During the first class we had I was shocked upon hearing that we would have to complete a reading analysis each week. I felt myself begin to dread the weekly assignments, but looking back at the weekly analysis now, at the end of the semester, I realize how incredibly useful they were to me. I did not even end up truly dreading them, especially as the semester went on and I became faster and more efficient doing them. In a way I wish all my classes did this, for three reasons:

  1. It keeps you honest. I like to tell myself at the beginning of each semester that I will stay on top of things and keep up with all my readings. Unfortunately, this is a promise I have yet to keep. As work piles up and life get busy with part-time jobs, family and friends, other commitments, the gym, events, and so on, I find it becomes easier and easier to just let yourself skimp on course readings. However, this is not something you can do when you have a reading analysis due each week. These assignments kept me on top of my readings, which was incredibly helpful. I understood what we talked about in class more, and was able to use what I read in my own research as well. In all honesty the readings did not take very long, I just simply never would have done them without the incentive of completing my reading analysis.
  2. It improved my ability to analyze documents and sources. Having the repetitive job of reading, dissecting, and criticizing readings each week had me vastly improving at analyzing historical sources.  Never before had I paid such close attention to who wrote t, when it was written, and why; nor did I realize what profound affects these factors would have on the source. In all, doing these weekly analysis made me a better historian and researcher.
  3. It was enjoyable. I will admit it, I actually almost had fun doing these analysis, something I never thought could happen. I found the readings each week incredibly interesting, and when they related to my research project, I could not help but be a little excited. Combined with our in-class material, the weekly readings, and analyzing them, expanded my knowledge and appreciation on the subject matter more than I could have ever hoped for. It allowed me to gain a better grasp on the material. There was also the added bonus of me feeling good about myself, because I was not floundering around trying to play catch up throughout the semester trying to learn eight weeks of material in a day, as the result of blowing off all my readings.

Overall, I truly appreciated what doing these weekly reading analysis did for me. They kept me on top of my course load, and both tested and improved my academic abilities. If every course I had did this, I  think I might just stand a chance on following through on my semester promise of doing all my readings.

Image: Arctic Lupine, taken by Katryna Barone