To use, or not to use study guides?

[mtwtfss]

There's a bit of a debate at school between teachers on whether or not to use study guides when studying texts, specifically, Hard Times.

On one side the teacher states that the rest of the state will be using these 'crap' study guides, and all using the same ideas, concepts etc.
He says not to look at them at all, and if you are going to only do it in absolutely final preparation.
'Use your own ideas, not someone else's'

The other teacher says to use study guides e.g. Neap, Sparknotes etc. as much as you can, and even to read them before you read the text so then you won't be confused when your actually reading said text, therefore most likely reading it faster, and less amount of times.

Thoughts?

[dekoyl]

I wouldn't read the study guide before I actually read the text because I think my mind will be less open to new ideas. Conversely study guides may help you form your own ideas and approach to the text.
So yes, I'd advocate study guides (well that's my plan anyway.)

Oh yeah and buy shinjitsuzx's crazy annotated Hard Times book if you want. It's awesome.

[humph]

Read the text.

Read a study guide.

Read the text again.

Go into more depth than the study guide has.


The study guides are good for getting an overview of the main themes etc. in a novel, but the best essays will have much more depth than any of the points raised in a study guide.

[shinny]

Read them. There aren't THAT many different view points to a single text so I don't get the hype over the necessity of having to have a personal idea. Usually I try to have one 'strange' idea of my own, but the bulk of your essay will just be regurgitating the obvious ideas, because even though the rest of the state has them, they're the ones which are easiest to support and gain marks for. Reading study guides will help you get together these 'obvious' ideas and the evidence for them. There's no point trying to be all cool and special having an essay entirely of innovative and whack ideas if you can't support them or express them clearly enough, and that'll often be the case if you try. And since you're doing Hard Times, if you're interested in some study guides, I got a package here. Also, for something like Hard Times, I'd definitely advocate study guides. It's quite a hard book to get through (well for me, but I'm not the reading type) and it confused the shit through me especially when Stephen Blackpool awlus toks like t'is, so yeh, study guides really help to get an understanding since often after a chapter, I wouldn't actually have understood what had actually happened.

[humph]

Read them. There aren't THAT many different view points to a single text so I don't get the hype over the necessity of having to have a personal idea. Usually I try to have one 'strange' idea of my own, but the bulk of your essay will just be regurgitating the obvious ideas, because even though the rest of the state has them, they're the ones which are easiest to support and gain marks for. Reading study guides will help you get together these 'obvious' ideas and the evidence for them. There's no point trying to be all cool and special having an essay entirely of innovative and whack ideas if you can't support them or express them clearly enough, and that'll often be the case if you try. And since you're doing Hard Times, if you're interested in some study guides, I got a package here. Also, for something like Hard Times, I'd definitely advocate study guides. It's quite a hard book to get through (well for me, but I'm not the reading type) and it confused the shit through me especially when Stephen Blackpool awlus toks like t'is, so yeh, study guides really help to get an understanding since often after a chapter, I wouldn't actually have understood what had actually happened.

It's more that the points they make aren't usually that detailed. They'll mention the main themes but often they won't bother showing much of the relationship between different themes, and they don't give nearly as much text evidence as you'd actually want to have on hand in an essay.

[shinny]

I didn't mean as in copy directly out of them since I thought it'd be quite a natural process to add just whatever is in your head from your own study into what you're writing and yeh, it does surprise me that the VCE ones don't actually make what evidence supports what point very explicit, but rather just ramble on generally about the themes and lack evidence. Pairing VCE guides with an electronic copy of the text and the search function often worked well for me in finding key passages which I could take a few quotes from, since quotes tend to be grouped together. I also got a study guide which is a university level study guide, and I found that one particularly useful; especially since it uses appropriate lit language to describe the techniques Dickens uses such as 'metonyms' (never knew about these previously) and such, and has passage analyses and such. Another source of info I'd recommend are critiques/critical readings and such. These are a bit harder to find, but they're actually better than study guides, and these will actually give you those unique view points people are looking for. However, these will most likely only be available for classics like Dickens and Shakespeare. But overall, I'd say you might as well read up on them. Obviously they don't have everything you need in them, but reading them will help you make the links yourself and clear up any misunderstandings. Just remember to put in work yourself and you'll be fine.

[xox.happy1.xox]

Sometimes, I don't think they're worth the money you buy them with... Just read and read as many times as you can (unless you're not the reading type, then get help off your teacher, who probably knows the book and can give you more in breadth contentions than study guides can).

EDIT: That's actually a good point, Shinjitsuzx...

[mtwtfss]

I didn't mean as in copy directly out of them since I thought it'd be quite a natural process to add just whatever is in your head from your own study into what you're writing and yeh, it does surprise me that the VCE ones don't actually make what evidence supports what point very explicit, but rather just ramble on generally about the themes and lack evidence. Pairing VCE guides with an electronic copy of the text and the search function often worked well for me in finding key passages which I could take a few quotes from, since quotes tend to be grouped together. I also got a study guide which is a university level study guide, and I found that one particularly useful; especially since it uses appropriate lit language to describe the techniques Dickens uses such as 'metonyms' (never knew about these previously) and such, and has passage analyses and such. Another source of info I'd recommend are critiques/critical readings and such. These are a bit harder to find, but they're actually better than study guides, and these will actually give you those unique view points people are looking for. However, these will most likely only be available for classics like Dickens and Shakespeare. But overall, I'd say you might as well read up on them. Obviously they don't have everything you need in them, but reading them will help you make the links yourself and clear up any misunderstandings. Just remember to put in work yourself and you'll be fine.

These critiques are in your/my school library yes? Put together by a certain teacher.
This teacher said to make copies of many of these, as they're very good, apparently.

P.S. come to school to deliver the HT books yeah?

[shinny]

PM me and I'll arrange it. And yeh, they're in the library (assuming you go to MHS o.O)