Table of Contents

The Introduction sets the foundation for students enrolled in this course. Important topics of discussion include understanding college jargon, habits of successful students, managing time, combating procrastination, and effectively utilizing course textbooks and lectures.

The Reading Engagement chapter explains some essential skills that are required for students to successfully engage in the reading process. Important topics of discussion include active reading strategies, making meaningful annotations while reading, responding to and engaging with texts, and applying critical thinking strategies before, during, and after reading.

One major obstacle for students is the task of preparing for and taking exams. There are many reasons why this is viewed as an obstacle and there are various responses to the idea of taking exams. However, what if taking exams didn't have to be viewed as an obstacle? What if students could be better prepared for their exams? What if students didn't have a physical or negatively emotional reaction to exams? This section discusses each of these points and provides students with ways to better prep

Enhancing one's vocabulary will directly impact reading rate, comprehension, and analysis of a given text. Beyond reading, enhancing vocabulary greatly impacts writing and communication skills. This chapter addresses these topics and the impact vocabulary has on reading abilities.

Typically, if readers can identify and understand the point an author is making, most of the other elements will "fall into place." This chapter discusses the importance of identifying topics, main ideas (stated and implied) and theses, and supporting details. Furthermore, this chapter builds on these basic skills so students are able to identify relationships between ideas, and distinguish the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing.

Making inferences is an important skill for readers to grasp because authors are not going to always be direct in saying what they mean; they will imply it. This chapter provides students with an understanding of figurative language, which is not literal, and how to make logical and appropriate inferences while reading.

Recognizing patterns of organization in an author's writing is another skill essential to comprehension and navigation of a text. This chapter requires students to recall their knowledge of transitions to assist in identifying the pattern(s) an author uses to write. Understanding pattern types also allows students to identify main ideas, theses, and central points of a text.

Being able to understand, analyze, evaluate, and summarize data that is presented visually in charts, graphs, tables, pictures, etc. is an essential skill to possess. Being able to demonstrate those skills enables readers to understand what an author is saying, whether those ideas are presented visually or using the written word. This chapter identifies and explains the necessary steps students must take in order to efficiently and effectively grasp the concepts an author presents in visual form

Sometimes, an author will not be direct in saying what they mean. Therefore, it is a critical reader's responsibility to identify an author's purpose for writing, the tone in which they write, and any biases that may be present in their writing. This chapter identifies how students approach each of those three necessary skills.

The research process is a core component in most academic settings. This chapter presents various facets of this process, including navigating databases and resources to find quality information from reliable sources, citing sources appropriately, avoiding plagiarism, and analyzing and evaluating sources.