Commonplace Book 

 

A commonplace book is a unique combination of diary and scrapbook. In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, commonplace books served as a repository in which people could record passages from their favorite books, magazine or newspaper clippings, botanical 

specimens, photos, treasured quotations, epigrams, recipes, thoughts, and almost anything else that the person wanted to preserve or remember.

 

In Sustainabilities Lab, you will keep a commonplace book. It will serve as a repository for the ways you see and think about sustainability outside of the classroom. You will be required to provide three uploads from your commonplace book throughout the semester.

 

Guidelines for the Commonplace Book:

 

-Each entry in your commonplace book should be numbered. For example, your first two pages may contain entries 1-12. Pages should be numbered as well.

 

-You may include any of the following items in your book: magazine or newspaper clippings, botanical specimens, photos, quotations, epigrams, recipes, and general thoughts or remarks.

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-As your final commonplace book upload, you will be asked to produce an index for your book where you provide an alphabetical list of subjects, themes, and terms you have covered in the book.

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-Your book may be physical or digital. 

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