FORMAT OF COLLEGE READING
TEXTS AND NOVELS
You've aced high school and have set out on a journey that only you can travel. You enter college class 101 your Fall semester. A broody professor hands you a syllabus and tells you to purchase a book that costs more than your car and read the first 3 chapters by Wednesday. You think; "ok, this isn't so bad." That is, until you see the book!
This page is designed to help you maneuver through a college text, whether its History 101 or The Reading of all of Shakespeare's works. My hope is that this will give you some practical exercises in reading a college book as well as help you ace your first year of college and beyond.
WHAT TYPE OF LEARNER AM I?
http://www.how-to-study.com/LearningStyles.htm
Now that you've discovered your dominant learning style, let's focus on some exercises to help you see through all the professor is asking you to do.
COLLEGE TEXTS
Basics on how to read a textbook, check out this site:
http://www.bookrags.com/articles/24.html
READING AND STUDY STRATEGY FOR COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS
Surveys at colleges across the United States report that if you take three general education courses, you will be expected to read about 250 pages per week, for an average of 83 pages of text per week per course. Reading materials include textbooks, lab manuals, novels, and other supplemental materials.
Successful students approach college reading with strategies that will help them understand and remember the concepts and information given.
(http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/students/ssw/Chap13-3.html)
BE AN ACTIVE READER
ACTIVE VERSUS PASSIVE READING
| ACTIVE READERS . . . | PASSIVE READERS . . . |
| Tailor their reading to suit each assignment. | Read all assignments the same way. |
| Analyze the purpose of an assignment. | Read an assignment just because it was assigned. |
| Adjust their speed to suit their purpose. | Read everything at the same speed. |
| Question ideas in the assignment. | Accept whatever is in print as true. |
| Compare and connect textbook material with lecture content | Study lecture notes and textbook separately, if at all. |
| Skim headings to find out what an assignment is about before beginning to read. | Check the length of an assignment and then begin reading. |
| Make sure they understand what they are reading as they go along. | Read until the assignment is completed. |
| Read with pencil in hand, highlighting, jotting notes, and marking key vocabulary. | Read. |
| Develop personalizes strategies that are particularly effective. | Follow routine, standard methods. |
Adapted from: McWhorter, K.T. (1998). Academic Reading, Third Edition. New York: Longman. (Thanks to C. Crum for the use of this handout)
NOW: Pull out that reading assignment and let's go! Here's a great way to maneuver through those texts:
TRY THIS EXERCISE:
Preview the text
The first thing you should do when you open a new book is to preview the text. Look at the contents page and survey the topics covered in the text. Then ask yourself what you already know and what you think you will need to know about the topics that will be covered in the course. This process will give you a "big picture" of the course and will help you to start thinking about how the contents of the course will fit in with your educational goals. (taken from: http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/reading.htm)
Draw this map or try using Cornell Notes for your first reading. This will give you an idea of how the professors lectures can match up with the text you are reading on your own.
Reading Novels at the College Level
When you are reading a novel for a class you need to understand the six elements used by authors when writing a story or novel: check out this web site:
http://www.how-to-study.com/novels.htm
Once you understand those elements, get out a piece of paper and follow these few great tips for reading a novel or story in your college class:
http://www.ehow.com/how_3649_read-novel.html
This is a good book on thinking about how your professor thinks:
- contributed by Susan Nelson, LTCY 524