 |  Opening Doors: Understanding College Reading, 3/e Joe Cortina,
Richland College
Janet Elder,
Richland College
Table of Contents
PART ONE: ORIENTATION: Preparing and Organizing Yourself for Success
in College
Chapter 1: Making Yourself Successful in College
Skills:
Doing What Successful Students Do
Setting Your Goals
Motivating Yourself
Managing Your Time
- Setting up a weekly study schedule
- Making the most of your study time
- Planning further ahead: Creating a monthly assignment calendar and using a daily “to do” list
Understanding Learning Styles
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Card
Readings:
Selection 1-1: “Why Go to College?” from P.O.W.E.R. LEARNING: Strategies
for Success in College and Life by Robert S. Feldman (Study skills)
Selection 1-2: “Hero on Parade” from The Big Picture by Ben Carson with
Gregg Lewis (Nonfiction)
Selection 1-3:“Saved,” from The Autobiography of Malcolm
X, as told to Alex Haley (Autobiography)
Chapter 2: Approaching College Reading and Developing a College-Level Vocabulary
Skills:
Understanding the Reading Process
Improving Your Reading
- Predicting as you read
- Monitoring your comprehension
- Adjusting your reading rate
Developing a College-Level Vocabulary
- Using context clues
- Using word-structure clues
- Using a dictionary pronunciation key
- Understanding denotations and connotations of words
- Understanding figurative language
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 2-1:“The World Wide Web” by Robert Harris (Information Technology)
Selection 2-2:“The Yellow Ribbon” by Pete Hamill (Literature)
Selection
2-3:“A Whale of a Survival Problem” by John Postlethwait and Janet Hopson
(Biology)
Chapter 3: Approaching College Assignments: Reading
Textbooks and Following Directions
Skills:
College Textbooks: A Process for Reading and Studying Effectively
- Step 1: Prepare to read
- Step 2: Ask and answer questions to guide
your reading
- Step 3: Review by rehearsing your answers
Following Directions in Textbooks and on Tests
- Guidelines for following directions ? Example: Directions from a Textbook ? Example: Directions on a test
Creating Your Summary:
Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 3-1:“How to Find the Time to Read” by Louis Shores (Essay)
Selection 3-2: “Parenthood” by Diane E. Papalia and Sally Wendkos Olds
(Human development)
Selection 3-3: “Art in the Service of Religion” by Rita Gilbert (Art
appreciation) PART TWO: COMPREHENSION: Understanding College Textbooks by Reading for
Ideas
Chapter 4: Determining the Topic and the Stated Main Idea
Skills:
The Topic of a Paragraph
- What is the topic of a paragraph, and why is it important?
- Determining and expressing the topic
The Stated Main Idea of a Paragraph
- What is a stated main idea, and why is it important?
- Locating the stated main idea sentence
- How to tell if you have identified the stated main idea sentence
- stated overall main idea in a longer passage
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Topics and Stated Main Ideas
Creating
Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 4-1:“The New Workforce” by Michelle Conlin (Magazine article)
Selection 4-2: “Latinos” by Richard J. Gelles and Ann Levine (Sociology)
Selection 4-3:“Muhammad” by Michael Hart (History)
Chapter 5: Formulating Implied Main Ideas
Skills:
Implied Main Ideas in Paragraphs
- What is an implied main idea?
- Why is the implied main idea important?
Formulating an Implied Main Idea
- Steps to follow, How to use information in a paragraph to formulate the main idea
- Requirements for correctly formulated main idea sentences
- Implied overall main idea in a longer passage
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Implied Main Ideas
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 5-1:“Laugh Your Stress Away” by Stephen Lally (Magazine article)
Selection 5-2:“The Changing Roles of Men and Women” by Merrill McLoughlin
and other (Sociology)
Selection 5-3: “Demography?” by Richard J. Gelles and Ann Levine (Sociology)
Chapter 6: Identifying Supporting Details
Skills:
Supporting Details in Paragraphs
- What are supporting details?
- Why are supporting details important?
Identifying and Listing Supporting Detais
Major and Minor Details and How to Tell the Difference
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Supporting Details
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 6-1:“Benjamin Franklin” by Mary L. Sherk (Newspaper article)
Selection 6-2: “Communication Close-Up at Ben and Jerry’s Homemade” by
Courtland Bovée and John Thill (Business)
Selection 6-3: From A Beginner’s Guide to the World Economy by Randy Charles
Epping (Economics)
Chapter 7: Recognizing Authors’ Writing Patterns
Skills:
Patterns of Writing
- What are author's writing patterns?
- Why is recognizing writing patterns important?
Recognizing Author's Writing Patterns
- List pattern
- Sequence pattern
- Definition pattern
- Comparison-contrast pattern
- Cause-effect pattern
- Mixed patterns
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Writing Patterns
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards:
Readings:
Selection 7-1: “Career Choice” by Jack R. Kapoor, et al. (Personal Finance)
Selection 7-2: “The Decision to Marry” by Marvin Levy, Mark Dignan, and
Janet Shirreffs (Health)
Selection 7-3:“Reactions to Impending Death” by Dennis Coon (Psychology)
Chapter 8: Reading Critically
Skills:
What Is Critical Reading?
Critical Reading Skills
- Determining an author's purpose
- Determining an author's intended audience
- Determining an author's point of view
- Determining an author's tone and intended meaning
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Critical Reading
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 8-1: “The Time Message” by Elwood Chapman (Study Skills)
Selection
8-2: From Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Sarah and
Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Memoir)
Selection 8-3: From Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (Fiction)
Chapter 9: Thinking Critically
Skills:
What Is Critical Thinking and Why is it Important?
Critical Thinking Skills
Why Readers Fail to Think Critically
Distinguishing between facts and opinions
Making logical inferences and drawing conclusions
Evaluating an author's argument
Identifying propaganda devices
Distinguishing between inductive and deductive reasoning
A Word about Standardized Reading Tests: Critical Thinking
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Readings:
Selection 9-1: "Sport Utility Vehicles: How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count
the Ways" by Geneva Overholser (Newspaper article)
Selection 9-2: “Why Vote? Politicians Are All the Same" by Janet Flammang,
et al. (Government)
Selection 9-3:“Take Out the Trash and Put It…Where?" by Bernard Gavzer
(Magazine article)
PART THREE: SYSTEMS FOR STUDYING TEXTBOOKS: Developing a System that
Works for You
Chapter 10: Selecting and Organizing Textbook Information
Skills:
Studying Better Rather Than Harder
Three Keys to Studying College Textbooks
- Key 1: Selectivity
- Key 2: Organization
- Key 3: Rehearsal
Using Textbook Features
- Prefaces
- Tables of contents
- Part openings
- Chapter outlines
- Chapter objectives and introductions
- Lists and sequences
- Boxes,Tables,Graphic aids, Vocabulary aids, Study questions and activities
- Chapter summaries, Appendixes, Bibliographies and suggested readings, Indexes, Additional features and supplements
Marking Textbooks: Underlining, Highlighting, and Annotating
Taking notes from Textbooks: Outlining, Mapping, and Summarizing
Interpreting Graphic Material
Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards
Reading:
Selection 10-1: “Intercultural Communication” by Stewart Tubbs and Sylvia
Moss (Speech communicaitons)
Chapter 11: Rehearsing Textbook Information and Preparing for Tests
Skills:
Rehearsal and Memory
Studying for Tests
- General guidelines
- Five-day test review plan
- Using review cards to prepare for a test
- Using test review sheets
Readings:
Selection 11-1: “Communication,” by James Wiggins,
Beverly Wiggins, and James Vander Zanden (Psychology)
Appendix 1: An Introduction To Using Computers, the Internet and the
World Wide Web
Appendix 2: Glossary of Key Terms
Appendix 3: A List of Word Parts
Appendix 4: World Map |
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education