2. Look the author up online. Write a brief 2-3 line biography of her.

3. Look up Louisiana State University Press online. What can you tell about the audience for this publication? Once you begin reading, add notes about

what the tone and internal cues of the chapter tell you about her target audience.

4. Surveying the territory-getting the big picture before you jump in:

This is a twenty-three page introduction to a book with notes at the end (included in our copy). You may need to hand number the pages on your copy. As

you flip through, notice that Schreiber uses section headings to guide her readers.

In this introduction, Schreiber will pose some big questions and lay out the overarching argument for the book (see page 2), introduce readers to the

theories about trauma that she will be drawing on, and (at the end of the introduction), let readers know what each chapter will be about.

Reading the introduction to a monograph (a detailed study of a single specialized subject or an aspect of it) like Schreiber's can help you learn which

parts of the book would be most useful to you. Many academic writers understand that their readers may not work with their entire book and will use the

introduction to guide them to the parts that will be most relevant.

After surveying the overall structure, read through the chapter in the spirit of listening to an ongoing conversation. Focus on the first four sections (the

opening, "Slavery's Legacy," "Psychoanalysis and Trauma," and "Another Layer of Trauma"); you aren't required to read the sections on "Lacan

and Home" and "Cultural Memory: The Body Factor." Keep an eye t for the key terms listed below, and mark places where you see Schreiber defining

these terms. While there will be parts of the conversation that may be difficult to follow, mark places (and quotes) where Schreiber's point is interesting or

clearer to you. Be ready to take us to those moments in class.

5. We will be using this introduction to talk about an argument made in 2010, before Morrison's novel Home was published. We'll also be using this

introduction to practice taking more detailed notes about key terms. What does Schreiber mean and how does she use the following key terms?

What role do these terms/concepts play in her introduction--why are they important? Mark in the introduction whenever these key terms surface. Take

some notes and be ready to share them:

• home

• bodily component of trauma and memory

• trauma

• witness function