Tutorama: Week Two: Difficult Readings - Part 1

Introduction
Yes, as in 101, the texts we read in 201 are often difficult to understand. But one of the differences between the reading in 101 and the reading in 201 is that the material you read in 201 will help you think about the subject under analysis in the class. The texts you read in, for instance, The Family all help you think about what The Family is, what shapes it takes and what it means to people of diverse ethnicities, sexual orientations and socio-economic backgrounds and what it means at different times in history. This is really helpful because although the reading you do for 201 may be written by people who have studied various fields or "disciplines"--the curricula are often "interdisciplinary"--it is still about a particular subject, your subject, the subject you've chosen to study in 201. So remember this and use it by thinking, "How is this text supposed to help me think about the subject under analysis?" This may ground you because thinking about the context may help you understand the essay better and how it fits into the in-class discussions about the subject and the reading you may have already done in the class.

However, readings in 201 tend to be more complicated than the readings for 101. They are more theoretical, using more complicated "key words" and phrases, with definitions that are often more complex and abstract. These articles often don't provide a narrative example to help the reader place the terms and meanings in an understandable context; the reader often has to provide the narrative him/herself. While these articles can be much more useful as "framing" texts because they are "portable," you can apply them to a number of different situations and tease out their implications and use them for a number of different subjects. They are also more difficult; the terms used in them and their definitions tend to require "unpacking," word by word, idea by idea.

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