Curating Inclusive Resources for a Book Review Assignment

Overview

Students choose a book or article to read and review from an extensive list of authors who represent a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives.

Why Use This?

An assignment that lets students choose which text they’d like to read is more engaging and gives them more agency in the course. Moreover, including texts by authors who have been historically underrepresented in academia presents students with perspectives they may not have encountered before and often makes students themselves feel more included in the classroom.

How Does It Work?

In this course, the instructor and instructional designer worked with a campus librarian to broaden the list of books and articles on the assignment topic to include underrepresented authors in the health sciences. Students were then asked to choose a text to read and review from this expanded list of titles.

Keep In Mind

• Keep the list of resources comprehensive but manageable. Be very intentional about which resources you include, and avoid giving your students too many to choose from.
• Connect the assignment to the real world—for example, tell students how a resource applies to their personal or professional lives or course of study.