Tenth graders at Douglas County High School (DCHS) used Gale’s Contemporary Literary Criticism books to learn how to look up critical reviews about their chosen author.

“These volumes are a critical piece of what they are learning,” said Peggy Cummings, Library Media Specialist at Douglas County High School.  “We see the development of the students’ thought process as they use the Contemporary Literary Criticism set for research.”

Cummings wrote a grant that was approved to purchase the Contemporary Literary Criticism volumes. She is currently writing another grant in hopes of purchasing more volumes.

“These volumes are our English Department’s most heavily used print reference resource at DCHS,” said Cummings.  “Students read a book by an author that has been critically reviewed, write their own critique of this book, and then compare and contrast their critique to what the ‘professional critics’ present in the CLC’s.  It is a wonderful learning experience for our students.”

Using these volumes will become an even greater part of research and learning as a portion of the school’s improvement plan. 

“Our focus for our ‘School-wide Improvement Plan’ is on critical thinking,” said Cummings.  “We are preparing our students for this by using the Contemporary Literary Criticism and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism research volumes to encourage them to become independent learners and critical thinkers.”