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 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 Developing a College-Level Vocabulary 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 Following Directions in Textbooks and on Tests 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 The Stated Main Idea of a Paragraph 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 Formulating an Implied Main Idea 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 Identifying and Listing Supporting Details 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 Bovee 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 Recognizing Author's Writing 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 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 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 Using Textbook Features 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 Creating Your Summary: Developing Chapter Review Cards Reading: 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

About the Author

Joe Cortina earned his B.A. degree in English from San Diego State University and his master's degree and doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction in reading from the University of North Texas. He has taught undergraduate teacher education courses in reading at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University. In 1981 he was selected to represent the Dallas County Community College District as a nominee for the Piper Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition, Dr. Cortina was chosen as his division's Piper Award nominee for excellence in teaching in 1987, 1988,, and 1993. In 1992 he was selected as an honored alumnus by the Department of Elementary, Early Childhood, and Reading Education at the University of North Texas, and in 1994 he was a recipient of an Excellence Award given by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. In addition to teaching reading courses at Richland College, he has served as faculty leader of Richland's Writing Across the Curriculum Program. Dr. Cortina has served as a member of the advisory board of The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. He is a frequent speaker at professional meetings. He has worked with Janet Elder as a writing team since 1985. Their first book, Comprehending College Textbooks: Steps to Understanding and Remembering What You Read, is now in its third edition. The second edition of Opening Doors: Understanding College Reading was published in 1998. Janet Elder was graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin with a B.A. in English and Latin. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was the recipient of a government fellowship for Southern Methodist University's Reading Research Program, which resulted in a master's degree. Her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction in reading is from Texas Woman's University, where the College of Education presented her the Outstanding Dissertation Award. She established the Richland College Honors Program and directed it for many years. She periodically serves as a member of the teaching teams in honors English and humanities courses. She has served ona task force that reevaluated Richland's college-wide writing program. She received the Extra Mile Award from special services students, has been her division's Piper Award nominee for excellence in teaching, and in 1993 received an Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. She used a recent sabbatical to create multimedia instructional materials. In addition, Dr. Elder and Dr. Gonnet co-authored the reading section of How to Prepare for the TASP, 2/e, a study guide for entering college students who must take the Texas Academic Skills Program Test.Dr. Elder serves as a presenter at many professional conferences.