Articles

“If You Want to Pass, Follow Me” – The Machine Has Already Done the Reading!
Papers and Assignments in the Age of AIAcross German universities, humanities departments are wrestling with how to handle AI in academic work. Some voices call for strict limits, hoping to preserve traditional methods and keep AI out of student writing altogether. Others argue for actively teaching AI literacy so students can use new tools to think and write more effectively. A few go further, suggesting that AI has changed scholarly practice so profoundly that the classic term paper may no longer be a meaningful way to assess learning. Read on…

Learning to Read (And Remember What You Have Read) – Seven Foolproof Strategies
Of course, you already know how to read, no matter what your preferred reading material is. If you remember what you read this semester when you take your final exams, in two or three years’ time, is, however, an entirely different matter. A good memory for details is not genetic or a matter of talent. The following strategies will help you remember more easily what you have read. Read on…

Free E-Book or Expensive Edition – Why You Should Even Bother
It is tempting to download a file of a classical novel, say, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, on your e-reader, phone, or tablet for free when a critical edition by a good publisher is almost twenty euros. An e-text is searchable, easy to access. When you want to work with the text intensely, however, an annotated edition with an authoritative text may be well worth the investment. This article will tell you how to enjoy the best of both worlds. Read on…

Writing a Term Paper: How to Find a Topic and Formulate a Thesis
Writing a paper is not about your feelings about the text. Neither are you to demonstrate your reading skills by concocting a summary from the books and articles written by others. A paper is supposed to teach you the tools of the trade of academic work – this can be a daunting task. Where do you start? Read on…

Useful Links for Students of English and American Studies

A list of links ranging from research to teaching, but also covering the basics of student life – deadlines, exam regulations, grants.
Image taken from page 143 of ‘When Life is Young: a collection of verse for boys and girls’;
British Library, public domain

British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/content/free_access

BBC 6-minute-English – short audio snippets on various topics you can use for reading comprehension in your teaching: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english

The British Library on Flickr – over a million royalty-free images to use, for example, in your presentations:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/

The Online Books Page : http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) – Literature in English:
http://vos.ucsb.edu/ , http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3

Book-a-minute: Too many books on your list, yet again? This is the short version of the big classics. You have been warned…
http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/