Helpful Tips For All Readers Dan Murphy Mr. Morrow 5th 9/9/09

Pre-Reading When you pre-read, you are skimming and scanning through the pages. While pre-reading, you want to get information like the authors name, date of publication, the title of the book, notations on the first chapter or two, etc.

Context Clues What are context clues?? How can using context clues benefit me??? When you use context clues you use words around a confusing word or phrase to help get a better understanding of the text. Example: “The only compensation for a broken heart is new love.” The word may be new to you but if you look at other words within the sentence it should begin to make sense. Notice how the underlined word may be one you are unfamiliar with. To help overcome unfamiliar text, we must use words within the same sentence to get a better understanding. You could probably now infer that the word means something along the lines of healing or make up, judging by how the word is used.

Substitution of the word How do I substitute one word for another?? Explanation: when coming across a word that is unfamiliar to you, you may try to substitute a different word in that makes sense based on context clues. Example: The cake was scrumptious! I had to have more!! You may insert a word such as “delicious” or “tasty” based on the context of the sentence.

SQ3R SQ3R is a 5 step process that requires time and patience. These steps have found to help many readers throughout its existence. The steps descend in this order: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. This process can be used when looking at a book for the first time, on passages in a textbook, or when you are simply confused on a certain reading.

Survey The first step in the SQ3R process is survey.Before you engage in your reading, you survey the text. This can also mean to skim. What do I Survey? Survey the Title, Headings, pictures, Back cover, Index, and glossary. How does surveying help? ~ Surveying helps because it allows you to get a general idea of the text and it helps you get started off.

Question The second step in the SQ3R is Question. You should always be asking questions when you read because it opens your mind up to many possibilities and it gets your brain thinking. How? ~ To ask the right question try to relate your question around the main idea of the reading. Ex of when to question: You should always question as soon as you become confused or want to know more about a specific situation.

Read The Third step in the SQ3R process is to read the passage. When reading use the strategies such as context clues,Pre reading, substitution of the word, and synonyms and antonyms. Synonyms are words that are similar to other words and antonyms are words that are opposite of a certain word. Synonyms and antonyms are identify by a term noted as a signal word. Signal words transition other words. Ex. yet, although, compared to, however, and opposed to.

Recite The fourth step in the SQ3R process is to recite the text. When you recite, you want to go through what you have read and create mental images about characters, settings, and events. Also, you are going to highlight main ideas, topics, and recite the information you just read until it makes sense. When? ~ Recite after you read through text until you get a good understanding it. Ex. You just read a story out of a magazine and you notice certain words are bold or underlined. You would now go back and go through the important information in the text.

Review The fifth and final step in the SQ3R process is to review. Once you acknowledge the main points of a passage or article, you must go over those main points. This step is like an overview of everything you have just read. How do I review? ~ There are many different ways to review, therefore there is no specific way, but you can do the best way that works for you. Ex’s.: 1. You can use note cards to go back and remember important words that you made note of when you recited the reading. 2. You can reread the passage quickly one more time. 3. You can make a summary for everything you have read, justifying the main points and explaining maximum details.

THE END! Now you can efficiently Pre-read, use context clues, substitute a word for another, and use the SQ3R method. Coming out of this presentation I hope you have learned many tips that will help you to become a better and more effective reader. These tips can help not only young readers, but all readers in general.