traci's lists of ten

Traci's 26th List of Ten:
Ten Ways to Interrogate Cliffs Notes
Posted to ACW-L, WCenter, NCTE-Talk, and TEACH on 10/25/99.

I never intended to make a List of Ten about Cliffs Notes this evening. I'm sitting here trying to write a list on Red Ribbon Week. But my mind just couldn't help it. Don't you love it when you just have to write? When I got to the sixth question, I thought, "Geez. May as well make this a full ten and be done with it. The Red Ribbons can wait a few more minutes."

So what started it all? On NCTE-Talk, the following message appeared this evening:

>
>A general query to which I'd love to have a range
>of responses:
>
>How do you all handle kids' use of Cliffs Notes
>and other similar materials?
>
>Just wondering...
>
>Emily T. Rockefeller
>McDonogh School
>Owings Mills, Maryland
>erockefeller@mcdonogh.org
>

There have been a few answers, but here's the idea that came to me: What about making a study of the Cliffs Notes or Monarch Notes or MasterPlots? If you know that they're going to use them anyway, why not interrogate the Cliffs Notes as a text? The underlying point of the exercise is to talk about the limitations of Cliffs Notes. Maybe they'll begin to realize the problems with reading them instead of the book — in addition to is fine; it's instead of that's a problem.

Obviously the specifics in the questions that you ask will depend upon the text that you're reading and the features of the Cliffs Notes — not every edition of Cliffs Notes includes character sketches, for instance. You'll need to adapt the questions to work for you and your class. Additionally, the questions here are use language appropriate for fiction or drama. The questions would need revised slightly for Cliffs Notes on poetry (e.g., the Cliffs Notes on Leaves of Grass or on Emily Dickinson).

As an alternative, you could modify some of these questions a bit and use them with a video or movie version of a text, a condensed audio tape of a text, or even a cartoon version of a text.
  1. [PLOT SUMMARY] What differences do you notice between the summary in the Cliffs Notes and the events in the text itself? What's lost in the summary? How could it be improved?

  2. [THEMES AND SYMBOLS] How did the exploration of themes and symbols in the Cliffs Notes compare to what you actually saw in the text? Was the Cliffs Notes analysis believable? What things were left out in the explanations? How completely were the symbols dealt with? Were there themes and symbols that seemed significant but which were left out? If so, why do you think that they were skipped?

  3. [THEMES AND SYMBOLS] How did the exploration of themes and symbols in the Cliffs Notes compare to what you actually saw in the text? Was the Cliffs Notes analysis believable? What things were left out in the explanations? How completely were the symbols dealt with? Were there themes and symbols that seemed significant but which were left out? If so, why do you think that they were skipped?

  4. [HISTORICAL BACKGROUND MATERIAL] Given what you notice about the differences between the plot summary and the character sketches in the Cliffs Notes and the details in the book itself, what questions do you have about the other background materials in the Cliffs Notes? Is the historical background inclusive, or does it gloss over some points?

  5. [THE AUTHOR] Is the background information on the author complete? Compare what you find in the Cliffs Notes to information in the text itself. Also visit the library and check the basic information on the author there — or check online resources. In what ways has Cliffs Notes condensed the author's life? What was lost?

  6. [SOCIO-CULTURAL] Consider the ways that the Cliffs Notes deal with issues of race, gender, religious and cultural background, sexual orientation, and other issues. Do the Cliffs Notes play it safe? politically correct? Do the issues even come up? Does the historical background consider cultural issues — at all? fully? fairly?

  7. [USE OF QUOTATIONS] How and when do the Cliffs Notes use quotations and excerpts from the text? What does the goal of including the quotations seem to be? What did the author of the Cliffs Notes seem to choose the excerpts for — what is accomplished by using them? How closely do the quotations capture the style and flavor of the full text? What do you gain by reading the exact words of the text that you miss when you read the summary? Is the language in the original text hard to understand? Are there foreign words and phrases that the Cliff Notes help with? Find a quotation or excerpt that would add to the Cliff Notes and talk about why you'd include it if you were trying to tell someone else about the original text. In addition, talk about the reasons that the quotation or excerpt didn't end up in the Cliffs Notes.

  8. [OLDER VERSIONS] Compare older versions of Cliffs Notes to the latest publication. For classics such as TKAM or Macbeth, Cliffs Notes have been available for a long time — examine the ways that the Notes have been revised over time. What has been added? What's been deleted? Why have the changes been made? If you can't find different versions of the Cliffs Notes, check for other tools. Are there Monarch notes? summaries on web sites? If you're working with an older text, check out MasterPlots. Your public library may well have one of the older versions from the 50's.

  9. [SETTING] How is the setting described in the Cliffs Notes? Is there a separate section on the setting or are you left to gather clues about the locations on your own? Why is there (or isn't there) a separate section? To what extent does the Cliffs Notes rely on telling you about the setting, and to what extent do they show it to you with descriptive passages?

  10. [REWRITE!] Ok, here's your chance to do a better job than the folks at Cliffs Notes. Choose a specific section of the Cliffs Notes. You could choose a chapter, character notes, details on the setting, and so forth. Rewrite the section that you've chosen. Remember that Cliffs Notes are short, so you'll need to choose the things that you add carefully and work for clear, concise phrasing! After you've done your rewrite, compose a short reflective essay that explains the decisions that you made as you revised your section. Why did you add what you added? Why did you delete things? What were your goals? What did you want readers looking at Your Notes to learn that they wouldn't get from the Cliffs Notes?

    [You might need to provide more guidelines on the definition of 'specific section of Cliffs Notes' and on the length for the revision. Cliffs Notes aren't all that consistent. Sometimes they'll deal with a several chapters together. Sometimes a single chapter gets a page and a half. Sometimes a chapter doesn't get as much as a half page. You might need to suggest that they break a discussion of several chapters into parts, writing only the notes for one chapter. Or if the chapters in the original text are short, you might suggest that their notes cover several chapters. A guideline for the length of the revision might help too — especially if students are floundering. Something simple such as "The finished revision should be no more than slightly double the original in most cases." The guideline is going to depend upon the text and the Cliffs Notes that you're working with of course.]

Originally Posted on the NCTE Web on February 13, 2000.
Posted Sunday, 12-Jun-2005 09:09:24 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836. These materials may be referenced, linked to, and indexed, but their contents may not be duplicated without express written consent of the author. See the Copying and Sharing page for more details.