Selection Criteria
The following criteria, which are divided into two tiers, will be used by the Common Reader Committee to identify a final list of books to be considered for the First Year Common Reader.
Tier I
- Readability and potential for engaging students
- Relevance to first-year students, society, or local community
- Appeal to a wide range of students
- Possibilities for additional programming, especially inclusion in first year courses or other areas of the curriculum
- Interdisciplinarity
- Richness of content/themes
- Potential to spark passionate discussion
- Opportunities for multimedia approaches and creative assignments
Tier II
- Reasonable length
- Connection to one or more University initiatives or institutional Mission
- Accurate and respectful portrayals of diverse cultures.
Book nominations should meet all Tier I criteria to some degree. Tier II criteria are important, but not required of all nominations. All books should be available as paperback.
