The Literature Network

Free!

The Literature Network offers users a comprehensive resource for locating information about famous authors, their works, and the time periods when they worked. After launching the website, the “Home” section shows a list of the authors included on the website, recent forum posts, and popular quizzes. Users can click on an author’s name, forum title, or quiz to access it. The “Authors” section again lists all the authors included on the website, and users can click an author’s name to learn more about him/her, access their biography, and read any recent forum posts related to the author.

The “Shakespeare” section offers a biography of the famous bard, titles of his works, along with forums related to him. The “Religious,” “Reference,” and “Summaries” sections let users read a complete text by first choosing it from the list and then clicking the “Text/Summary” button on the left of the screen to access it. The “Quotes” section lets users to search for famous lines and saying by entering the author’s name, work, or quote in the search box, and the website will return different quotes attributed to the author. The “Forums” section allows users read posts about a variety of literary-related topics.

If they register and sign in, users will be able to create their own forums and post replies to other users’ posts. The “Periods & Movements” section provides overviews of literary movements mostly in England and the United States. A unique feature of this section is the timeline infographic, which provides detailed information about literary shifts. The “Quizzes” section lets users take a user-generated quiz about one of the authors or works included in this website. For each quiz, it shows the topic, amount of questions, and average score. If users are registered with the “Forums” section of this website, they will be able to create and post their own quizzes.

Instructional Ideas for the Literature Network

1. After reading a text or passage of a text, teachers can have students read about the author and time period when the text was composed. Next, students can write how themes from the author’s life or time period was reflected in the text. Students can then post their writing to a class website to share their thoughts.
2. Before reading a text, students can take a quiz about the text that is posted to this website. Then, after reading the text, students can retake the same quiz to see if their score improved. In addition, teachers can have students register with the “Forum” section and then create their own quiz for their classmates and other people to take.
3. When reading a text and needing extra support in understanding it, students can search for the text’s summary and information about it using this website. They can then compare that information to other websites, such as Spark Notes, to identify credible information.
4. After reading a text, students can browse the forums related to it. Students can then add their response to the forum or begin a new one for the text. Once they post or create a new forum, they can post a notification about it on a class website, so their peers can view it.
5. When finding out information related to a text, students can view the information in the “Periods & Movements” tab to place the text in a specific time period. Students can then write a short rationale that explains why the text of interest fits into the specific time period and post that information to a class website.

Screenshots of the Literature Network