Hello,
I am currently finishing one of my college applications and I have a few questions about the additional writing section. There is one part that asks to list the books I was required to read during the last year.
I am taking English as a foreign language but we mostly read books that are usually considered ‘middle-school books’ like “The Great Gatsby”.
Do you think that I should include these books?
I would personally tend to include them but I am unsure to which extent this could affect my chance of admission.
Also, I have more questions on how to list the books exactly, specifically the ones in a language different than English.
Should I include the authors and eventual summaries of the content especially for books that are not commonly known?
Do you feel like the English title of a book will be sufficient (for a book not written in English) or should I include the title in the native language in parentheses?
So far, I have used the following structure:
class (e.g. English as a foreign language, French etc.):
“title1” - author1,
“title2” - author2,
“English title of a book in a foreign language” (title in the native language) - author3.
Is this structure alright or do I need to add/remove/change anything? I am particularly not sure about the quotation marks and I would be happy about clarification.
Thank you in advance.
If the prompt asks you to list the books, then list the books without a summary. It’s really not a trick question. Columbia, which has this as a question, gives the following guidelines:
Additionally, for books not written in English, use the current commonly accepted English translation of the title. e.g. list *In Search of Lost Time/i, not À la recherche du temps perdu.
Also, while many native speakers of English read works by F. Scott Fitzgerald (or Shakespeare or John Steinbeck or countless other examples for that matter) in HS or earlier, many also read them in more depth in college. So, the Great Gatsby is by no means a “middle school book.” You can certainly list it. I’m not even sure that there is a valid reason not to list books that are truly classified as Young Adult. The college is asking the question, not to trip you up, but to find out what makes you you. If the Harry Potter series is important to you, I see no reason not to list them, but that’s just an opinion.
@hope469 I am not one hundred percent sure. Both American exchange students in my school told my English teacher that they read it when they were in seventh grade but please correct me if I am wrong.