NAME ______DATE: ______

PREVIEWING A TEXTBOOK - The first step to succeeding in college!

Have you ever thought about what it means to be an active reader? How do you prepare your mind to read a textbook? A textbook may not be the easiest of books to read, but it is the most organized with many tools for assisting a reader in understanding and working with the information there. Become familiar with our course textbook – understand how it’s organized. Do this 5 minute exercise – you’ll find you save yourself hours of reading once you’re familiar with the text’s organization.

Textbook Title: ______Date of Publication: ______

Course text is used in: ______

Author: ______

Background of Author(s) ______

______

1. Read the Preface or Foreword to the book.

a. What are some of the author’s goals? ______

______

b. What are some of the features of this edition? ______

______

  1. Turn to the Table of Contents. How many Chapters? ______

Locate Chapter 6 in the Table of Contents. What is the title of this chapter:______

a.How many major headings are there in this chapter? ______

b.How many minor headings? ______

c.Is there a summary at the end of the chapter? ______

  1. Open the book to Chapter 6 and quickly page through the chapter, noticing the print style and size of

the headings and subheadings. Notice how they correspond to the print size in the Table of Contents.

4. How are the chapters in this book organized? Circle the organizational tools that are included:

  • Headingssubheadingschapter summaries
  • Chapter introductionsdifferent types of print
  1. What Study Aids are included?
  • Charts, graphs, diagramspicturesbibliographies or references
  • Study questionsfootnotesauthor’s notes
  • Supplementary readingsother ______
  1. Describe the page layout.

Print is easily readable spaced out page information confusing to follow

Print too small crowded pagewell-organized

Not enough white space perforated pages

Clear spaces between paragraphs not able to tear our pages

  1. What information will you find in the Appendices in this book? ______

______

______

  1. Glossary – is there one in your text? ______What will you find here? ______

______

  1. Index – Does this book have one? _____ on pages _____ to ______

Using the Index, on what pages would you find information about Previewing? ______

Where would you find information about finding the Main Idea in longer selections? ______

Where would you find information regarding levels of reading comprehension? ______

Look at the topics in the index – list 5 you are familiar with and 5 you don’t know anything about.

Topics you know
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. / Topics you don’t know
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
  1. Summary of your research: Put a check mark next to each of the following tools your text has:

Table of Contents / Chapter Titles / Subheadings
Introductions / Headings / Boldface print
Summary or conclusion / Italic words / Learning objectives
Review questions / Key words in the margins / Glossary
Exercises for practice / White space for notetaking / Graphic aids – pictures, graphs, tables, charts
Preface
  1. What are you supposed to read for this week’s assignment? ______

______

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