Prepare a seminar
Prep discussion questions and learning objectives from your seminar readings.
Upload your assigned readings, describe the class and the session goal, and Anara generates discussion questions tied to the specific arguments in those texts, plus learning objectives and a discussion arc. Use it when preparing seminars from primary sources.
Prompt
A political theory professor prepares a graduate seminar on three assigned papers.
Prompt
I am preparing a graduate seminar on theories of democratic deliberation. The assigned readings for next week are three papers by Habermas, Benhabib, and Cohen, all uploaded to my library.
Generate five discussion questions that require engagement with the specific arguments in these texts. Each question should name the concept or passage it is drawing from. Then write three learning objectives for the session, appropriate for a PhD-level seminar. Finally, suggest a 90-minute discussion arc that sequences the five questions and allows time for student responses.
The session goal: students should be able to articulate where these three theorists agree on the normative conditions for legitimate deliberation and where they diverge on what counts as a valid reason.What to add to your library
- Required: the assigned readings, in a folder or uploaded directly.
- Required: the level and type of class (undergraduate survey, graduate seminar, PhD workshop).
- Optional: a session goal, so the arc builds toward it.
- Optional: a theoretical tension you want students to grapple with.
What you get
- Five discussion questions grounded in the texts, each naming the concept or position it draws on.
- Three learning objectives calibrated to the class level.
- A 90-minute discussion arc with timing notes and transitions.
Follow-ups
Write a response paper prompt.
Prompt
Write a response paper prompt for this seminar. 600-800 words. Students take a position on whether Benhabib's expansion of the deliberative ideal improves on Habermas or departs from its core logic. Students must cite at least two specific passages from the assigned readings.Adapt the questions for undergraduates.
Prompt
Take the five discussion questions you generated for the PhD seminar and adapt them for an upper-division undergraduate course. Keep the core theoretical content but remove the jargon and replace named-theory references with plain-language descriptions of the concepts. The students will have read the Habermas excerpt only, not the full paper.Tips
- State the session goal before asking for questions, or they cover the readings broadly without structure.
- Anara emphasizes the most prominent arguments it finds. Swap any question that misses the tension you care about.
- Use the arc as a planning document, not a script, and rephrase questions in your own voice.