Gang of One  Reading A ssignment                                  

Content Area: Preface

 

 

Name_________________________________

 

Now that you have read the handout on reading strategies, methods, and tips, let’s try a little experiment.  First of all, read through the Preface of Gang of One, pp. ix-xi.  Just read it straight through.  Do not apply any of the reading strategies.  Then go through the questions below and answer as many of them as you can, using pencil.  How many were you able to answer?

 

Now go back and reread the Preface, following the reading tips on the handout, marking main and supporting ideas and responding to the text.  When you have finished, see how many of the questions you can answer this time.  Did you retain more information?  Go back into the Preface to double check your answers.

(from : Jane Burgstaler) 

1.  What is the name of the author of the book?  _______________________________________

 

 

2.  Is the author an American citizen?  ___________________________

 

 

3.  From what country did the author come?  _______________________________

 

 

4. What educational degree does the author hold?

      a. no degree       b. high school diploma      c. Bachelor’s degree      d. Master’s degree       e. Ph.D.

        

 

5.  The author’s parents were loyal followers of what political party?  __________________________

 

 

6.  What does the given (first) name of the author mean, and why did his parents give him that name? 

      (2 points)

 

 

 

 

 

7.  Who is the “Great Leader”?  _______________________________________   

 

 

8.  The author says that his parents did their best to raise him to be a good little what? 

 

     _________________________________________

 

9.  What is the “evil thing” that caused their best wishes to fail?  ______________________________

 

 

 

 

 

10.  Write a sentence in your own words that states the main point the author wishes to convey in the Preface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.  What three major worries or concerns did the author have about writing and eventually publishing this book?

 

            1)

 

 

 

 

 

            2)

 

 

 

 

 

            3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12.  Write down one vocabulary word from the Preface which was unfamiliar to you.  Then try to guess its meaning from the surrounding context.

 

      Word:

 

 

      Possible meaning:

 

 

Strategies for Effective Reading

 

Often—perhaps most of the time—when we are assigned something to read, we figure all we need to do is sit down, read straight through as quickly as we can, and we are finished.  But think a minute.  When you do that, how much do you really comprehend?  How much do you remember?  Believe it or not, there is a right and a wrong way to read for knowledge and understanding.  You will find that you will comprehend, appreciate, retain, and, yes, even enjoy what you read better if you apply certain reading techniques or strategies. 

 

There are many “methods” or strategies, but most of them all have certain things in common—and they work.  Try following the recommendations on this handout every time you read, especially if it is something you need to understand or to remember, and—guaranteed—you will see an improvement in your reading.  The key is to read actively, to become involved.

 

Tip 1:  PREVIEW before you read.  Quickly scan the title and any subtitles, headings, or inserts

in the reading.  Also look at any pictures or other visuals and their captions.  What questions come to mind about them?  What do you want to know?  Read any background information the text gives you about the author or subject, and pay close attention to any study questions that may be at the end of a chapter.  Then read the first and last paragraphs of articles or chapters.  They often contain the basic information you need to know.  Finally, glance through the first sentences of each paragraph.  There you will likely find the main points of the paragraphs to help give you a grasp of the selection ’s overall organization.  All this will not take much more than five minutes and may give you enough information to get by in a pinch—but not in this class, of course.

 

Tip 2:  Actively read the selection.  React to the text.  What do you think about the ideas

expressed?  Do you agree or disagree?  Comment to the author.  Tell him or her how you

feel about what is written, what you think about the points being made, the examples, the writing style.  Write this commentary or reactions in the margins.  The most important goal is to identify the author’s main point.  The one question you must always seek to answer is, “What is the main idea here?”  Hint:  You can usually find the main idea stated in a sentence near the end of the introduction and/or in the concluding paragraph(s).  Sometimes, though, you will need to figure it out on your own from the information given.  Highlight or underline major points.  Examine supporting details—are they sufficient? clear? relevant? interesting?  Depending on the type of writing, these may be in the form of examples, facts, statistics, or narrative anecdotes (stories).  Jot down your thoughts and comments in the margins as you read.

 

Tip 3:  Be alert for vocabulary.  Writers select their words very carefully.  It is important to

know what those words mean in the context of the reading—both their denotation and their connotation.  If you do not know the meaning of a word, first try to figure it out from its context.  That means its use in the sentence and the words surrounding it as well as the situation being described.  Then check in a dictionary to see if you are correct.  The basic dictionary definition of a word is its denotation, but for many words, you need to look further than that for complete understanding.  Most words also have a connotation, an extended meaning that often includes emotional overtones or conveys an attitude.  For example, the words “peace officer,” “police officer, ” “cop,” and “county mountie” might all be used to refer to the same law enforcement official, but they do not all convey a neutral meaning.  It is important to be aware of such subtleties.

 

Tip 4:  Learn to draw inferences from what you read.  This means reasoning or making assumptions from the information and the way it is written and presented.  This can be done by asking several questions of the reading.  First of all, what is the author’s purpose in writing?  What is the writer trying to achieve?  What does he or she want to entertain you? to make you  think? to change your opinion? to make you act?  It also helps to know the audience whom the writer had in mind.  Is the piece written for a general audience or for a specific group?  The audience the writer envisions will strongly affect his or her writing.  Perhaps what most affects what inferences we may draw from reading is the author’s tone.  What is the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject?  How does he or she feel about it?  Is the tone humorous, serious or satirical, emotional or analytical, angry or friendly, formal or informal?  

 

Tip 5:  Take a little time to appreciate the writer’s craft—structure, organization and supporting

details, style and tone, vocabulary and use of imagery, irony, metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech, thesis statements and topic sentences, transitional words and phrases, and other techniques.          

           

Tip 6:  And this step is vitally important, so don’t omit it.  Reread.  Read the selection through one more time, especially if it was difficult to understand.  It won’t take all that long at this point, and it will be worth it. It really helps everything to fall together and will greatly increase understanding and retention.  If you really feel that you do not need to reread, try this:  write a one-paragraph summary of the assignment you just read, making that your first sentence states the main point of the reading in your own words and that all of your explanation in your summary consists of complete sentences.  If you cannot do that (and I am sure that I couldn’t), you need to read through one more time.

 

Tip 7:  When you have finished reading, take a minute or two—maybe five or ten if you have them—to think about the reading and write down your impressions of it.  These do not  need to be in sentence form necessarily but can be more of a free-writing reaction.  It is also helpful to outline or summarize the piece and/or discuss it with someone else.

 

If you follow the above recommendations, the reading process may seem at first to take a little longer, but in the long run you will save time because you will understand and retain information better, and you will have ideas written down in the margins or in summaries and reactions that will help you get a jump start on any writing assignments or tests on the material.

 

One well-known “method” for reading textbooks is known as the SQ3R Method.  It is similar to but differs slightly from the tips above and is given on the next page.  On the last page is a further list of  suggestions to help you improve your reading and annotation of what you read.  Study those as well and try what you may find helpful.  The most important thing is to find what works best for you. 

 

 Handout Source: Jane Burgstaler