The Reader's Handbook

I. READING STRATEGIES

1. Student Success

a. What makes a successful student?

b. What is concentration and how can it be improved?

c. What are successful academic behaviors?

2. Strategic Reading

a. What is Strategic Reading?

b. What is previewing?

c. How do you build meaning while reading?

d. Why recall after reading?

3. Vocabulary

a. How do you learn new words?

b. What clues help You Understand new words?

c. What resources can help you with words?

d. What are Analogies?

4. Main Idea

a. What is a main idea?

b. What is a topic?

c. What is a detail?

d. What are the strategies for stating main ideas?

5. Details

a. Can you recognize levels of importance of details?

b. Can you distinguish major and minor details?

6. Organizational Patterns

a. What are the patterns for organizing ideas?

b. How do transitional words signal

c. organizational patterns?

7. Inference

a. What is an inference?

b. What is figurative language?

c. How do you recognize implied meaning?

d. How do you draw conclusions?

8. Point of View

a. What is the author's point of view?

b. What is the reader's point of view?

c. How do facts and opinions differ?

d. What is the author's purpose?

e. What is the author's tone?

9. Reading Graphics

a. What do graphics do?

b. How do you read graphic material and visual aids?

II. STUDY STRATEGIES

10. Critical Thinking

a. What is critical thinking?

b. What are the steps in critical thinking?

11. Reading Rate

a. What is your reading rate?

b. What are the techniques for faster reading?

c. Why skim?

d. Why scan?

12. Techniques for Remembering Textbook Information

a. How do you organize college textbook reading?

b. What is annotating?

c. What is summary writing?

d. What is notetaking?

e. What is outlining?

f. What is mapping?

g. What are mnemonics?

III. READING IN THE DISCIPLINES

13. Reading in the Humanities

a. What are the humanities?

b. How is history interpreted?

c. Are speech and communications more than just words?

d. What is English Composition?

14. Reading Literature and Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction

a. What is literature?

b. What is an essay?

c. How is literature interpreted?

d. What are the different types of contemporary fiction?

e. What are the different types of contemporary nonfiction?

f. What should you consider when selecting a book?

15. Reading in the Social Sciences

a. What are the social sciences?

b. What is psychology?

c. What is sociology?

d. What is political science?

e. For further practice: Extended reading selection in psychology

16. Reading in the Life and Natural Sciences

a. What are the life and natural sciences?

b. What is biology?

c. What are the allied health sciences?

d. What is environmental science?

e. For further practice: Extended reading selection in biology

17. Reading in Mathematics and Computer Sciences

a. How can you get the most from your mathematics textbook?

b. How can you get the most from your computer science textbook?

c. For further practice: Extended reading selection in computer science

18. Reading in Business and Vocational Technology

a. What are the goals of business Courses?

b. What are the Features of Business Textbooks?

c. Why Choose a Vocational or Technical School?

d. What Are Electricity, Electronics, and Computer Technology?

e. What Is Automotive Technology?

f. For further practice: Extended reading selection in business

19. Reading Scholarly Reference Works

a. How do you find relevant research references?

b. What is the format of scholarly articles?

c. What other reference works are available?

IV. READING IN EVERYDAY LIFE

20. Reading Print and Electronic Media

a. How are newspapers organized and what are their elements?

b. How do you choose a newspaper?

c. How do you use online newspapers?

d. How do you differentiate magazines?

e. How do you navigate the World Wide Web?

f. How do you read electronic material critically?

g. How can you manage your email?

21. Workplace and Personal Reading

a. How should you manage Your Workplace and Personal reading?

b. What are the different types of workplace reading?

c. How should you Respond to a letter?

d. What are the different parts of a bill?

e. How do you respond to direct mail advertisements?

V. READING SELECTIONS

Selection 1: Allied Health

"Getting Fit" by Carolina Miranda, Alice Park, Jeffrey Kluger, Sarah Sturmon Dale, Jeanne McDowell, and Adam Pitluk in Time Magazine, June 6, 2005



Selection 2: History

"The 'New Era' of the 1920s" by John Garraty, The American Nation



Selection 3: Essay

"The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe" by Carolyn Foster Segal



Selection 4: Short Story

"Charles" by Shirley Jackson



Selection 5: Essay

"The Company Man" by Ellen Goodman



Selection 6: Business

"The Millionaire Profile" by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, The Millionaire Next Door



Selection 7: Short Story

"The Lion Roared" by Virginia Eiseman



Selection 8: Essay

"Pay Your Own Way! (Then Thank Mom)" by Audrey Rock-Richardson



Selection 9: Psychology

"The Impact of College Attendance" by Samuel Wood, Ellen Green Wood, and Denise Boyd, The World of Psychology, 5th ed.



Selection 10: Website

www.monster.com Website

Appendixes

A. Test Taking Strategies

B. Making Sense of Figurative Language and Idioms

C. Writing Effectively

Glossary



Credits



Index