Extra Credit Opportunity - "The Human Epoch"

1) Do a "Close Reading" exercise on the two articles, "The Human Age" and "Defining the Anthropocene" from the Nature journal handout. See below for Close Reading guidelines. Evidence of Close Reading must be apparent on your hand out in the form of highlighting and annotations.

2) Write a 1-2 page summary of the two articles in your own words.

3) Why might / should history students today care about this subject?

4) Optional: plan a short (5 min) presentation to the class on these articles.


CLOSE READING

Close Reading is a very simple reading technique appropriate for short, dense readings. You will understand the reading better if you follow this technique. You will need three different colored highlighters for this exercise.

First... Read the article and highlight its main points with one color. Write notes in the margin as desired.

Second... Read the article a second time and highlight with a second color any additional words or phrases that help you understand it better. Write notes in the margin as desired.

Third... Put the article away for at least one day, then read it a third time and highlight with a third color any additional words or phrases that help you understand it better. Write notes in the margin as desired.