Reading Textbooks (Option)

1. A brief summary of what I learned by reading Chapter 9, Improving Your Reading.

Chapter nine consisted of a lot of key points. Chapter nine described the components of a book. Components such as: front matter, bibliography, authors, index, glossary and preface. Chapter nine also explains different ways content and substance of a book are understood. There are two ways that can be expressed, expository text and narrative text. Expository texts focus on conveying information, whereas narrative texts tell a story. Explanations of strategies to help internalize what you are reading are helpful. Some helpful hints are as follows: Marking up your text book, write summaries of what you are reading, develop mental images of the text you are reading and make questions and predictions about the text as you read. Mind Mapping, a technique which had been discussed in the previous chapter, is also an essential tool to use for reading. By making a map what you are reading, this will help you to remember what you just read and will further your comprehension of the chapter.

2. A description of the chapter you selected to evaluate the Document Reduction method.

The chapter I chose to use the Document Reduction method on is Biology concepts and connections textbook, the chapter was named, The Molecular Biology of a Gene. Topics that were covered are as follow: DNA, RNA, Transcription, Translation and Translocation. There was also memorization of key words such as: Polypeptide, codon, anticondon, RNA polymerase, initiation, elongation, termination and amino acid.

3. A personal evaluation of the Document Reduction method as a tool for reading textbooks and as a tool for studying from textbook.

My personal evaluation of the Document Reduction method is that it works. When reading for school, often times my mind is easily distracted by off topic thoughts. Due to wandering thoughts, after reading a chapter I may not remember anything about the chapter. To diminish the amount of wandering or distraction while reading, document reduction helps reduce the distractions by suggesting that I take notes as I read. This will ensure that I, as a reader, am attentive to what I am reading. Developing visuals of the text as I read is a continual help to me. I am a visual learner, so by having a picture to apply the text to is very beneficial for my success in learning the subject matter. Studying with the Document Reduction method places a visual concept to the topic studied. Data is easily and readily available for a student to obtain; by studying in the Document Reduction method. Document Reduction allows for productive studying. This technique purges the amount of unnecessary material studied and reduces the quantity of time wasted.

4. An explanation of the reading approaches you plan to use from this time forward.

From this time forward I plan to use the Document reduction method for reading material. This technique has helped me to condense a chapter reading into valuable knowledge. Using Document Reduction will allow me to fully grasp the text topic, without wandering, off topic thoughts. I plan to jot notes as I read to abolish the wandering and distracting thoughts, which cause a lack of understanding of the material. While using the Document Reduction method I will be able to obtain information quickly and efficiently. I will apply this reading method throughout my entire school experience and into the work force as well.