AcDv B61: Textbook Skills Bakersfield College Jessica Wojtysiak AcDv B61: Textbook Skills

Let’s review Prereading: Survey the text; conduct research Question: Ask questions about how or why something is relevant to you. Why is the instructor teaching me this? Read: For Comprehension Summarize: Write to show your knowledge and test yourself Cornell Notes: Take notes to allow you to follow the steps: reduce, recite, review

A comprehensive, multi-step reading/learning system SQ3r A comprehensive, multi-step reading/learning system

SQ3R S Survey (Preview) Q Question (Ask Guiding Questions) R Read (Read for Meaning) R Recall (Test Yourself) R Review (After you read)

Survey Become familiar with the content and organization of written material before reading Also called previewing or prereading

Question Ask questions that focus your attention on what you need to learn and remember.

Different types of questions Literal: Who, What, When, Where? Inferential: Why or how? Critical: Should? What if?

Sample Questions What is this chapter/section about? How does this information help me? Why am I reading this? Should the author have included something else? What if the author considered this?

Literal V. Figurative Language Literal Language: Uses Words as expected, according to their standard meanings Figurative language: Not obvious or literal. Figurative language introduces ambiguity due to its specialized use of language.

Why do you care? Asking the right (literal and figurative) questions will help you improve your understanding of a text.

Theme Unifying idea behind a text; the writer’s underlying point. Thematic concepts involve people, the human condition, and other broad, philosophical ideas.

Figurative Language Simile Metaphor Personification Alliteration Hyperbole

Simile A figurative comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as.” “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”  ― Albert Einstein

Metaphor A figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them Rhetorically stronger than a simile.

Metaphor example “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”

The gift of one or more human characteristics to an animal or thing. Personification The gift of one or more human characteristics to an animal or thing.

Personification The flame of the candle danced in the wind. The angry clouds marched across the sky. My computer hates me. The flowers begged for water. The wind screamed. The carved pumpkin smiled at me.

Usually used for emphasis. Alliteration The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of a phrase. Usually used for emphasis.

Alliteration Examples Krispy Kreme, Donald Duck & Mickey Mouse She sells sea shells by the seashore. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Hyperbole The figurative use of excessive exaggeration to make a point. Hyperbole is not meant to be taken literally.

Hyperbole If I don’t get a smart phone, I’ll die. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. Jessica gave us a ton of homework. My dad is going to kill me. Summer break is never going to come. Her new car cost a billion dollars.

Any Questions? Any Questions about these Literary Terms and their use in creating good questions for SQ3R?

Read for Meaning Answer your guide questions Highlight/annotate/take notes for important information in paragraphs

See if you can answer your questions without help Recite (Recall) Cover the text See if you can answer your questions without help

To Complete these Steps, You Must… Analyze the content you preview Know how to develop the correct questions Read for answers through understanding

SQ3R Homework Complete the Sq3r Worksheet (pages 21-22 in the handout packet) Use Chapter 3: Understanding Paragraphs: Supporting Details and Transitions Due in 1 week