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Longman / Prentice Hall

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Main Idea, The: Reading to Learn, 4/E
Myrna Bigman Skidell, Nassau Community College
Sidney Graves Becker, Nassau Community College

ISBN-10: 032114242X
ISBN-13: 9780321142429

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2005
Format: Paper; 464 pp
Published: 07/14/2004
Status: Instock

Suggested retail price: $71.60
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The Fourth Edition of this successful, user-friendly reading text has been revised to help students learn strategic behaviors that empower them to succeed in all their courses.

The Main Idea, Fourth Edition, written at the 6th- to 9th-grade-level, emphasizes reading to learn. Students develop an increasingly complex understanding of the reading process through incremental strategies and “game plans.” Instructive and interesting reading selections vary in topic and length within each chapter. A casebook of longer readings based on the theme of inter-generational relationships integrates chapter concepts with real-world material. In addition, a wealth of pedagogical features, such as discipline-specific vocabulary instruction, individual and collaborative activities, critical thinking and reading strategies, and a complete chapter on reading college textbooks, help the developmental reader learn the skills necessary to succeed in college.

“Game Plans” in each chapter help structure students' activities before, during, and after reading, allowing them to become actively involved in the reading process.

Readings within each chapter are of varied lengths, so that instructors can begin with short selections in order to build students' self-confidence, and then move to longer, “college-level” selections.

Instruction on developing new discipline-specific vocabulary is included for courses such as Mathematics, Psychology, and History, familiarizing students with the language used in classes they will take.

Many group activities provide opportunities for discussion and collaborative learning.

A chapter dedicated to reading college textbooks familiarizes students with the special features of texts and discusses strategies for textbook reading, while developing student confidence in higher ability to learn from texts.

“Written Patterns of Organization” throughout enables students to visualize how writers organize information.

“Study Patterns of Organization” throughout assist students in streamlining the organization of information for study purposes.

New Organization! Part Three, “After You Read,” now offers separate chapters about “Writer's Patterns of Organization” and “Organizing Information for Study Purposes.” Students learn how writers organize texts, while developing their own strategies to maximize information retention.

Part Four, “Critical Reading,” is now reorganized and expanded to include more game plans to develop information literacy. Greater emphasis is placed on the critical reading of print and visual media.

Part Five, “Readings,” is updated with a new theme, “Issues of the 21st Century.” These expanded selections expose students to worldwide issues (poverty, diversity, changes in the workplace, the environment, childcare, and more) to assist in effectively integrating chapter content into real-world material.

Discussion of vocabulary methods is now at the beginning of the text, accommodating instructors who wish to begin the semester with these skills (Ch. 1).

New Pre-organizers (different types of outlining) and graphic organizers (a plethora of mapping techniques) offer methods, empowering students to "customize” their organizational skills to meet individual learning styles. (Chs. 8-10).

Incorporates critical reading strategies so students gain a sense of what kinds of information may or may not be valid, enabling them to evaluate what they read, see, and hear in order to become responsible citizens (Chs. 11 & 13).

Features new content on how to use the Internet as a research tool. The Web is “demystified” as a foreign channel and helps to expand students' fund of knowledge in a user-friendly manner.

To the Instructor.

To the Student.

1. Vocabulary Strategies for College Reading.

Context Strategies.

Explanations.

Practice 1.

Signal Words.

Practice 2.

Contrast.

Practice 3.

Print Symbol Strategies.

Practice 4.

Word Parts Strategy.

Prefixes.

Practice 5.

Practice 6.

Suffixes.

Practice 7.

Practice 8.

Root Words.

Practice 9.

Practice 10

Dictionary Strategies.

Information in a Short Dictionary Entry.

Practice 11.

Information in a Long Dictionary Entry.

Additional Dictionary Information.

Practice 12.

Multiple Meanings.

Practice 13.

Review Vocabulary Strategies.

Remembering New Words.

Predict, Verify and Record.

Practice 14.

Practice 15.

Practice 16.

Review: Remembering New Words.

2. Applying Vocabulary Strategies.

Mathematics Vocabulary.

Practice 1.

Practice 2.

Practice 3.

Practice 4.

Installment Purchases (Gerver and Sgroi).

Marketing Vocabulary.

Practice 5.

Practice 6.

Important Points in the Chapter (Diamond and Pintel).

Practice 7.

Psychology Vocabulary.

Practice 8.

Practice 9.

Strategies of Effortful Encoding (Plotnik).

Practice 10.

Humanities Vocabulary.

Practice 11.

Practice 12.

Valuing Life: Valuing Beauty (Jacobs).

Practice 13.

Environmental Science Vocabulary.

Practice 14.

Practice 15.

Ecosystems: What Are They and How Do They Work? (Miller).

3. Getting Started.

Developing a Mind Set.

Freewriting.

Practice 1.

Listing.

Practice 2.

Previewing.

What Is Previewing?

Previewing College Textbooks.

Practice 3.

Practice 4.

Review: Previewing a College Textbook.

Previewing Textbook Chapters.

Tips Strategy.

Practice 5.

Consumer Needs and Motivation (Schiffman and Kanuk).

Previewing Visual Aids.

Practice 6.

Practice 7.

4. Getting Started with Reading Selections.

Practice 1.

Lost in a Vitamin Maze? (Graham).

Practice 2.

Spread the Mood (Kaylin).

Questions about the Preview Selections.

Practice 3.

Garbage Overboard (Stoller).

Practice 4.

Plate Tectonics and the Scientific Method (Plummer, McGeary and Carlson).

Review: Previewing a Reading Selection.

Questions about Previewing.

II. WHILE YOU READ.

5. Locating the Main Idea.

Questions.

The Main Idea.

Find Topics or Subjects.

Practice 1.

Finding Stated Main Ideas in Paragraphs.

Practice 2.

Practice 3.

Finding Unstated Main Ideas in Paragraphs.

Practice 4.

Finding Details in Paragraphs.

Practice 5.

Finding the Main Idea in Visual Aids.

Practice 6.

Finding Controlling Ideas in Longer Selections.

Practice 7.

(Example) American Families Today (Woolfolk).

The Purpose of a Resume (Beatty).

Cardiovascular Fitness (Open Water Diver's Manual).

Gypsies (Kephart and Zellner).

Are You Sick of Those Phony Sweepstakes? (Bowe).

Latinos (Hess, Markson, and Stein).

Review: Main Idea.

Questions about Finding the Main Idea.

6. Writing to Read and Remember.

Marking Important Information.

Practice 1.

(Example) Choosing a Wet Suit (Open Water Diver's Manual).

Language (Lederer).

Managers (Haimann, Scott and Connor).

Computers (Leedy).

Annotating Text.

Practice 2.

(Example) American Democracy (Bassis, Gelles and Levine).

Types of Warranties (Gerver and Sgroi).

Illiterate? Who, U.S? (Bassis, Gelles and Levine).

Questions about the Selections.

Review: Writing to Read and Remember.

Questions about Writing to Read and Remember.

8. Using Game Plans with Longer Selections.

Practice 1.

Early Settlers in the Americas (Eibling, Jackson and Perrone).

Practice 2.

Smoking-A Slow Suicide (Simone).

Questions about the Textbook Chapters.

Practice 3.

Culture Clash: Foreign Parents, American Child Rearing (Ojito).

Essay Question.

III. AFTER YOU READ.

9. Recognizing Writers' Patterns.

Written Patterns of Organization.

Listing.

Example.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice.

Order.

Example.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice.

Cause-Effect.

Example.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice.

Comparison-Contrast.

Example.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice.

Definition-Example.

Example.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice.

More Written Patterns of Organization.

Statement of Clarification.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Classification.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Summary.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Addition.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Location/Spatial Order.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Order of Importance.

Plan.

Signal Words.

Practice with Textbook Selections.

Selection A: “Best Sellers” (Vivian).

Selection B: “The Zone” (Sears).

Selection C: “Elitist vs. Populist Values” (Vivian).

Selection D: “The Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences” (Henslin).

Selection E: “Mandatory Education” (Henslin).

10. Organizing Information for Study.

Outlining.

Practice 1.

(Examples) “Gender Differences in Aggression” (Wood and Wood).

A Nation of Beepers (Kiplinger).

Gender Stereotyping - Who Wins? Who Loses? (Wood and Wood).

Risk Factors for Becoming an Alcoholic (Plotnik).

A Function of Education: Socialization,( Conklin).

Frederick Douglass (O'Connor and Sabato).

Review: Outlining.

Questions about Outlining.

Mapping.

Practice 3.

(Examples) Purpose of a Résumé (Beatty).

Choosing a Wet Suit (Open Water Diver's Manual).

Heartening Health News (Vimont).

Alternative Medicine (NEA Today).

Mayan Culture (Risjord).

Depression (Smith).

Profit (Ebenstein and Fogelman).

Review: Mapping.

Questions about Mapping.

Summarizing.

Practice 4.

(Example) Gender Differences in Aggression, (Wood and Wood).

Questions about Summarizing.

Women and Karate (Becker).

Amelia Bloomer and Women's Dress Reform (Risjord).

Drowsiness and Driving (National Safety Council).

The Concept of Occupational Crime (Greene).

Review: Summarizing.