Unit 2 Reading Skills

1. Unit 2Reading Skills

2. Active Reading Reading is like playing football – you need a GOAL and a STRUCTURE • GOAL: what information do I want out of this reading? • STRUCTURE: a mental map 3 ways: • Check your understanding, monitor difficulties • Thinking as you read (with a goal & structure) • Thinking about what you read instead of memorising

3. Skimming a paragraph • Look quickly – get the gist (spot relevant bits) – ignore details & examples • Beginning (main concerns / themes) • Middle (arguments / points / examples) • End (relation between main points & examples, with slight modification)

4. Skimming a chapter • Headings, subheadings & layout • Flip to the end to read SUMMARY first. • Diagrams – capture meaning faster • FIRST paragraph of each section • FIRST sentence of each paragraph • LAST paragraph of a section / LAST TWO paragraphs for conclusion

5. Book • Blurp (to sell) vs Preface (to tell) • Index / glossary – quick & easy search for topics • Appendix – more info • Bibliography – sources & interviews • Footnotes – additional info • References – for confirmation & FURTHER STUDY

6. WEB PAGE • Linear vs Non-linear • text-based vs graphical user interface • Interactivity – activities to engage you • User control – more engaging • CREDIBILITY: check if info is up-to-date

7. Bibliography • A bibliography is a list of books and other printed materials referred to by the writer of a report. • The bibliography is arranged in alphabetical order by authors’ surnames.

8. Hard-copy (Books): • For a book with one author:Surname, First name. Book title in italics. Edition (if available).City of publication: Publisher’s name, Year book published. • Examples: • Kohler, Jane. Human Behavior. Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 1988 • Yu, Alice. The Applied Theory of Price. 3rd ed. Hong Kong: Macmillan, 1997.

9. Hard-copy (Books): • For a book with two authors, place the first author’s name first:Surname, First name, and First name Surname of second author. Book title in italics. Edition(if available).City of publication: Publisher’s name, Year book published. • Example: • Tan, James, and Harry Ang. Singlish and Its Cultural Setting. Singapore: TimesPublishers, 2010.

10. Hard-copy (Articles): • For an article with a known author: • Surname, First name. “Article title within double quotation marks.” Magazine title in italics, Date article appeared, page number (p. 4) or page range (pp. 9-15) of article. • Example: • Tan, Susan. “The CPF Question.” The Straits Times, 20 November 2006, pp. 11-18. • Singh, P.N. "No Go for Leonardo." 8 Days, 3 July 2010, p. 4.

11. Hard-copy (Articles): • For an article with no author given: • “Article title within double quotation marks.” Magazine title in italics, Date article appeared, page number (p. 4) or page range (pp. 9-15) of article. • Example: • "The Internet,untethered." The Economist, 13 October 2011, pp. 3-4.

12. Web Sources • For Internet sources, provide the following information in the given order: • a. Author’s name, for example: Harriet Smith,Wong Siew Mei • b. Title of document in double quotation marks, for example: “Battle of the Bulge.” • c. Title of complete work (if relevant) in italics or underlined

13. Web Sources • d. Date of publication or last revision • e. Full URL in angled brackets, for example:<http://www.example.com/report_writing/25-08-2009/html> • f. Date of access in parentheses, for example: (21 April 2012)

14. Web Examples • 1. BooksPeter J. Bryant, "The Age of Mammals," Biodiversity and Conservation, April 2009, <http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/index.html> (21 July 2010) • 2. Professional Sites • NTUC Income Cooperative, NTUC Income, <http://www.income.com.sg> (14 June 2011) • Singapore Government, Singapore Government Online Portal, <http://www.gov.sg> (3 May 2011)

15. Web Examples • 3. Personal Sites • JasonQuek,"Homepage,"<http://web.singnet.com.sg/~jasonqhs/> (15 July 2011) • 4. Articles in Electronic Magazines (e-zines) • Kevin Bonsor, "How Black Boxes Work," Marshall Brain's HowStuffWorks, <http://www.howstuffworks.com> (13 July 2002) • Nathan Myhrvold, "Confessions of a Cybershaman," Slate, 12 June 1997 <http://www.slate.com/CriticalMass/97-06-12/CriticalMass.asp> (19 May 2001)

16. Web Examples • 5. Newspaper Articles • Christopher Wren, “A Body on Mt. Everest, a Mystery Half-Solved,” New York Times on the Web, 5 May 2009, <http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+87604+0+wAAA+%22a%7Ebody%7Eon%7Emt.%&Eeverest%22> (13 March 2012)

17. Activity 1. How many types of sources are there in a bibliography? What are they? • Two: Hard-copy and Web sources. • 2. How many types of hard-copy sources are there? What are they? • Two: Books and articles. • 3. You have referred to a book with two authors when writing your report. How do you list it in your bibliography? • For a book with two authors, place the first author’s name first: • Surname, First name, and First name Surname of second author. Book title in italics. Edition (if available). City that book was published in: Publisher name, Year that book was published.

18. Activity 4. You have referred to a magazine article without an author when writing your report. How do you list it in your bibliography? • For an article with a known author: • “Article title in double quotation marks.” Magazine title in italics, Date that article appeared, page number (p. 4) or page range (pp. 9-15) for the article.

19. Activity • 5. What are the items that need to be listed when documenting a Web source (in order)? • Author’s name • Title of document in double quotation marks • Title of complete work (if relevant) in italics or underlined • Date of publication or last revision • Full URL in angled brackets • Date of access in parentheses

20. Assignment 1 • Preparation and Progress Check for Assignment 1. • Pair-work on Making a Pitch