HW7

6.3 IMPROVING YOUR READING Reading for college courses can be challenging, but with effort, you can improve and become a more confident reader. Remember to be flexible and to adjust how you read depending on what you are reading. If you feel that you do not understand what you are reading because you are thinking about something else, you need to stop, focus on the task at hand, and read actively by marking up the text and taking notes. Here are a few suggestions: As mentioned earlier, evaluate the importance and difficulty of the assigned readings, and adjust your reading style and the time you set aside to do the reading. Also remember that reading in different disciplines requires different strategies. For example, when reading your math textbook, you should have a notebook at the ready to record your solutions to the problems. When you read your psychology textbook, you should be highlighting the important ideas or making margin notes. Connect one important idea to another by asking yourself, “Why am I reading this? Where does this fit in?” Writing summaries and preparing notes and outlines can help you connect ideas across chapters. When the textbook material is exactly the same as the lecture material, you can save time by concentrating mainly on one or the other. It takes a planned approach to read and understand textbook materials and other assigned readings in addition to remembering what you have read. But the most important outcome of reading is understanding what you have read well enough that you could explain it to someone else. Monitoring Your Reading You can monitor your comprehension while reading textbooks by asking yourself, “Do I understand this?” If the answer is no, stop and reread the material. Look up words that are not clear. Try to clarify the main points and how they relate to one another. Another way to check that you understand what you are reading is to try to recite the material aloud, either to yourself or to your study partner(s). Using a study group to monitor your comprehension gives you immediate feedback and is highly motivating. After you have completed each section of the chapter you are reading—and before you move on to the next section—ask yourself again, “What are the key ideas? What will I see on the test?” A photo shows a student reading a book in the library. Ask Questions for Comprehension Asking yourself questions while you read—for example, “Do I understand the main point of this section?”—can help you monitor what you’re learning and stay focused on important material. Developing Your Vocabulary Textbooks are full of new words and terms. A vocabulary is a set of words in a particular language or field of knowledge. As you become familiar with the vocabulary of an academic field, reading the texts related to that field becomes easier. If words are such a basic and essential component of our knowledge, what is the best way to learn them? The following are some basic vocabulary-building strategies: Notice and write down unfamiliar terms during your preview of a text. Consider making a flash card for each term or making a list of terms. Think about the context when you come across challenging words. See whether you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar term by using the words around it. Consider a word’s parts. If context by itself is not enough to help you guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, try analyzing the term to discover its root (or base part) and any prefixes (parts that come before the root) or suffixes (parts that follow the root). For example, transport has the root port, which means “carry,” and the prefix trans, which means “across.” Together, the word means “carry across” or “carry from one place to another.” Knowing the meaning of prefixes and suffixes can be very helpful. Use the glossary of the text or a dictionary. Many textbook publishers carefully compile glossaries to help students learn the vocabulary of a given discipline. Typically, the glossary is found in the back of the text (like in this textbook). If the text has no glossary, have a dictionary on hand or do a quick online search for an unfamiliar word’s meaning. If a given word has more than one definition, search for the meaning that fits your text. Use new words in your writing and speaking. If you use a new word a few times, you’ll soon know it. YOUR TURN > STAY MOTIVATED Choose a chapter in this or another textbook. As you read it, list the words that are new to you or that you’re not sure you understand. Look up a few of these words in a dictionary. Choose to add at least one new word a week to your personal vocabulary. After a short time, this will become easy. What to Do When You Fall Behind on Your Reading From time to time, life might get in the way of doing your assigned readings on time. But while there are valid reasons for getting behind, some students procrastinate for no particular reason and think they can catch up without a problem. That is a myth. The less you read, the harder you will have to work to make up for the lost time. If you try to follow the schedule for your assigned readings but fall behind, don’t panic. Here are some suggestions for getting back on track with your reading: Add one or two hours a day to your study time in order to go back and read the parts that you missed. In particular, take advantage of every spare moment to read; for example, read during your lunch hour at work or while you are waiting for public transportation or at the doctor’s office. Join a study group. After everyone reads the entire chapter, individual group members can be responsible for providing their understanding about a particular section. They can share their notes or outlines and lead a discussion to help everyone develop a deeper understanding of the material. Ask for help. Visit your college’s learning center to work with a tutor who can help you with difficult concepts in the textbook. Talk to your instructor. Ask for extra time to make up your assignments if you have fallen behind for a valid reason, such as sickness or dealing with a personal problem. Most instructors are willing to make a one-time exception to help students catch up. Don’t give up. You may have to work harder for a short period of time, but with effort and motivation, you will soon catch up. A photo shows a large crowd running a marathon. A Marathon, Not a Sprint If you fall behind in your reading, you’re not alone—many students do. Remember that your studies are more like a marathon than a sprint; you should take time to catch up, but do so at a steady pace. Do your assigned readings, study with others, get help, and don’t give up! If English Is Not Your First Language The English language is one of the most difficult languages to learn. Words are often spelled differently from the way they sound, and the language is full of idioms—phrases that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of the words. If, for example, your instructor tells you to “hit the books,” she does not mean for you to physically pound your textbooks with your fist but rather to study hard. If you are learning English and are having trouble reading your textbooks, don’t give up. It will likely take you longer to read sections that are difficult to translate or that contain unfamiliar words, but take your time, write down everything you find that provides clarity, and trust the process. Your speed will increase as you become more familiar with the terminology. In addition, make sure you have two good dictionaries—one in English and one that links English with your primary language—and look up every key word you don’t know. Also check to see if your digital textbook has an audio reading setting; if it does, you’ll be able to listen as you read, which can help you develop your vocabulary more quickly. Be sure to practice thinking, listening, writing, and speaking in English, and take advantage of your college’s services. Your campus might have ESL (English as a second language) tutoring and workshops. Ask your adviser or your first-year seminar instructor to help you find where those services are offered on your campus. An illustration box is titled ‘Tech Tip.’ Text reads, The problem: You’d like to access e-books, but you aren’t sure if you should buy an e-reader or a tablet or just use a laptop. You also want to know the advantages and disadvantages that an e-book has when compared to a traditional book. The fix: Explore different platforms that deliver e-book content, and discover how reading with a digital reader differs from reading traditional books. How to do it: Embrace the E-book. In college, we have textbooks, workbooks, and notebooks. Even though textbook publishers continue to make traditional print books and materials available, students may be required (or prefer) to access some or all course material digitally. For students who are used to buying or renting printed books from the college bookstore, this can be confusing. A photo shows a young woman reading an e-book on a digital tablet. Go to the library. Many libraries have tablets and computers of different types. Ask a librarian to download a book in a variety of formats so that you can try out different devices and see what works best for you. Also, check out the pros and cons lists below. PROS OF E-BOOKS AND E-READERS Digital reading devices are portable and can hold thousands of books. E-books save trees, can be bought without shipping costs, and have a low carbon footprint. E-readers let you buy books online from anywhere with web access, and you can start reading within minutes. You can type notes in an e-book, as well as highlight passages and copy and paste sections. You can print out pages by hooking the device up to your printer or connecting to a printer on a wireless network. You can access many e-books for free from the public library—even rare books. Some e-books come with bonus audio, video, or animation features. Many digital reading devices accept audio books and can read to you aloud. The backlit screen means that you can read with the light off, without disturbing anyone. You can adjust the size of the text. Some e-readers have a built-in dictionary. Others link to reference websites like Google or Wikipedia. E-books are searchable and even sharable. CONS OF E-BOOKS AND E-READERS Digital reading devices are expensive, breakable, and desirable to thieves. Looking at a screen can cause some eye fatigue. It’s harder to flip through pages of an e-book than a printed book. If you have only limited or temporary access to e-books for your college courses, your access will expire after the academic term. GOOD TO KNOW Some electronic readers are no-frills, basic models designed to replicate the experience of reading a paper book. Others offer browsers, video, music, and thousands of free and for-purchase apps. Most are web enabled, so you can use them for other purposes, such as listening to music or audio books, checking email, creating presentations, and writing papers. This increased functionality might be distracting, but it can also make you more productive. EXTRA STYLE POINTS Price your textbooks in both print and digital formats. Factoring in the cost of an e-reader or a tablet (if you decide to buy one), which format is cheaper? Do you plan to purchase e-books in the future?