York Notes/Spark Notes/Shmoop- What do you think?

[kelby_lake]

Do you think they are a good idea but that students over-rely on them? Or do you think they just encourage cheating and laziness?

[JuniperWoolf]

So many people in my English classes have relied on Spark Notes, and they also claim that they don't like to read. I don't get it, why are they there? It's not exactly the easiest way to get an arts credit, and a lot of these people are friggin' English majors. I don't understand why people major in English if they don't seriously, seriously love it, it's not like literature is a big money maker. These kids should go to a career college or something, their prospects would be better than doing meh in university for four years in a major they don't like, and I wouldn't have to be surrounded by the kind of people who think "well, I did best in English in highschool, I guess that's what I'll major in. Great idea!" Passionless vegetable-people, I tell ya. Stupid people exist, and a lot of them are taking university English classes.

Sorry if I sound like a snob, that rant has been building up for a while.

Oh also, I think Spark Notes misses major themes and such to expose Spark Notes reliant students.

[kelby_lake]

I know people who boast about not actually having read the book.

As for Spark Notes/York Notes, I find the summaries very helpful (although even then they miss out stuff or skim over bits) as a sort of reminder. For example, does anyone remember what happens in every single chapter of Middlemarch? I also use them to remind myself of the minor characters.

I think over-reliance on them is problematic when it gets to university level, as the way the questions are phrased indicate a complex and in-depth discussion that relies on much more than simply knowing the events in the book.

[PeterL]

I have never used those note things. I looked at one once, and it was less than useless, but I like to read. I think that the world would be a better place if those notes did not exist.

[chrisvia]

Just like anything else in the world, there are people who enjoy studying literature and those who don't. These notes give the former something to scoff at and the latter a shortcut so they can focus their attention on the things they care about.

[Charles Darnay]

SparkNotes &c. have their uses - but are a very good tool for the lazy as well. However, I cannot top Juniper's rant (which I agree with) and will force my own personal biases aside and present the uses:

1. A quick reference: hypothetical me is writing an essay on a large or dense book (let's say, Clarissa). There's a particular part I am thinking about that I need to reference, but I forgot to take note of it while reading (not having the foresight to know that I would need it). Instead of combing through 1500 pages, you use SparkNotes summaries to quickly locate what happens in which chapter - then find the passage in the book. Useful.

2. The Ulysses factor. Look, sometimes the best of us literary snob need some help identifying the obscure Gaelic references that fill Joyce's books. SparkNotes is someone to bounce ideas off of. You don't always have agree or take what it says on face value (something I always tell my students) but it usually knows what it's talking about.

Related to that.....

3. A place to start, or my battle with No Fear Shakespeare. I was for the longest time vehemently against NFS. I still think many of its interpretations are wrong. However, for students who are terrified of Shakespeare and don't realize that his language is as difficult as they think it is, but trick themselves into not understanding the most simple phrases - for these students it is a great starting point. NFS gives people access to the stories and characters of the Bard, albeit, stripping away the best part. However, if you can get students to see it as a starting point - to use NFS to find their way and transition into the original text - then there is a great implementation of Vygotsky educational theory.

So yes....stupid people are stupid and lazy people will always find a shortcut (even if that requires more work than the work....they are usually stupid) - but you can only blame the people, not the tools in this case.

[OrphanPip]

Charles makes some good points about how Spark Notes can be used effectively. Though I often find the interpretations in Spark Notes to be pretty shaky, and even worse are some of the sites out there on the web set up to explain certain major works.

I'm TAing the department Shakespeare class for non-English majors this Fall and I fear I'm going to encounter quite a few Spark Notes rehashes.

[Bustrofedon]

Well, when I was a lot younger it was Cliff's Notes. Nobody read them for extra insight. They were read to pass a test or steal a theme for a paper. It was instead of the book. I doubt its any different now.

[JBI]

The analysis found in any of those notes are pitiful. They are not creative enough to get anyone writing a good paper, and merely will just allow some mediocre students to get the gist and pass their course. The problem is people still consider undergraduate students somewhat important, but in the scheme of proper research and education, graduate school is, and should be where the children are separated from the grownups, and the educated are separated from the lazy.

[kelby_lake]

The analysis is geared towards people who have no clue what the book is about or who just want a reminder. Shmoop is quite an engaging site in that it has a more chatty tone which gets you to think about themes rather than just telling them.

I don't think the resources are bad- they're quite useful in a way and get the student to think about the novel critically, as some students will be swept away/bored to death by said novel and don't know how you would write a critical essay. Reading critical essays is good in a sense but they're very subjective and tend to be quite esoteric. Sometimes they can be useful- for example, I'm looking at Christ imagery/parallels in Jude the Obscure- or offer an unusual perspective- but they tend to skew the importance of their perspective. For example, I wouldn't take Jude the Obscure as an allegory for the story of Jesus, but the essays that discuss the parallels tend to push this interpretation.

[kelby_lake]

Well, when I was a lot younger it was Cliff's Notes. Nobody read them for extra insight. They were read to pass a test or steal a theme for a paper. It was instead of the book. I doubt its any different now.

These type of students should beware as in many of the Cliff's Notes type books, there are typos and inaccuracies. If I was writing one, I'd be really tempted to include something outrageous there and see how many students fall for it. For example, Moby Dick? The whale is really a symbol for aliens but due to the alien conspiracies in 19th century America, Melville had to use the image of a whale.

[hannah_arendt]

So many people in my English classes have relied on Spark Notes, and they also claim that they don't like to read. I don't get it, why are they there? It's not exactly the easiest way to get an arts credit, and a lot of these people are friggin' English majors. I don't understand why people major in English if they don't seriously, seriously love it, it's not like literature is a big money maker. These kids should go to a career college or something, their prospects would be better than doing meh in university for four years in a major they don't like, and I wouldn't have to be surrounded by the kind of people who think "well, I did best in English in highschool, I guess that's what I'll major in. Great idea!" Passionless vegetable-people, I tell ya. Stupid people exist, and a lot of them are taking university English classes.

Sorry if I sound like a snob, that rant has been building up for a while.

Oh also, I think Spark Notes misses major themes and such to expose Spark Notes reliant students.

In Poland teachers have the same problem. Students don`t want to read and prefer reading introductions or publications like Spark Notes. I think it is sometimes good to read an analysis but the most important should be a base, literary text.

[Volya]

I don't see why so many people are so against these websites. Yes, they are usually used by people looking for a easier route to a pass, rather than having to actually read the book, but they can actually be used as a revision tool when studying.

[Charles Darnay]

^As long as you understand that the analyses are just interpretations and not the ultimate truth, yes.

[kelby_lake]

^As long as you understand that the analyses are just interpretations and not the ultimate truth, yes.

Yep, the intepretations themselves are simplistic but this is fine for the minor characters.