When Taking English, Read a Book

Depending on the school and the course students enroll in, they may be assigned reading that can be done completely online or that will require the purchase or use of a regular, traditional schoolbook. Most English classes require the use of an anthology or other type of textbook. With English, teachers have a lot of latitude in what type of required reading material students should prepare for class with. Depending on the course, the teacher might assign several novels, a handbook for writing, a slim book of poetry, or an anthology covering centuries. It is also quite possible that all of the above might be required for the same class.

High school English courses will often utilize anthologies that conform to a state's specific standards of learning, whereas a college professor may have the freedom to select a work that suits personal preferences or material needs. An anthology is a collection of work that usually follows some type of organizational theme. For example, an American literature class would use an anthology which collects a variety of works -- poetry, journal entries, excerpts from novels, short stories, or plays -- written by American authors. The collection might be divided by period or region, such as Southern Reconstruction, or it may be organized according to theme, such as civil rights movements or freedom narratives. These schoolbooks are edited and can be reused time and time again. Other assigned reading materials might include a novel or an instructional or formatting handbook.

Despite the advent of online reading materials, it is nearly impossible to take an English course without utilizing a text. While courses in other subjects can make do without a lot of required reading, books are vital to learning in and successfully passing a writing or literature class. For this reason, opting not to buy a book could undermine students' abilities to achieve.

Because savvy students are always looking for a good deal in everything they buy, used books are a popular bargain. There is also a variety of ways to re-sell or schoolbooks through a book buyback program. In fact, college English textbooks are actually excellent books for renting or buying used. Because the works included in most anthologies are considered to be classics and generally agreed on as canonical, a collection of works may not change as much as other, more traditional types of textbooks. Students looking to rent books can easily do so with required English reading material because of their easy re-usability.

So although it is becoming easier to buy books that can be read online or with the use of an electronic reader, students will still benefit from buying or renting a schoolbook for the English class they are going to take. And because English textbooks are easily re-used, bookstores buy them back at very high rates, generally helping students save money.

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