Journal 1 Prompt: Textbook Critique
by Dr. H - January 25th, 2016
Reminder: make sure you’ve completed the Research Self-Assessment, posted on Blackboard.
For your first research journal entry for the semester, tackle a high school or college U.S. textbook of your choice. Study how (or whether!) it covers topics involving religion. Your study method is up to you: maybe focus on a single event or topic, or scan the entire book, or explore where religion appears in the index. Pay attention to both the presence/absence of religious material AND any interpretation or argument the text makes about religion’s role in American history.
Post it to your site by Wednesday, Jan 27th by the START of class and be ready to discuss your findings (with your textbook in hand) during class.
Guidelines:
Total word count: 600-700
Start your entry with a FULL Chicago-Style citation of the book, as if you’re adding it to a bibliography.
Discuss Author, Publisher, Edition – give some context, who/what/when – look these people up (in the book itself, online, or in a scholarly database)… who are they?
Critique / analyze your textbook’s coverage of religion. Use quotations (cited, of course, with relevant page numbers) to provide evidence for your critique. Discuss strengths, weaknesses, any obvious gaps or omissions.
This can be a narrow, targeted review of a clearly delineated section or chapter, i.e. it need not be a review of the whole book.
Offer the author some recommendations, and/or assess whether this book is likely to increase its students’ religious literacy.
Your tone should be similar to an academic book review & less like a personal response paper (if you’re unfamiliar with the genre, use your issue of Religion & American Culture as a model). Practice writing with your best “scholarly voice.”