Hello Students!

This site will grow and develop during the semester, just like you will grow and develop as critical readers and writers.

As we get to know each other, I believe that you will find that I am very fond of reading, and I am interested in new digital technologies. In particular, I like to examine digital tools that can help students work more efficiently. One such digital tool is Wikipedia. Hardly a week goes by when a friend, or a parent of a college student, or a colleague rips into Wikipedia (a new digital research tool) for its flimsy research, its weak documentation, its biased approach.

Well, I’ve always thought that Wikipedia was a wonderful place to begin research (not as a place to end research!). And I feel vindicated that the esteemed historian William Cronon has given Wikipedia the thumbs up:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/one-of-the-nations-top-historians-decides-its-time-to-embrace-wikipedia/252576/

Try this exercise: look up the terms “immigration” and “Brooklyn Bridge” on Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia and tell me which one is more complete with more footnotes and more resources.

Next, here is a small photo of the textbook that we will use this semester:

9780757590177Please use the ISBN to get the correct version of this book (third edition, published in 2014).

ISBN: 978-1-4652-2831-4

 

 

If you have any questions, please let me know via email:

sscanlan@citytech.cuny.edu

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan