Reading strategies

DIFFERENT KINDS OF TEXTS, SERVING DIFFERENT PURPOSES, REQUIRE DIFFERENT READING STRATEGIES

The following are the most commonly used strategies for reading scientific texts:

A. SKIMMING - This involves:

1. Reading through the opening section until you have some idea of what the writer's thesis is — what he's out to reveal or prove. Usually the first paragraph will be enough, but some­times the writer doesn't get down to his actual thesis until after a few introductory paragraphs. If this seems to be the case, glance over the introductory section and only begin reading carefully after the writer actually gets down to the issue he's presently concerned with. Then when you feel you know what his thesis is, you can start to «skim» rapidly through the rest of the text.

2. Glancing over the rest of the text, paragraph by para­graph, trying to locate the key sentence within each paragraph and to follow the writer's train of thought (to follow his argu­ment). If you get lost (if you find that you no longer know what he's talking about) backtrack a bit and try to find out where you got lost and what new idea he introduced at that point (you may have missed it because it was in the middle of a paragraph, and not at the beginning or end, where new ideas are most commonly introduced).

3. Reading through the closing section to see if you actually did understand the thesis in the opening section (which, pre­sumably, you were able to follow by glancing through the body of the text). The conclusion usually refers back to the opening and confirms the thesis presented there, sometimes summariz­ing the important material in the body of the text which was meant to support the thesis.

B. SCANNING

This involves glancing over the individual lines of the text, looking for specific pieces of information (names, dates, sub­titles, a key sentence introducing a specific idea you're par­ticularly interested in, the place in the text where one section ends and a new idea is introduced, etc.)

C. READING INTENSIVELY

Once you know which parts of the text contain the infor­mation you're particularly interested in, you can concentrate on reading those parts with special care, weighing each word to make sure that you haven't misunderstood or missed anything the writer communicated either directly (explicitly) or indi­rectly (implicitly). Look up the words you don't understand in a good dictionary. If you're not sure you understood exactly what the writer means, go back to see if the preceding context is helpful. If that doesn't help, read ahead to see if what fol­lows clarifies for you.

Exercise:

The following list includes various kinds of texts. Decide which of the three strategies — or which combination of them, and in what order — would be suitable for each:

1. a menu

2. a page in the dictionary

3. a road map

4. a diagram in a scientific article

5. an article in a scientific journal reporting on the research of someone in your field whose work you admire

6. an article in «Time» or «Newsweek»

7. a caption under a photograph

8. a page in the telephone book

9. an advertisement for something you're thinking of buying

10. a label on a food package

11. instructions for the use of a new appliance

12. the note included in the box of a prescription drug giving active ingredients, dosage, side effects, storage instruc­tions, etc.

13. a book on your course bibliography

14. a poem

15. a short story

16. a novel

17. a set of classroom notes borrowed from your friend before the final exam in a course you have seldom attended

18. an article written by a professor whose course you're taking

READING/WRITING ABSTRACTS*

* Based on a Manual-Publications of the American Psycholigical Asso­ciation Abstracts (1974)

An abstract is a brief summary of the content and purpose of an article. In some journals, the abstract is used in place of a concluding summary. The abstract allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly. It is self-contained, fully intelligible without reference to the body of the paper. Infor­mation or conclusions that do not appear in the paper are not supposed to appear in the abstract.

(suggested length: 100-175 words)

I. An Abstract of a Research Article usually includes:

1. statement of problem

2. method

3. results

4. conclusions

It should specify: subject population (number, type, age, sex, etc.)

It should describe: research design, test instruments (i.e. questionnaires, tests, interviews), research apparatus of data gathering procedures

It should summarize: data or findings

It should report: inferences or comparisons or conclusions drawn from results

II. An Abstract of a Review or a Theoritical Article should include:

1. Topics covered

2. Central thesis

3. The Sources used (i.e. personal observation of author, review of published literature, or present, current research bear­ing on topic and conclusions drawn)

It should be short but informative.

Exercise:

A. Read the abstracts in the following set of 9. Categorize each abstract as one based on:

(a) a research article

(b) a review of research in a given field

(c) a theoretical article.

B. Using I and II above as an inventory checklist, see how many of the items listed for each type of article can be found in each of the abstracts.

Abstract No. 1

Kufeldt, Kathleen & Nimmo, Margaret (Faculty Social Wel­fare U Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4), Youth on the Street: «Abuse and Neglect in the Eighties», CHILD ABUSE AND NE­GLECT, 1987, 11, 4, 531-542.

A report on an interview study of runaways & homeless youth (n = 489) conducted over a 1-year period in Calgary, Alberta. Analysis reveals two distinct groups: the true «run­ners» tend to leave their homes with the intention of not re­turning & thus their runs are extended: «in & outers» use the run as a temporary coping mechanism & their runs tend to be impulsive & of short duration. Findings also indicate that run­aways, in particular the runners, are at great risk of being drawn into illegal activities; major factors affecting this risk are dis­tance from home & length of time on the run. A significant proportion of Rs had run from substitute care arrangements. Results imply that adolescents in Canadian society suffer from systemic abuse & neglect. This researh led to the opening of a safe house for early runners in Jan. 1987. The operation of the house includes careful compilation of data to further advance understanding of the runaway population & its needs. 4 Tables, 6 Figures, 1 Appendix, 19 References. Modified HA (Copy­right 1989, Socioligical Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved).

Abstract No. 2

Tinsley, Barbara J. & Parke, Ross D. (Dept Speech Commu­nication U Illinois, Urbana 61801), «Grandparents as Interac­tive and Social Support Agents for Families with Young In­fants», INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, 1987, 25, 4, 259-277.

The role of grandparents in infant development is investi­gated in a comparative analysis of grandparent-infant grand­child & parent-child interaction patterns in 30 Caucasian Mc families. The extent to which grandparents serve as social sup­port agents for their adult children & grandchildren is also examined. Observations of dyadic play sessions between 51 grandparents & their 30 7-month old grandchildren were com­pared with those between the infants & their parents using both time-sampling & global coding schemes; information on grandparental support relative to other social support services was obtained via questionnaires completed by both parents & grandparents. Results indicate that both grandmothers & grand­fathers are interactive & support agents, with a pattern of simi­larities & differences in interactive style evident across genera­tion & gender. There is a high degree of overlap in parent and grandparent interaction style, but parents appear more compe­tent; both parents & grandparents report a high degree of satis­faction with their level of intergenerational contact. Results support an expanded view of the effects of various agents in young children's social environments. 3 Tables, 40 References. Modified HA (Copyright, 1989, Sociological Abstracts, Ins., all rights reserved).

Abstract No. 3

Chovanes, Andrew B. «On Vietnamese and other Peasants», JOURNAL OF SOUTHEAT ASIAN STUDIES (Singapore) 1986 17(2): 203-235. There are serious theoretical and meth­odological issues concerning revolutionary activity. These are examined in extensive critiques of James Scott's The Moral Economy of the Peasantry and Samuel Popkin's The Rational Peasant, both studies of the Vietnamese peasant's role in the revolution, in the light of other work on peasants. Proposed is a «transcultural grammar that would view history as non-pro-gressional, not the inevitable outcome of class conflict, the most revolutionary group as that with nothing to lose, the pres­ence of organizational factors which provide a new form of consciousness». 175 notes.

P.M. Gustafson

Abstract No. 4

Vasquez, John A. «Capability, types of War, Peace». WEST­ERN POLITICAL QUARTERLY 1986 39(2): 313-327. Whether a balance of power or a preponderance of power produces peace has long been a debate within the traditional literature. The quantitative analysis of Singer, Bremer, and Stuckey (1972) added to this puzzle the findinig that the balance of power was associ­ated with peace in the 19th century but with war in the 20th century. A careful review of that study, more recent empirical work, and the logic underlying traditional explanations suggest that neither a balance nor a preponderance of power is associ­ated with peace, but with different types of war. The author utilized both behavioral and historical approaches to construct a typology of war that will more clearly elucidate the varying role of capability in different wars. Classifies wars along three di­mensions — whether they are fought between equals or unequals; are limited or total; or are dyadic or complex.

Abstract No. 5

Seccombe, Ian J. «Immigrant Workers in Emigrant Economy: An Examination of Replacement Migration in the Middle East». INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (Belgium) 1986 24(2): 377-396. Jordan, with its relatively skilled labor force experienced significant unmonitored labor emigration to meet the growing regional demand for labor that followed the 1973-74 oil price increases. During this period, however, do­mestic labor demand was also increasing dramatically. This demand was met, to a great extent, by undocumented workers. Legal foreign workers in the mid-1970s, in accordance with Jordan's 1960 labor law, were predominantly from other Arab countries, but Asian workers, usually under contract to Asian

companies operating in Jordan, increased in number rapidly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Considerable exploitation of foreign workers and abuse of the labor law have occurred. 27 ref., 6 tables. French and Spanish summaries.

C.Moody

Abstract No. 6

Soffer, Amon. «Lebanon — Where Demography is the Core of Politics and Life». MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES (Great Britain) 1986 22(2); 197-205. Government and intercommu-nal relations in Lebanon since 1943 have been based on a solitary population census taken in 1932, which has resulted in political relationships in the state being based on a ratio of 6:5 in favor of the Christians. This article attempts to establish the size of Lebanon's population, the sizes of the various groups within it, and the population distribution. In all cases figures could only be estimated based on best available data, but they showed that the Muslims had become a majority, that geo­graphical distribution had changed little, and that the demo­graphic strength of the Muslim community and its socioeconomic weakness were factors that could not be ignored if Leba­non were to have a future. Based on statistics from the Leba­nese government, the UN and UNRWA and secondary sources; 3 tables, map, 27 notes.

F.A. Clements

Abstract No. 7

Mohan, Bernard and Helmer, Sylvia. «Context and Second Language Development: Preschoolers' Comprehension Ges­tures». (UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA). There is wide agreement that non-verbal information, and contextual information generally, plays an important role in language understanding for second language learners. This raises the question of whether learners understand non-verbal communi­cation. The «traditional» view of the role of context in lan­guage learning assumes that they do. The «social semiotic» view does not, holding that contextual understanding is devel­oped in the process of communicative interaction. Contextual understanding is therefore likely to vary with age and cultural familiarity.

This paper investigates the understanding of English speak­ers' gestures by preschool children, comparing native English speakers (age four to five) with non-native speakers. Thirty -six emblems and illustrators, two forms of commonly used ges­tures, were decoded by forty children, twenty native speakers, and twenty English as a second language (ESL) speakers. The gestures chosen were screened by a panel of ten ESL teachers who considered them to be typical of classroom interaction.

It was found that the children, on average, understood about half of the gestures. ESL children understood less than native speakers. Analysis of variance results indicate that there is an effect for age as well as a strong effect for cultural familiarity (native speakers vs. ESL). There were significant correlations for the sequence of acquisition of gestures across all groups.

Results therefore contradicted the «traditional» view and were consistent with the «social semiotic» view. It is suggested that research on the role of context in second language learn­ing should take account of the social semiotic and study the mutual development of language learning and cultural learning in the process of communicative interaction.

READING/WRITING A SUMMARY

A. READING SUMMARIES WITHIN A TEXT

When skimming a long text, a good reader can spot those parts of the text where the writer has summarized the points of his argument — either before he is about to present these points, or just after he has presented them. This is basically the same reading skill involved in spotting the sentence which seems to summarize the main ideas in each paragraph.

In some long texts, the entire introductory section may be a summary of the important points in the text (i.e., it may be a plan or map of the argument that the writer is about to present). In such cases, the introductory section serves the same function as the Preface or Foreward to a book.

Similarly, a writer may pause to summarize what he has already told us before going on to some new aspect of his argument. Such brief summaries are easier to spot if the writer has included subtitles for each part of his argument. The sum­mary of each part would most likely be found at the end of that part (before the next subtitle), end is often signaled by words such as: thus, hence, in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude and conclusion.

The final section of a long academic article is often a sum­mary of the main ideas in the article. When this is the case, by reading the introductory and final sections — even before he has skimmed the body of the text — the reader can get a good idea of what the paper is all about.

In general, an introductory summary should be used as a guide to reading: it's as useful to the reader as a map is to the navigator of some unknown territory. A concluding summary helps the reader to control for important points he may have missed or misunderstood in the course of reading the body of the text. The skilled reader will immediately go back to the body of the text to find or clarify anything in the summary that is unfamiliar or unclear.

B. WRITING A SUMMARY (AFTER HAVING READ A TEXT)

There is a paradox involved in trying to summarize a text. On the one hand, the summary must be general and focus on the most important ideas, at times substituting a single gener­alization for an extended segment of text, or not even men­tioning other segments of the text because in your judgement, they add nothing new. For example, you may refer to part of the text as «the author's analysis of English economy» even though the text does not provide that label. On the other hand, your summary must be specific and refer to important facts, to points crucial to the development of the argument, or even to examples that provide essential support. It should also be writ­ten in precise and specific language that reflects your analysis of the text.

Before you can write a good summary you must understand and analyze the text. You will probably have to read the text, or at least parts of the text, more than once in order to answer such questions as the following:

1. What is the controlling idea or the main idea of the article?

2. What is the purpose of the article (regardless of whether the purpose is stated explicitly or only implied)?

3. How does the author develop his main idea — that is, what information is used to support the argument and how is the information organized?

4. What is the author's attitude toward the subject?

Theoretically, a summary can be as short as a single sen­tence or as long as about one fourth of the original. How long a summary should be and what kinds of information it should include and leave out depends on the purpose of the summary. If you are summarizing an article in order to organize and study the information it presents for an examination, for ex­ample, you will probably prefer a longer summary that in­cludes essential facts and some examples that illustrate impor­tant points. On the other hand, if your purpose is to make a bibliographic note of the main idea of an article you have consulted in writing a paper, a sentence or two may be enough to remind you what the article was about.

GRAMMAR: Comparison of adjectives

Main articles: Comparison (grammar) and Comparative

In many languages, adjectives can be compared. In English, for example, we can say that a car is big, that it is bigger than another is, or that it is the biggest car of all. Not all adjectives lend themselves to comparison, however; for example, the English adjective extinct is not considered comparable, in that it does not make sense to describe one species as "more extinct" than another. However, even most non-comparable English adjectives are still sometimes compared; for example, one might say that a language about which nothing is known is "more extinct" than a well-documented language with surviving literature but no speakers. This is not a comparison of the degree of intensity of the adjective, but rather the degree to which the object fits the adjective's definition.

Comparable adjectives are also known as "gradable" adjectives, because they tend to allow grading adverbs such as very, rather, and so on.

Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared in this way, different approaches are used. Indeed, even within English, two different approaches are used: the suffixes -er and -est, and the words more and most. (In English, the general tendency is for shorter adjectives and adjectives from Anglo-Saxon to use -er and -est, and for longer adjectives and adjectives from French, Latin, Greek, and other languages to use more and most.) By either approach, English adjectives therefore have positive forms (big), comparative forms (bigger), and superlative forms (biggest). However, many other languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms.

[edit] Restrictiveness

Main article: Restrictiveness

Attributive adjectives, and other noun modifiers, may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun's referent, hence "restricting" its reference) or non-restrictively (helping to describe an already-identified noun). In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, in Spanish la tarea difícil means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task that is difficult" (restrictive), whereas la difícil tarea means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task, which is difficult" (non-restrictive). In English, restrictiveness is not marked on adjectives, but is marked on relative clauses (the difference between "the man who recognized me was there" and "the man, who recognized me, was there" being one of restrictiveness).

1. Positive forms of adjectives preceded and followed by As
The unaltered form of an adjective is often referred to as the positive form of the adjective. In the preceding chapter, only the positive form of adjectives was used.
The positive forms of adjectives referring to qualities can be used in making certain types of comparisons. For example, in the following sentences, the positive forms of the adjectives proud and intelligent are combined with the word as in order to make comparisons.
e.g. She is as proud as a peacock.
They are as intelligent as I am.

When used in making comparisons, the positive form of an adjective is usually employed as a predicate adjective, preceded and followed by the word as. This construction is summarized below, followed by examples.

noun, pronoun or	to be		positive		noun, pronoun or
other expression +	or other +	as +	form of +	as +	other expression
representing 1st	linking		adjective		representing 2nd
thing being compared	verb				thing being compared
Swans	are	as	white	as	snow.
Tom	is	as	tall	as	his father.

This type of construction can be used to indicate that the things being compared are equal in some respect. For instance, the first example indicates that swans and snow are equally white. The second example indicates that Tom and his father are equally tall.
The sentence She is as proud as a peacock gives an example of a traditional English saying which compares a person having a certain quality to an animal which is noted for possessing that quality. In the following sentences, the traditional expressions are underlined.
e.g. He is as clever as a monkey.
She is as wise as an owl.
My sister looks as pretty as a princess.
The use of this construction with as to compare two different types of thing, such as a person and an animal, results in a type of comparison referred to as a simile.
See Exercise 1.
The meaning of an expression using as, followed by an adjective, followed by as can be qualified by adverbs such as not, almost, twice, three times, half, one-third and so on. The adverbs in the following sentences are underlined.
e.g. He is not as hard-working as his brother.
She is almost as tall as he is.
Her sister is twice as old as I am.
A millimeter is one-tenth as long as a centimeter.
As shown below, in such a construction, the adverb is placed before the first occurrence of the word as.

noun, pronoun or						noun, pronoun or
other expression	to be			positive		other expression
representing +	or other +	adverb +	as +	form of +	as +	representing
1st thing	linking			adjective		2nd thing
being compared	verb					being compared
He	is	nearly	as	clever	as	his uncle.
The trees	are	not	as	tall	as	the house.

See Exercise 2.
a. The positive form combined with a noun
The construction as, followed by an adjective, followed by as can also be combined with a noun, as shown in the following examples.
e.g. Gail is as strong a swimmer as Beth.
Mabel is as clever an administrator as Robin.
The girls are as good students as the boys.
In the first example, Gail is being compared as a swimmer to Beth. In the second example, Mabel is being compared as an administrator to Robin. In the third example, the girls are being compared as students to the boys.
As illustrated in these examples, if the noun following the adjective is a singular countable noun, it must be separated from the adjective by the indefinite article a or an. The position of a or an is indicated in the summary below.

		positive	a or
	as +	form of +	an +	noun +	as
		adjective
He is	as	fine	a	man	as	his father.
She is	as	good	an	instructor	as	her colleague.

In the case of plural nouns, no article is required.
e.g. The boys are as reliable workers as one can find.
They are as powerful athletes as their competitors.

See Exercise 3.

b. The use of ellipsis
The construction as followed by an adjective, followed by as, can also be combined with longer phrases and clauses, as illustrated in the following examples.
e.g. New York is as distant from San Francisco as Boston is from London.
Music is as important to Cora as literature is to her brother.

In the first example, the distance of New York from San Francisco is being compared to the distance of Boston from London. In the second example, the importance of music to Cora is being compared to the importance of literature to her brother.

The preceding examples illustrate the use of ellipsis. The sentences could also be written as follows. The words which would usually be omitted are enclosed in square brackets.
e.g. New York is as distant from San Francisco as Boston is [distant] from London.
Music is as important to Cora as literature is [important] to her brother.
In such sentences, the adjective in the second part of the sentence is usually omitted, in order to make the sentence less awkward.
Ellipsis is also commonly used following a noun representing the second thing being compared. For instance, in the following sentences, the final verbs are omitted.
e.g. He is as tall as his brother.
I am as good a swimmer as her sisters.
These sentences could also be written:
e.g. He is as tall as his brother is.
I am as good a swimmer as her sisters are.
In informal English, the final verb is usually not omitted following a personal pronoun representing the second thing being compared.
e.g. I am as tall as he is.
She is as good a swimmer as I am.
However, in formal English, the final verb following a personal pronoun representing the second thing being compared is sometimes omitted.
e.g. I am as tall as he.
She is as good a swimmer as I.
c. The use of the subjective case
As shown above, when a personal pronoun is used in a comparison to represent the second thing being compared, the subjective case of the pronoun should be used. The reason for this is that the pronoun is the subject of a verb, even when the verb is omitted by means of ellipsis.
In informal English, the objective case of such personal pronouns is sometimes used.
e.g. I am as tall as him.
She is as good as swimmer as me.
However, this use of the objective case is considered to be grammatically incorrect.

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