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Guidelines for Preparing Introductory Materials
The volume editor furnishes introductory materials to help guide the reader to use the volume as fully and efficiently as possible. Typically, the editor writes a preface to the volume and an introduction to the essays in part 2 (see previously published series volumes). An editor may also choose to supply other kinds of introductory materials, such as a formal introduction to the book or brief introductions to sections or clusters of essays in part 2.
Topics generally addressed in introductory materials include the following:
- Rationale for the book: Discuss, for example, why the book is needed, why it was undertaken, why teachers should read it.
- Purpose of the book: Explain the aim of this particular series volume.
- Structure of the book: Explain how the book in general and specifically the essays in part 2 are organized and why.
- Contexts for essays: It is usually not necessary to provide summaries of the individual essays. More useful is a consideration of pedagogical issues that emerge from the essays and a discussion of interpretive and methodological relationships, including tensions, among essays.
- Sequence of reading: Provide guidance to help readers understand how to use the book. (Can the reader consult essays out of sequence? Are there some portions of the book that all readers should read? Which essays should be read with or against one another?)
- Editions: State what uniform edition is being used and why. If contributors are referring to different editions, explain why.
- Translations and translation issues: If the volume concerns literature in a language other than English, state which translation has been chosen and why. If contributors are using different translations, explain why. In addition, consider discussing philosophical and aesthetic issues involved in teaching works in translation. Should instructors introduce elements of the original text, if possible? How much variation is there among available English translations? How do different translations affect the reader's experience of the work?
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