Reading textbooks

Reading textbooks

Reading Textbooks

 Pre-test

Take a few minutes to answer yes or no to the following questions. 1. Do you highlight or mark your textbook as you read?

2. Do you use a reading/study system when you read text material? 3. Do you preview a chapter before you begin to read it?

4. Do you usually try to read an entire chapter once you start?

5. Do you think about the quality of the evidence as you read your textbook? 6. Do you tend to read your text chapters again before the exam?

7 Do you generally pause at the end of each paragraph or page to think about what you have read?

8. Do you use different strategies to read more difficult text assignments?

9. Do you often forget what you have read when you complete a reading assignment?

10. Do you \"talk to\" (interact with) the author of the text as you are reading your assignment? Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer to questions 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10 and 1 point for each no answer to questions 4, 6, and 9. Now total up your points. A low score indicates that you need some help in text reading. A high score indicates that you are already using many good text-reading strategies.

 General strategies for reading college textbooks

 Preview your textbooks

 Read the chapter before the lecture  Read ten pages at a time  Monitor your comprehension  Study/ Reading System

 P2R

 Suitable for one chapter or ten pages  The methods

 Preview (title, introduction, outline, structured review)  Read by highlighting or taking notes  Review by reciting

 SQ3R(time-consuming, so suitable for difficult reading)

 Francis Robinson, 1941, the most widely taught  Survey

 The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange things into different

groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too Few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another Facet of life. It is difficult to Foresee any end to the necessity For this task in the immediate Future, but then one can never tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the

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materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life. 1. What is the topic of this passage? 2. What do you know about this topic?

3. In the first sentence, what procedure is being referred to? 4. How did you identify this procedure?

5. The passage states that after putting things into different groups, you might have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities. What place does \"somewhere else\" refer to?

6. How do you recognize the location of \"somewhere else?\"

7. The passage states that mistakes could be expensive. What does that mean? 8. Why is there no foreseeable end to this procedure?  Question

 Questioning words for main ideas

 A reason--- why

 A way or method ---how  A purpose or definition --- what  A fact --- what

 Questioning words for details

 a person --- who

 a number or amount --- how many/ much  a choice --- which  a time --- when  a place --- where

 question words and corresponding indicators

 why? --- because, for that reason, consequently, as a result  how? --- by, through, as a result of

 what? --- commas, dashes, parentheses, involves, consists, includes  who? --- nouns

 how many? How much? --- numbers  Which? --- nouns and adjectives

 When? --- before, during, after, soon, later, prior  Where? --- behind, across, near, close, in, at

 Read

 Contexts

 Structural analysis(concepts, IMRAD, problem solving, contrast, )  Reference materials  Recite

 Text summaries  Review  S-RUN-R

 Survey  Read

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 Underline  Note take  Review

 Marking textbook

 Did you?

Take a few minutes to answer yes or no to the following questions. 1. Do you highlight or mark your textbook as you read?

2. Do you find that you often get to the end of a page and have no idea what you just read?

3. Do you begin to highlight or underline an important point before you finish the sentence?

4. Do you evaluate your text marking after an exam?

5. Does your marking make sense when you read it again before the exam?

6. Do you rehighlight or re-mark your text when you review for an exam? 7 Do you mark the headings and subheadings in your text?

8. Do you make notes in the margin when you read your text? _

9. Do you tend to mark key words rather than phrases or entire sentences? 10. Do you ever reread the unmarked sections of your text before an exam?

Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer to questions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 and 1 point for each no answer to questions 2, 3, 9, and 10. Now total up your points. A low score indicates that you need some help in text marking. A high score indicates that you are already using many good text-marking strategies.  Why

 Promotes active reading  Condenses the material  Increases comprehension

 Serves as a comprehension monitoring system  How

 Highlight

 Underline (disadvantages, no ruler, slow)  Make marginal notes  No multi-colour marking  What

 Headings

 Mark main ideas

 MI (main idea)

 MSD(Major supporting details)  msd (minor supporting details)

 How much

 Avoid undermarking  Avoid overmarking  Tips for marking

 Mark your text

 Avoid the used-up trap

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 Don't overlook ‘external’ text material  Monitor your text marking  Re-mark used textbooks

 Mark math and science textbooks  Mark your literature books

 Photocopy and mark outside readings  How to review

 Re-mark your text

 A different colour

 Underline, checkmark, star  Take notes on your marking  Predict questions in margin

 Organising text information

 Written notes

 Create concept maps  Create charts  Review notes

 Recite  Replicate

 Add recall questions Exercise I Exercise II

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WHY ARE THE OCEANS IMPORTANT?

As landlubbers, we tend to think of Earth in terms of land, but Earth is largely a water planet. A more accurate name for the planet would be Ocean, because salt-water oceans cover more than 71 percent of its surface.

The oceans play key roles in the survival of virtually all life on Earth. Because of their size and currents, the oceans mix and dilute many human-produced wastes flowing or dumped into them to less harmful or even harmless levels, as long as they are not overloaded. Oceans also play a major role in regulating Earth's climate by distributing solar heat through ocean currents and by evaporation as part of the global hydrologic cycle. They also participate in other important nutrient cycles.

By serving as a gigantic reservoir for carbon dioxide, oceans help regulate the temperature of the troposphere. Oceans provide habitats for about 250,000 species of marine plants and animals, which are food for many organisms, including human beings. They also supply us with iron, sand, gravel, phosphates, magnesium, oil, natural gas, and many other valuable resources.

Exercise III

Buy a copy of Shanghai Daily, and practice marking.

Exercise IV

Psychologist Albert Mehrabian has found that posture often indicates feelings of tension or relaxation. He says that we take relaxed postures in non-threatening situations and tighten up when threatened. Based on this observation, he says we can tell a good deal about how others feel simply by watching how tense or loose they seem to be. For example, he suggests that watching tenseness is a way of detecting status differences. The lower-status person is generally the more rigid, tense-appearing one, whereas the one with higher status is more relaxed. This is the kind of situation that often happens when an employee sits ramrod straight while the boss leans back in her chair. The same principle applies to social situations, where it's often possible to tell who's uncomfortable by looking at pictures. Often you'll see someone laughing and talking as if he were perfectly at home, but his posture almost shouts nervousness. Some people never relax, and their posture shows it.

MI (main idea), MSD (major supporting detail), msd (minor supporting detail)

I. Posture often indicates feelings of tension or relaxation (MI) A. Person displays relaxed posture when not threatened (MSD)

B. Person displays tense posture when feeling threatened

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(MSD)

C. Tension or relaxation in posture may indicate status (MSD)

1. Tense-appearing person has low status (msd) 2. Relaxed-appearing person has high status (msd) D. Posture indicates who's comfortable in a social setting (MSD)

T for Topic MI for Main Idea SD for Supporting Detail Group I

a. A four-leaf clover means good luck. b. Red roses convey passionate love. c. The symbolic meaning of plants

d. Even today, several plants have symbolic meanings e. An olive branch indicates peace. T___________ MI__________ SD__________ Group 2

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a. Red indicates passion. b. White indicates sympathy. c. The meaning of floral colors.

d. Floral colors also can communicate feelings e. The color orange signifies friendship. T___________ MI__________ SD__________ Group 3

a. In the 1870s, an ardent suitor might have sent his beloved a bouquet of flowers that expressed a complete message.

b. The symbolism of flowers reached its peak during the Victorian era, when almost every flower and plant had a special meaning.

c. A bouquet of forget-me-nots conveyed the sentiment \"remember me.\"

d. A bouquet of jonquils, white roses, and ferns indicated that a suitor desired a return of affection, was worthy of his intended's love, and was fascinated by her. e. The \"language\" of flowers

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T___________ MI__________ SD__________ Group 4

a. In 1875, in Switzerland, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle created milk chocolate by adding condensed milk to chocolate liquor.

b. In the 10s, the first candy bar was created by adding nuts, fruits, caramels, and other ingredients to the chocolate liquor.

c. For the love of chocolate.

d. There have been many changes in chocolate candy since it was created in 1847.

e. Milton Hershey modified the Peter process by adding whole milk. T___________ MI__________ SD__________ Group 5

a. Food of the Gods

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b. According to Aztec mythology, the god Quetzalcoatl gave cacao beans to the Aztec people.

c. The beans were later offered as gifts to the gods. d. The cacao tree, the source of chocolate, has long been cultivated by native peoples of Central and South America for religious purposes.

e. The beans also were used to make a beverage consumed by priests on ceremonial occasions. T___________ MI__________ SD__________ Group 6

a. Originally chocolate candy bars were promoted as health foods.

b. A high energy treat.

c. In World War I, candy bars were given to the soldiers as a source of quick energy.

d. In the 1920s, many candy bars claimed to aid the digestion and had names like Vegetable Sandwich. T___________

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MI__________ SD__________

Topics, Main Ideas, and Details

Directions: The following group contains a series of related statements: One of the statements gives a topic, another gives a main idea, and four give supporting details. Identify the role of each statement in the space provided using the following abbreviations: T for Topic MI for Main Idea SD for Supporting Detail

a. In a suit brought by New Jersey importer, John Nix, tomatoes were legally declared vegetables in 13 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

b. The Spanish conquistadors introduced the tomato to Europe, where it was first known as the \"Apple of Peru.\" c. What is a fruit?

d. Later it was known as pomo doro, golden apple in Italy, and pomme d'amour, love apple (it was believed by many to be an aphrodisiac) in France.

e. Tomatoes, one of the most common, popular, and

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versatile vegetables, is technically a fruit.

f. Justice Horace Gray said that although tomatoes are considered to be the fruits of the vine, they are usually served at dinner, and not, like fruits, generally as dessert. T___________ MI__________ SD__________

Drections: The main idea sentence appears at different locations in the following paragraphs. Write the letter of the main idea sentence on the line. Then draw a diagram of the paragraph and list the supporting details by letter.

1. (a) Americans eat oysters but not snails. (b) The French eat snails but not locusts. (c) The Zulus eat locusts but not fish. (d) The Jews eat fish but not pork. (e) The Hindus eat pork but not beef. (f) The Russians eat beef but not snakes. (g) The Chinese eat snakes but not people. (h) The Jale of New Guinea find people delicious. (i) The diversity of our customs and expressive behaviour suggests that much of our behaviour is socially programmed, not hardwired. Main Idea Sentence

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Supporting Details:

2. (a) The range of dress habits is equally great. (b) If you were a traditional Muslim woman, you would cover your entire body, even your face, and be thought deviant if you didn't. (c) If you were a North American woman, you would expose your face, arms, and legs, but you would cover your breasts and pelvic region, and be thought deviant if you didn't. (d) If you were a Tasaday tribe woman in the Philippines, you would go about your daily activities naked, and be thought deviant if you didn't. Main Idea Sentence Supporting Details:

3. (a) The world's cultures have strikingly different notions about displays of affection and about matters of personal space. (b) \"Don't touch me.\" (c) \"Take your hands off me.\" (d) Such statements are not uncommon in North America, but they are virtually never heard in Brazil. (e) Brazilians like to be touched more than North Americans do. (f) When North Americans talk, walk, and dance, they maintain a certain distance from others--their personal space.

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(g) Brazilians, who maintain less physical distance, interpret this as a sign of coldness. (h) When conversing with a North American, the Brazilian moves in as the North American retreats. (i) Cocktail parties in international meeting places such as the United Nations can resemble an elaborate insect mating ritual as diplomats from different cultures advance, withdraw, and sidestep. (j) How people show affection and respect personal space varies greatly from culture to culture. Main Idea Sentence: Supporting Details:

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