4Real Forums: Cliff Note Complete Study Editions

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High School Years and Beyond
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Topic: Cliff Note Complete Study Editions

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Angie Mc
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Posted: May 04 2010 at 11:00pm \| IP Logged

Sara asked on another topic...

Lara Sauer wrote:

For instance...has anyone used Cliff Note Complete Study Editions before? I am hoping to find some study guides with answers so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel for every one of the books that I would be using next year!

Sara

Has anyone used these? What do you think?

Love,

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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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ALmom
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Posted: May 05 2010 at 1:57am \| IP Logged

We did use the Cliff Complete for one Shakespeare play at the recommendation of the English teacher we hired to grade and review some of our dd paper topics. We were not using it for paper topics or ideas but simply as source of some background info, the story and footnotes all together in an easy to read format. I was not all that interested in someone else telling us what we were supposed to think about it, how we were supposed to interpret it, etc. A lot of this was politically correct. If you decide to go with Cliff complete, I'd recommend going through with a black marker and deciding what you want presented and what you do not - or at least be prepared to. I was not always fond of their particular take on meaning or intent of author.

I got it, reviewed it myself first, discussed areas of concern I had with sections and blacked those out. (They tend to propose every deviant interpretation, but had some awesome background information on the theater and diagrams showing how it looked etc. I am glad that I discussed my concerns with the English teacher as some things I misinterpreted meaning and overreacted to and once explained I left these in - others I crossed out because they were truly inappropriate for a 9th grader. Some things I didn't want her to be assigned to read before she had read the play herself and thought about it - I didn't mind her looking and comparing her ideas to someone elses after she'd actually thought on her own. I didn't want her to be told what to think.

We used it primarily because of the larger print - and the way they footnoted which made it less tedious for our child to find the meaing of words used that were more archaic. The actual full play was there (and followed the Seton edition word for word) as best we could tell. The footnotes were convenient to read which had its plusses and minuses - made it easier to understand, and such, but also there were a few things we really preferred went over our 9th graders head. These were often explained in more detail. (Our dd, at the time, was not an avid reader so it worked out okay - might be more concerned with a different child getting too much information.) You must understand that we were simply using the Cliff's COmplete as a large print text with a little bit of intro information in it.

If you are looking for it to have lots of questions and answers type stuff - the Cliff's Complete that we used did not have any of this stuff - at least I don't recall any. We did this about 10 years ago so editions that we looked at are probably different than the ones you are asking about.

I only used this once and not in the manner you seem to want to use it - so while it worked for us (and it is much larger print size and visually well layed out), I'd recommend you take a close look before you decide.

Janet

hylabrook1
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Posted: May 05 2010 at 8:30am \| IP Logged

I have used a few of these, mostly for myself.

They were a good source for discussion questions, helped me to guide my student through the direction the book was moving in. Also a good source for essay topics. There is so much good literature out there that I haven't had the chance to read personally, so guides like these work well. Also, Spark Notes are available for free on-line; one of their features is that you can find the Shakespeare plays that have parallel text of the original and a present-day "translation". Again, helpful for mom.

Peace,
Nancy

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