"Primarily because of my concentration, [my time at Harvard] was very, very light on textbooks," Greening adds.

High-Impact Learning

Both Mendelsohn and Kishlansky seem to agree that their decision to use a specific kind of text has a direct impact on the nature of the learning that their students will receive in the classroom.

"The nature of the text given can push students to do their own interpreting on the basis of some of the frameworks developed in lecture or section," Mendelsohn says, adding that although a standardized textbook is probably the best way to teach a class like introductory biology or physics, professors in these classes should provide supplemental materials as well.

"[Supplemental materials and articles] allow more room for arguments among students," he adds. "A book that tells the story of a historical event can be compared to a novel version of the same event or to technical material. Students can see how each text treats the material and compare for themselves."

Even in departments such as the classics which tend to be textbook-heavy, especially in the beginning and intermediate-level ancient Greek and Latin language classes, professors say they recognize the importance of stimulating discussion in their classes through different types of course material.

"The types of text selected for classes is obviously important because they determine the interest that is generated," says Richard F. Thomas, professor of Greek and Latin. "It is an incentive for professors to pick interesting text that is also at the right level for the students."

Thomas, who has taught at Harvard for 17 years, explained that in the classics department, it is generally only the more advanced students, namely concentrators, whose texts are supplemented with additional readings and commentaries.

But Thomas says that sourcebooks and textbooks actually balance one another out.

"So long as texts stimulate interest and questions among students, then they are doing their job," Thomas says. "The sourcebook could simply be snapshots of a textbook; the two may not be different in kind. One is just a selection of the other."

A New Source of Material

Students rarely blink an eye these days when asked to purchase a sourcebook or two for their classes, but the now-familiar collection of copyrighted material was not always a standard fixture in all classes.

"Traditional textbooks are still the most that we sell, but there has been a trend towards sourcebooks in the last six or seven years," says Jeremiah P. Murphy '73, Coop president for the last five years.

But Murphy says he hesitates to claim that an overall growth in sourcebook popularity since the trend varies by field.

"[O]n the technical side, standardized texts remain more of a reference point of view," Murphy says. "We update the editions, and professors supplement that with outside readings."