ready by Class 3 to demonstrate in class that you have a working method of downloading, storing, and annotating online readings in the course.) While everyone has their own personal preferences and technical preferences, the following are some suggested options for handling online materials:

 

  1. Printing.  UCSB students have 100 pages of free printing at selected computer labs on-campus each quarter.  Computer Lab Info: https://it.ucsb.edu/services/labs/open-access-labs
  2. Annotating PDF's on a laptop or desktop computer.  Some of the online readings in the course are Adobe Acrobat "PDF" files.  An excellent way to read PDF's is to use the highlighting, commenting, bookmarking, and other annotation features in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program (or another PDF reader program) to mark up documents as you study them, then save your annotated copy of the document locally or in a "cloud" service like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc..  The latest version of the Acrobat Reader program may be downloaded here.  (Handy guide to annotating and commenting using Acrobat Reader).
  3. Annotating PDF's on a tablet computer.  If you own a tablet computer such as an iPad, download an app like Adobe Reader, iAnnotate, PDF Reader, PDF Expert, or another PDF-capable documents reader that will allow you to annotate documents as your read.  Many of these apps also synchronize with cloud storage services such as Dropbox so that you can keep your annotated documents in a central location accessible to both your tablet and your laptop or other computer.
  4. Converting Web pages into PDF's. For assigned readings that are Web pages (HTML pages), you can download extensions for your browser such as Save as PDF and Web 2 PDF that will convert most Web pages to PDF files that you can save.  (The exceptions are password-protected Web pages or some pages that for a variety of reasons do not convert well into PDF's.)  You can also use an online convert-to-PDF service like PdfCrowd.
  5. Annotating Web pages without turning them into PDF's. A variety of programs and browser plug-ins exist that allow you to highlight, draw, comment, and otherwise annotate Web sites and retain the marked-up copy of the page.  Some of these programs are described here.
  6. Storing and Organizing Your Annotated Readings. You should have a location on your computer or in a cloud service such as Dropbox where you store in organized fashion the materials from the Internet that you have downloaded and annotated.  For example, create a single folder where you store your readings under file names such as: "McGann, Jerome (2002), Literary Scholarship in the Digital Age.pdf"