Expand Your Knowledge of the World: Read Broadly

Please Note: Most of the following links provide unpaid access to these online publications.

Reading regularly in politics and current events will help you link your academic interests to the larger world.

• The Atlantic
• The New Yorker
• The Economist
• The Wall Street Journal
• Christian Science Monitor
• The Washington Note Blog
• Politico Blogs
• Voice of Witness

Reading literary fiction and smart cultural criticism will, over time, give you flexibility in your written, and even verbal, expression: 

• The New York Times Book Review
• The Sun Magazine
• Salon.com
• Slate.com
• Narrative Magazine

Well written, hip readings in contemporary culture will enrich your sense of play, possibilities, and cultural innovation.  Try these top rated blogs:

• Climate Progress
• HiLobrow
• kottke.org
• Pitchfork
• Gawker

Dictionaries

A word about vocabulary. Break the habit, today, of skipping over unfamiliar terms.  Look them up.  There are no shortcuts to developing a sophisticated vocabulary.  These online dictionaries are highly recommended:

• Cambridge Dictionaries: an elegant resource that tells you ‘what is usually meant’ by a word, and gives you an accessible example of the word in its grammatical context.
• OneLook: offers a short definition and links to other dictionaries that define the word in depth.
• Wordnik.com: this site provides a wealth of contemporary examples of a word in context, and thereby strengthens your understanding of the word.  You can also hear the word pronounced, and link to a thesaurus and visual dictionary.
• Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms will help you perceive the subtlety of and distinguish between similar terms.  This can be ordered online for less than $5, including shipping. Also useful is synoym, an online site that provides streamlined definitions, alongside synonyms and antonyms.