1 Sample Content
Pro-Tip: We will be talking about notetaking later on in the text, but I would recommend starting to practice notetaking now. When you are taking notes, try to capture in your own words some of the following: main ideas of the text and supporting arguments, YOUR thoughts on the reading, any questions you may have, and new vocabulary.
Pro-Tip
It is always better to try and write your own sentence with a new vocabulary term as this can help you learn how to use the new vocabulary. The best strategy, though, for gaining new vocabulary is just to read as often as you can and in as many different genres or areas as you can!
Check Your Understanding: Exploring the Text
Check Your Understanding: Practicing Your Pre-reading Skills
Critical Thinking Questions
Practicing Your Pre-reading Skills
Now that we’ve covered some pre-reading practices, let’s put those skills to the test.
Find the Scientific American article, “U.S. Cracking Down on Brain-Training Games.”
- Before reading the article, work through the above pre-reading skills.
- Based on what you found in your pre-reading, what do you think the text is about? What position will the article take on the idea of brain-training games? How much do you know about the topic already? What did you already know (before you even looked at the article)?
- Now, switch to in-depth reading and read the article carefully, taking notes of any questions you have or words you don’t understand.
- If needed, do a bit of quick research on any questions or unknown words you identified.
- How did the pre-reading affect your ideas of what to expect from the text? How did your understanding of the piece compare between what you learned from pre-reading versus a complete reading? What does this tell you about the relationship between pre-reading and in-depth reading?
See the Appendix, Results for the “Check Your Understanding” Activities, for answers.
Exploring the Text
For this activity, you are asked to compare two different articles. Note one of these articles is what is considered a popular article, and one is a scholarly. We will learn more about these differences in Chapter 2.
For this activity, you do not need to do a close reading of either text, but try to answer the questions below by scanning over the document and exploring the text.
The Impact of Pets on Everyday Life for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic – PMC vs. The Power of Pets | NIH News in Health
- How is the text organized? (Does it seem logical? Is it in time-related, chronological order? Does it skip around in time with flashbacks or flash-forwards?)
- Is it divided into obvious sections? Do the sections have headings, or are they just visually separated?
- Does the author use comparison/contrast, explore cause and effect, or examine a process to present their ideas?
- Is there a lot of detail and description in the text?
- Does the author use dialog?
- Does the author do anything unusual* or unexpected with the text?
See the Appendix, Results for the “Check Your Understanding” Activities, for answers.
Additional Resources
Biased writing can lead to a skewed representation of the topic, misleading readers and undermining the credibility of the writing. Read these articles to get a sense of some actual examples of the insidious affects of bias and how it can sway the reader’s opinion.
- The Associated Press. (2016, September 13). Sugar industry paid scientists for favourable research, documents reveal. CBC News.
- Nestle, M. (2018, October 31). Superfoods, food science, and the truth about what we eat. Vox.
- AllSides. (n.d.). Media bias chart.
Key Takeaways
- Implement reading strategies to build vocabulary and understanding.
- Pre-reading strategies prepare you to read a text by previewing the topic, for example, thinking about the title and skimming the headings, images, and captions.
- When reading, consider the structure of the text to help you understand the form and function.
- Identifying the tone, voice, and point of view of the text will help you understand the audience and purpose.
- When reading new words, use context clues to try to understand the meaning.
- Look up the meaning of words you cannot understand and take notes.
- Develop a basic critique of a text to analyze texts to answer questions, synthesize information and draw conclusions.
- A critical reader will analyze a text by asking questions about the structure, main points, purpose and audience and then synthesize the ideas or combine them with their own experiences and previous learnings.
- Critiquing a text means evaluating and asking questions about the text, such as “Do you agree with the main idea?” or “What is the cultural context?” or “Was the text’s purpose accomplished?”
- Develop a basic critique of a text to analyze texts to answer questions, synthesize information and draw conclusions.
- A critical reader will analyze a text by asking questions about the structure, main points, purpose and audience and then synthesize the ideas or combine them with their own experiences and previous learnings.
- Critiquing a text means evaluating and asking questions about the text, such as “Do you agree with the main idea?” or “What is the cultural context?” or “Was the text’s purpose accomplished?”
- Develop a basic critique of a text to analyze texts to answer questions, synthesize information and draw conclusions.
- A critical reader will analyze a text by asking questions about the structure, main points, purpose and audience and then synthesize the ideas or combine them with their own experiences and previous learnings.
- Critiquing a text means evaluating and asking questions about the text, such as “Do you agree with the main idea?” or “What is the cultural context?” or “Was the text’s purpose accomplished?”