Why are reading lists for IRD courses generally so long?
The IRD’s teaching philosophy places great emphasis on independent study and student initiative. Reading lists are provided by course teachers but are intended as guides only. Teachers will not normally specify that you must read particular readings every week. Instead, they will highlight recommended reading (works that they themselves consider to be valuable on a particular topic) but you are responsible for ensuring that you have read widely and deeply enough to be able to contribute to class discussions and to write essays. You are thus free to choose readings from the reading list and your own research which you judge to be appropriate for the topic at hand.
