Table Of Contents
The subject reading list
This is the students' starting point – their first encounter with the intellectual content of the course.
Content and format
At its simplest the reading list can be formatted as a straight-forward reference list. This is an opportunity to model the referencing style that you want your students to use – not that the students will immediately appreciate this (unless you bring it to their attention – see below), but it's a resource you can refer them to when the need arises.
Beyond providing the basic bibliographic details, however, an annotated reading list can provide a range of additional information. Here is a brief checklist:
For each item on your list, will it be clear to the student –
- Whether to read it?
- Who should read it?
- When to read it?
- Why read it?
- How to read it?
- What to read in it?
- Where to find it?
Making use of the reading list
In many courses not a lot happens in the first week. In particular, it is not unusual for tutorials not to be held in Week 1.
If no content teaching has been planned for this time, why not take that opportunity for some diagnostic and practical work in some of the learning skills your course will require of your students?
Here are three ways you could use your subject reading list as material for tutorial exercises in Week 1 –
- Diagnostic practice in reading a reference list...
- Drawing up a timeline...
- Locating readings ...
Who should read it:
Is this a reading which is obligatory/recommended for a particular subset of the class? — "Of particular interest to students who …"
When to read it:
Two sorts of ordering may be relevant:
- Relative: "Read this before reading … "; "Do not read this until you have read …"
- Absolute: "Read this before Week 3 "; "Read this for the Week 5 tutorial"; "Essential reading for Assignment 1"
Why read it:
- Are there particular concepts or approaches that this text illustrates or exemplifies?
- What parts of the course does it relate to?
- How does it relate to other items in the reading list?
How to read it:
You may want to recommend a particular approach to a reading – e.g., starting from the conclusions and working back; or to provide a list of comprehension questions or a concept map to guide the reading (what you want the student to get out of it); or, with a text that is particularly challenging because of length and/or complexity, to recommend starting early on this text, or reading it in collaboration with other students.
What to read in it:
You may wish to nominate particular sections of the text that students should definitely read, and/or sections which can be skipped, or skimmed rather than read in detail.
Where to find it:
Is this a text you expect the student to buy and have available at all times? If so, where is it, and how much does it cost? (Is it likely to be available second hand? If so, where?)
If not, do you want to give its Library (location and) call number (esp. for an introductory text that should be read very early on), or do you want to keep this for an in-class training exercise in using the Library catalogue online?
Practice in reading a reference list:
One way to get a sense of how well-versed your students are in the conventions of academic bibliography is to give them a list of 6-12 references; have them work in pairs or threes to find answers to questions like these:
- How many journal articles / books / edited books / conference papers / … can you find in this list?
- How many journal articles published in 1999 can you find?
- We often cite a reference using the writer's surname and the date of publication, like this: Norman (2003). What sort of publication is Norman (2003) in this list?
- Where was Bialystok (1997) published?
- How long (how many pages) is Trent (1978)?
- …
Drawing up a timeline:
A crucial problem for all students, and particularly for international students adjusting to the demands of academic reading in English, is time management. It could be very valuable for them to take them through the subject outline and the reading list together, and guide them through drawing up a timeline (a Gantt chart, perhaps?) that relates the subject readings to the sequence of lectures, tutorials and assignments.
In the process of this you may be able to texts which from past experience you know students have particular difficulties with. You may also pick up some useful information about how the timing of assignments, etc., in your subject coincides with the demands of other courses the students are doing.
Locating readings:
If you are teaching in a web-enabled classroom you could demonstrate for the students how to use the Library's online catalogue 
to locate hard-copy and electronic resources.
Alternatively, you can alert the students to resources that the Library provides to help them in this area. You may even be able to get a member of the Library staff to drop in to your class to do it for you.
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Whether to read it:
Is this a reading which is "essential for all students?" "Recommended, but not obligatory?" "Worth reading if you have time?"