Contemporary Reading Habits Assignment Who’s reading what? Let’s find out!

Index  Essential Questions  Subsidiary Questions  Part 1 Instructions Table #1 Assignment Template Step 2 and Table 2 Step 3 Table 3 Assignment Template  Part 2 Instructions Making An Excel Chart  Part 3 Instructions Results of a nation-wide survey  California Content Standard ELA  References

Essential Questions How has the internet affected people’s reading habits? What do you think this means for the future of reading? Index

Subsidiary Questions What are people reading now? Where are they reading it? How is that different now compared to twenty years ago? Index

Part 1 Instructions In this assignment, you will see what and how your peers at school and in this country are getting information these days. You will start by choosing ten of your peers and conducting a simple survey. You start by asking them what they prefer to read: books, newspapers, magazines, other, or nothing. Fit the information into the first table here. Index Hey! Why do I need to do this? Here is why!

Table # 1 Prefer BooksPrefer Magazines Prefer Newspapers Prefer something else Never read List names Part1Instructions

Step 2 and Table 2 Next you will ask them their preferred format: in print or on-line. Fit that information into the second table here. Prefer to read in printPrefer to read on-line List names Part1Instructions

Step 3  Third, choose one magazine or newspaper and research its publication figures on-line. You may use any of these web sites or related ones ( and/or html ) and see what the publication’s circulation was twenty years ago (before we had the internet in our daily lives) and today (when we get much or even most of our information on-line). Put these numbers into the third table html Part 1 Instructions

Table # 3 Newspaper/Magazine title:________________ Circulation per day 1987 Newspaper/Magazine title:_____________ Circulation per day 2007 Print number of copies: Part 1 Instructions

Part 2 Instructions Take the data from the above tables and turn them into three charts. These will make it easier for us to get an idea of the results! Your first two tables should be in the form of pie charts. Your third table should be a column chart. You should use Microsoft Excel. Most of you are already familiar with Excel to create charts, but if you are not, please refer to the following tutorial to learn how to make pie and column charts. You will need to print out your three charts for your presentation. Index

Making an Excel Chart  Enter the data into the worksheet.  Select over the text you want to make your chart with.  Click Insert --> Chart.  Select the type of chart you want, either pie or columns.  Confirm or change your data range.  Update the Chart Options: enter the name of the chart and titles.  Select that you want to put it in a new worksheet.  Click Finish to create the chart.  Resize each chart so each one fills a separate page: click on its border and drag any of the nine black handles to increase the size.  Copy the chart to Microsoft Word: select the chart and click Copy. Open the destination document in Word and click Paste. A graphic version of the tutorial may also be accessed on-line at: Part 2 Instructions

Part 3 Instructions Compare your answer with the national statistics and write one or several paragraphs on your observations. The next slide contains the results of a recent national survey Index

Results of a Nation-wide Survey Source: charts used for illustration only Part 3 Instructions

Finished? Index

California Content Standards ELA  Writing 1.6: Develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and coherent research strategies (e.g. interviews)  Speaking 2.1: Deliver reflective presentations  Research and Technology 1.8: Integrate databases, graphics, and spreadsheets into word processed documents These can be found at the following web site: Index Back to Part I Instructions