Tips From an Irvine English Tutor eNotes

Tips From an Irvine English Tutor eNotes eNotes: A Literary Companion Many high school students find it difficult to get through the books on their reading list, whether it’s for a standard 9th grade English class or for an AP English class (READ: Ask a Nerd! Taking the AP Exam). There are many options available and some of them are better than others. One option to consider is eNotes. The Great Books List eNotes offers over 40,000 study guides for books on the Great Books list. Although these can be useful for anyone who wants to improve or broaden their  literary skills, eNotes primary purpose is to serve the needs of high school students and their teachers. Although the Great Books list will broaden the minds of young literary students, many texts have forms of English that are difficult for the modern reader to comprehend. For example, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne offer fabulous insights and valid moral conflicts but the language is a challenge. Even students who use the plain language version may find it difficult to fully comprehend without an additional study guide (READ: Five Tips for Success in English Class). eNotes offers over 40,000 study guides for books on the Great Books list. Although these can be useful for anyone who wants to improve or broaden their  literary skills, eNotes primary purpose is to serve the needs of high school students and their teachers. Although the Great Books list will broaden the minds of young literary students, many texts have forms of English that are difficult for the modern reader to comprehend. For example, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne offer fabulous insights and valid moral conflicts but the language is a challenge. Even students who use the plain language version may find it difficult to fully comprehend without an additional study guide. Historical and Contemporary Students who read period pieces such as the Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte also benefit from ample background information about the time period and the place of certain characters in society, as well as a complex biography of the author. Contemporary texts can also be an exciting challenge and one of the advantages of eNotes is that it also offers current texts including The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Giver by Lois Lowry (CLICK: 100 Best Novels). Accuracy Another advantage of using the study guides on eNotes is the assurance of accuracy. Literature students often Google the text theyre studying and may or may not come across a legitimate source. According to eNotes, the study guides are written by teachers, PhD candidates, and literary scholars. User Friendly Lets say I have been assigned to read 1984 by George Orwell. I can simply click on 1984 and the site will pull up a new page with a summary of the novel. Students are advised to read the summary before reading the full text. eNotes also provides an estimated reading time for each novel to help students manage their study time and understand the complexity of the text. Students who are visual learners can look at the overview on a short YouTube video. Students can also look at a 1984 chapter by chapter summary and analysis, which can be helpful as they prepare for finals. eNotes also provides information about the themes of each text, which is especially important for student reading period pieces of which the themes may appear obtuse. As is common for literary study guides, eNotes also provides a list of primary characters and a summary of their personality or purpose in the novel. In addition, secondary and tertiary characters are listed for reference. While looking through the site for 1984, theres also a list of critical essays which can help students understand how literary critics of the world reviewed this particular novel, or any novel on eNotes, however students should never copy and paste such information to use as their own. For 1984, there are also homework help questions. For example, if a student wants to find out what one of the characters thoughts are on “human heritage and dying” they can do so. Many of the issues that todays high school students have is that a lot of information in period texts asks the reader to ‘read in between the lines’. Sometimes this is simply to make the text more interesting and sometimes it was because the author was not allowed to state outright particular opinions or facts due to the political leanings in the country they lived or in the time they lived (READ: Ask a Private Irvine English Tutor: Writing Apps). Read the Entire Text! Its very important for students to understand that if they only use eNotes they will not receive a passing grade in their class. eNotes, although very helpful, is meant to be a companion to the actual book. Students need to read the full text in its original version or plain language version to fully comprehend the information and do well in their classes. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us post about; our Orange County private tutors are full of right answers.