Breaking Through: College Reading, with Alternate Readings (book alone), 7/E
Brenda D. Smith, Georgia State University

ISBN-10: 0321419243
ISBN-13: 9780321419248

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2007
Format: Paper; 572 pp
Status: Out of Print


Breaking Through provides instruction and practice on the reading and study skills necessary for successful independent college learning. Actual college textbook materials offer immediate application.

 

The use of actual college textbook passages offers realistic and immediate modeling and application of college study and reading skills. Students apply the skill being taught to reading short textbook passages and then go on to use multiple skills on the longer selections that conclude most chapters.

  • The majority of reading selections are drawn from freshman-level college textbooks to prepare students for the type of reading they'll do in their other courses.
  • The reading selections at the end of each chapter are at three different reading levels to offer instructors the ability to adjust reading assignments to their students' skill levels.
  • Abundant exercises offer practice in the reading skills most essential for understanding and retaining the material in college texts.
  • A four-color design attracts students’ attention to the text and readings for optimum interest.
  • Everyday Reading Skills sections give tips and practice on how to research the Internet and how to read newspapers, magazines, advertisements, reference materials, fiction and nonfiction, and workplace mail.
  • Reader's Tips boxes condense advice for students into practical hints for quick reference. Many of these boxes focus on effective techniques for reading in different disciplines.
  • Collaborative Problem Solving questions offer four different questions at the end of each chapter for students to brainstorm ideas, think critically, reflect on chapter instruction, and present a response to the class together.
  • Explore the Net exercises follow each of the three longer reading selections in each chapter. These exercises encourage research on topics related to the longer reading; specific Websites are suggested.
  • 15 longer textbook selections offer practice with comprehension exercises on college textbook material.

  • The Alternate Readings Edition offers 31 new reading selections at the end of each chapter. The core instruction and pedagogy remain the same as the current Seventh Edition. This alternate version is ideal for sections that have repeat learners. Readings remain fresh and interesting for both teachers and students each semester.
  • New opening quotation introduces each reading selection.
  • New critical thinking questions have been included in the two reading casebooks.

Preface

 

1. Student Success

Think Success

Set Goals

            Create a Positive Attitude

            Seek Excellence

Reading 1: Making Choices for Success

            from Live Your Dream by Les Brown

            “Ask yourself if you are leaving a trail that others may want to follow.”

Plan for Success

Reading 2: Making the Most of Priorities

            from How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein

            “People at the top and people at the bottom both know about To Do Lists, but one difference between them is that the people at the top use a To Do List every single day....”

Plan Your Week

            Study the Syllabus

            Use a Calendar to Decode a Syllabus

Act Successful

College Professor “Takes” American History

            Attend Class

            Be on Time for Class

            Be Aware of Essential Class Sessions

            Be Equipped for Success

            Mark Your Text

            Communicate with Your Instructor

            Review Your Lecture Notes

            Network with Other Students

            Collaborate to Divide Work

            Look at an “A” Paper

            Use Technology to Communicate

            Consider a Tape Recorder

            Pass the First Test

            Watch Videos or DVDs

            Predict Exam Questions

Reading 3: Life Law #5: Life Rewards Action

            from Life Strategies by Phillip C. McGraw

            “People don’t care about your intentions. They care about what you do.”

 

Summary Points

Everyday Reading Skills: Searching the Internet

2. Stages of Reading

What Is the Reading Process?

Stages of Reading

Stage One: Previewing

            Stage Two: Integrating Knowledge

            Stage Three: Recalling

Assess Your Progress as a Learner

            Levels of Reading Comprehension

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Psychology

            “Loneliness”

            from Psychology Applied to Modern Life, Seventh Edition by Wayne Weiten and Margaret Lloyd

            “Telephone hotlines for troubled people report that complaints of loneliness dominate their calls.”

Selection 2: Essay

“Medical Care for Prisoners”

from Morality Play by Jessica Pierce

“You commit a serious crime, and you are likely to get most of the medical care you need all paid for by taxpayers.”

Selection 3: Business

“Contract-Free Calling”

            from The New York Times, 8/11/05, by Mark Walsh

            “Providing a simpler alternative to complex and confusing cellular plans is a major selling point.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: Not , Not, and Not

Everyday Reading Skills: Reading News and Feature Stories in the Newspaper

3. Vocabulary

Learning New Words

Remembering New Words

Use Association

            Use Concept Cards

            Practice Your New Words

Unlocking the Meaning of New Words

            Use Context Clues

            Use Knowledge of Word Parts

            Use the Glossary and the Dictionary

Types of Context Clues

            Definition

            Elaborating Details

            Elaborating Examples

            Comparison

            Contrast

Multiple Meanings of a Word

Word Parts

            Roots

            Prefixes

            Suffixes

The Dictionary

            Guide Words

            Pronunciation

            Spelling

            Word Meaning

            Parts of Speech

            Word History

Word Origins

            Etymology

Textbook Glossary

Thesaurus

Analogies

Easily Confused Words

Enriching your Vocabulary

 

Summary Points

Vocabulary Lesson: For or Against?

Everyday Reading Skills: Joining a Mailing List or a Newsgroup

4. Main Idea

What Is a Main Idea?

Recognize General and Specific Words

            Recognize General and Specific Phrases

            Recognize the General Topic for Sentences

            Recognize General and Supporting Sentences

            Differentiate Topic, Main Idea, and Supporting Details

            Differentiate Distractors in Main Idea Test Items

Questioning for the Main Idea

1. Establish the Topic

            2. Identify the Key Supporting Terms

            3. Focus on the Message of the Topic

            Stated Main Ideas

            Unstated Main Ideas

            Getting the Main Idea of Longer Selections

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Psychology

“Agoraphobia”

            from Abnormal Psychology, Fourth Edition, by Johanna Schneller

“My heart was really pounding now, and I felt short of breath, as if wheels were rolling across my chest.”

Selection 2: Literature

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (excerpt)

            from: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

            “I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently, slay one another.”

Selection 3: History

“Potato Politics”

            from A Brief History of Western Civilization, Third Edition, by Mark Kishlansky, Patrick Geary, and Patricia O’Brien

            “Proverbs warned peasants against putting all their eggs in one basket, but no folk wisdom prepared the Irish for the potato disaster that struck them.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: Before and After

Everyday Reading Skills: Selecting a Book

5. Supporting Details and Organizational Patterns

What Is a Detail?

Recognize Levels of Importance

            Distinguish Major and Minor Details

            Follow Detailed Directions

Patterns of Organization

            Simple Listing

            Classification

            Definitions with Examples

            Description

            Time Order, Sequence, or Narration

            Comparison and Contrast

            Cause and Effect

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Psychology

“Drug Addiction”

from Psychology, Ninth Edition, by Lester Lefton and Linda Brannon

            “Avoiding drugs is only one step in the recovery process. It is also important to break the learned associations between drug use and the pleasurable emotional states associated with it.”

Selection 2: Criminal Justice

            “Juvenile Boot Camps”

            from Juvenile Delinquency, Eighth Edition, by Larry Siegel, Brandon Welsh, and Joseph Senna

            “Some juvenile corrections agencies feature shock incarceration programs, with high-intensity military discipline and physical training for short periods.”

Selection 3: History

            “The New Mass Culture”

            from Out of Many, Fourth Edition, by John Mack Faragher, Mari Jo Buhle, Daniel Czitrom, Susan Armitrage

            “A thriving advertising industry both reflected and encouraged the growing importance of consumer goods in American life.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: One Too Many

Everyday Reading Skills: Selecting Magazines

Reading Casebook: What Is Beauty?

Beauty Inventory 1

Selection 1: Letter of Opinion

                        All That Glitters Is Gold

                        from The New York Times, 5/4/05, by Maureen Dowd

                        “Canadian researchers have made a startling assertion: parents take better care of pretty children than they do ugly ones.”

            Selection 2: Essay

                        Extreme Makeover

                        from Morality Play by Jessica Pierce

                        “The popularity of Extreme Makeover may reflect a growing interest in, and acceptance of, plastic surgery as a way to alter one’s physical appearance.”

            Selection 3: Business

                        Everyday Women

                        from The New York Times, 8/17/05, by Stuart Elliott

                        “Madison Avenue is increasingly interested in using everyday women in advertising instead of just waifish supermodels.

Beauty Inventory 2

6. Textbook Learning

Expect Knowledge to Exist

Annotating

When to Annotate

            How to Annotate

Notetaking

            When to Take Notes

            How to Take Notes

Summarizing

            When to Summarize

            How to Summarize

Outlining

            When to Outline

            How to Outline

Mapping

            When to Map

            How to Map

Take Organized Lecture Notes

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Health

Emergency Medical Technicians

            from Exploring Health Care Careers, Second Edition, by Carole Bolster

            “EMT work can be physically demanding. EMTs often work outside, in any type of weather and most of their time on a run is spent standing, kneeling, bending, and lifting.”

Selection 2: Business

            Federal Express

            from Macroeconomics for Today, Third Edition, by Irvin Tucker

            “FedEx is the world largest express transportation company with 3.2 million packages sorted and routed on an average night.”

Selection 3: Communication

            Gender Conflict and Style

            from Understand Human Communication, Ninth Edition, by Ronald Adler and George Rodman

            “Even in childhood, males are more likely to be overtly aggressive, demanding, and competitive, whereas females are move cooperative, or at least less directly aggressive.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: See, Hear, and Voice Your Concerns

Everyday Reading Skills: Reading Reference Materials

7. Test-Taking Strategies

Achieve Your Highest Potential

Be Prepared

Stay Alert

Seek Feedback

Standardized Reading Tests

Read to Comprehend

            Interact

            Anticipate

            Relax

            Read to Learn

            Recall

Understand Major Question Types

            Main Idea Questions

            Detail Questions

            Implied Meaning Questions

            Purpose Questions

            Vocabulary Questions

Hints for Taking Multiple-Choice and True-False Tests

            Read All Options

            Predict the Correct Answer

            Avoid Answers with “100 Percent” Words

            Consider Answers with Qualifying Words

            Do Not Overanalyze

            True Statements Must Be True Without Exception

            If Two Options Are Synonymous, Eliminate Both

            Figure Out the Difference Between Similar Options

            Use Logical Reasoning If Two Answers Are Correct

            Look Suspiciously at Directly Quoted Pompous Phrases

            Simplify Double Negatives by Canceling Out Both

            Certain Responses Are Neither True Nor False

            Validate True Responses

            Recognize Flaws in Test Making

Hints for Taking Essay Exams

            Reword the Statement or Question

            Answer the Question

            Organize Your Answer

            Use a Formal Writing Style

            Be Aware of Appearance

            Predict and Practice

            Notice Key Words

            Write to Earn Points

            Read an “A” Paper for Feedback

 

Summary Points

Vocabulary Lesson: Call Out and Remember to Send

Everyday Reading Skills: Using Mnemonics

8. Efficient Reading

What Is Your Reading Rate?

What Is an Average Reading Rate?

How Can You Increase Your Reading Speed?

            Be Aggressive–Attack!

            Concentrate

            Stop Regressions

            Avoid Vocalizations

            Expand Fixations

            Use a Pen as a Pacer

            Preview Before Reading

            Set a Time Goal for an Assignment

            Be Flexible

            Practice

 

Summary Points

 

Timed Reading 1: Humanities

Censorship

            from Understanding Music, Fourth Edition, by Jeremy Yudkin

            “The question of censorship is still very much alive in the twenty-first century, particularly in reference to popular music.”

Timed Reading 2: Sociology

            Love of a Lifetime?

            from Sociology in a Changing World, Sixth Edition, by William Kornblum

            “The divorce rate is so high, not because people make foolish choices, but because they are drawn together for reasons that matter less as times goes on.”

Timed Reading 3: Essay

            When Life Imitates Video

            from U.S. News and World Reports, May 3, 1999, by Jon Leo

            “Hurting and maiming others is the central fun activity in video games played so addictively by the young.”

 

Everyday Reading Skills: Managing Workplace Reading

9. Analytical Reasoning

Identify Analytical Thinking

An Unsuccessful Student

            A Successful Student

            Engage in Problem Solving

            Analytical Reasoning in Textbooks

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Science

DNA and Crime Scene Investigations

            from Biology, Fifth Edition, by Neil Campbell, Jane Reece, Martha Taylor, and Eric Simon

            “Since its introduction, DNA fingerprinting has become a standard law enforcement tool and has provided crucial evidence (of both innocence and guilt) in many famous cases including the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.”

Selection 2: Political Science

            Roles of the News Media in Democracy

            from The Struggle for Democracy, Seventh Edition, by Edward Greenberg and Benjamin Page

            “In scrutinizing the character and personality of candidates, do the media go overboard in digging up dirt and reporting negative material even when it is very minor?

Selection 3: Criminal Justice

            Girls on the Run

            from Juvenile Delinquency, Eighth Edition, by Larry Siegel, Brandon Welsh, and Joseph Senna

            “Over half of teenagers who run away from home are girls.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: Turn and Throw

Everyday Reading Skills: Reading Direct Mail Advertisements

Reading Casebook What Is Motivation

Motivation Inventory 1

Selection 1: Sociology

                        What Is Motivation?

                        from Psychology, Ninth Edition, by Lester Lefton and Linda Brannon

                        “The question of why people do what they do and why some people’s motivation seems so different from those of others interested people long before the science of psychology existed.”

            Selection 2: Speech

                        Suggestions For Life

                        from Commencement Speech given at Mount Holyoke College, 5/27/01, by Lori-Suzan Parks

                        “Suggestion#16. Be bold. Envision living a life that you love.”

Selection 3: Psychology

                        Techniques to Build Self-Motivation

                        from “Self Motivation (Part I)” in Psychology and You by Thomas Yarnell

                        “Motivational research shows that people who write out what they are going to do are far more successful than people who only tell themselves they will do something.”

Motivation Inventory 2

10. Inference

What Is an Inference?

Inference from Cartoons

            Recognizing Suggested Meaning

            Connecting with Prior Knowledge

            Recognizing Slanted Language

            Drawing Conclusions

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Criminal Justice

Bring Back Flogging

            from Boston Globe, 2/20/97, by Jeff Jacoby

            “If young punks were horsewhipped in public after their first conviction, fewer of them would harden into lifelong felons.”

Selection 2: Literature

            The Day Language Came Into My Life

            from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

            “Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when itssmed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen”?

Selection 3: Literature

            Miss Brill

            from: The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

            “Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it all! It was like a play.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: Come Together, Hold Together, and Shut

Everyday Reading Skills: Reading News

11. Critical Reading

What Do Critical Readers Do?

            Recognize the Author’s Purpose or Intent

            Recognize the Author’s Point of View or Bias

            Recognize the Author’s Tone

            Distinguish Fact from Opinion

            Recognize Valid and Invalid Support for Arguments

 

Summary Points

 

Selection 1: Literature

The Way to Rainy Mountain (excerpt)

            from The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday

            “A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Moutain.”

Selection 2: Science

            Hybrid Cars

            from Principles of Environmental Science by William Cunningham and Mary Ann Cunningham

            “Would you buy a vehicle with a hybrid engine system? Would you sacrifice a little power, speed, and acceleration for a quiet, clean, efficient, environmentally friendly means of transportation?

Selection 3: Sociology

            Remarkable Teachers

            from Sociology in a Changing World, Sixth Edition, by William Kornblum

            “…they found an exception that demonstrated the powerful effects an exceptional teacher can have on students.”

 

Vocabulary Lesson: Bend, Born, and Body

Everyday Reading Skills: Evaluating Internet Information

12. Independent Textbook Assignment

Apply What You Have Learned

            Independent Assignment: Communications

            Relationships

            from Communicate!, Eleventh Edition, by Rudolf Verderber and Kathleen Verderber

            “Thanks to technological innovation, today people are introduced to others they have never seen through electronic newsgroups, chat rooms, and Internet dating services.”

Appendix 1      Pronunciation Review

Appendix 2      Spelling Confusing Words

Appendix 3      Word Parts: Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes

Appendix 4      ESL: Making Sense of Figurative Language and Idioms

 

Glossary

 

Acknowledgments

 

Index

 

Progress Record for Reading Selections

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