Chapter 1. Reading Strategies Pre-Test

We have a strong natural tendency to organize information in long-term memory into categories. You can capitalize on this tendency by actively organizing information you want to remember. One way to accomplish this is by outlining chapters or your lecture notes. Use the chapter headings and subheadings as categories, or, better yet, create your own categories. Under each category, list and describe the relevant terms, concepts, and ideas. This strategy can double the amount of information you can recall.

People think librarians are unromantic, unimaginative. This is not true. We are people whose dreams run in particular ways. Ask a mountain climber what he feels when he sees a mountain; a lion tamer what goes through his mind when he meets a new lion; a doctor confronted with a beautiful malfunctioning body. The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder. I knew I would be a librarian in college as a student assistant at a reference desk, watching those lovely people at work. “I don’t think there’s such a book--” a patron would begin, and then the librarian would hand it to them, that very book.

Unromantic? This is a reference librarian’s fantasy.

(1) Men and women experienced the Great Depression differently, partly because of the gender roles that governed male and female behavior in the 1930s. (2) From childhood men had been trained to be breadwinners; they considered themselves failures if they could no longer support their families (see American Voices, "A Working-Class Family Encounters the Great Depression.") (3) But while millions of men lost their jobs, few of the nation’s 28 million homemakers lost their positions in the home. (4) In contrast to men, women’s sense of self-importance increased as they struggled to keep their families afloat.

Below is a section of a table of contents from Susan Anker’s textbook, Real Essays.

Thematic Table of Contents xv
Preface xix
Real Support for Instructors and Students xxxiv
A Note to Students from Susan Anker xxxvi

Part 1 College Thinking, Reading, and Writing 1

1. Succeeding in College: What You Need to Know 3
Advice from Those Who Have Been There 4
Four Strategies for Success 10

2. Thinking Critically: Developing Your Power of Mind 19
Understand What Critical Thinking Is 19
Critical Thinking: Key College Skills 20
Critical Thinking 21

3. Reading Critically: Developing Your Understanding 27
Understand What Critical Reading Is 27
The Critical Reading Process 28
Critical Thinking and Reading 36
Reading Visual Images 37
Critical Thinking and Visual Images 42
Reading Real-World Documents 43

4. Writing Basics: Audience, Purpose, and Process 47
Four Basics of Good Writing 47
Understand Audience and Purpose 48
Understand Paragraph and Essay Forms 50
Understand the Writing Process 54
Understand Grading Criteria 55
Sample Student Essays 57
Writing about Readings 61

5. Finding and Exploring Your Topic:
Choosing Something to Write About 64
Understand What a Good Topic Is 64
Narrow Your Topic 65
Explore Your Topic 69

6. Making a Point: Writing Your Thesis Statement 75
Understand What a Good Thesis Statement Is 75
Practice Developing a Good Thesis Statement 76
Write Your Own Thesis Statement 84

7. Supporting Your Point: Finding
Details, Examples, and Facts 89
Understand What Support for a Thesis Is 89
Practice Supporting a Thesis Statement 90
Review Support 96
Write Your Own Support 98

No man deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Jimmy Carter, the only U.S. president to graduate from the United States Naval Academy.
Mr. Carter’s outstanding presidential achievement was mediating the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, for which Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin won the Peace Prize. . . .
Both Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and Poland’s Lech Walesa publicly praised Mr. Carter’s role in providing the hope for their successes in overthrowing communist tyranny. . . .

Surely you are familiar with mushrooms--in the market, on your plate, or in whimsical fairy-tale portraits, pleasant and picturesque. But what about the black spots that appear on your homemade bread, or the green fuzz that forms on your orange? These are molds, and they are neither pleasant not picturesque. Molds and mushrooms are both fungi, and Earth would be a messy place without them. Because they are superbly adapted to absorptive nutrition, fungi are at work in forests, fields, and garbage dumps, breaking down the remains of dead organisms and even manufactured substances such as some plastics. For almost a billion years, the ability of fungi to decompose substances has been important for life on Earth, chiefly because by breaking down carbon compounds, fungi return carbon and other elements to the environment, where they can be used again by other organisms.

Beyond all of the stress, the fatigue, and the often bizarre expressions of humanity that I find on a daily basis, I can appreciate this work for what it has shown me, how it has challenged me, and who it has allowed me to become. But this very deep satisfaction did not come quickly. It came only when I first realized that, as a bike messenger, I could succeed.

Success for a biker depends essentially upon two things: how well you can keep a rhythm and how well you can keep a temper. The first challenge is finding the rhythm of the city. This takes time, sensitivity, and a little bit of soul. The next challenge--keeping the temper--requires inner strength. But once you are there and you can hear the city’s rhythm and look her in the eye, finding order in the chaos, then, at that instant, all of the obstacles that can confound an amateur will dissipate. The timing of when to hydrate, when to stretch, when to go headlong down Michigan Avenue--all becomes clear. Congested streets seem empty. Intersections and red lights are pierced effortlessly. The routine of locking up the bike is choreographed to perfection and can be accomplished in three seconds or less.

(1) On a gray Christmas morning in 1922, Federal Prisoner #9653 began his last day at the Atlanta penitentiary. (2) The frail old man glanced at the crucifix on his cell wall before exchanging his jailhouse fatigues for a cheap new suit the guard had brought. (3) For Eugene Victor Debs, the leader and five-time presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, a long ordeal was over. (4) President Warren Harding had granted him the pardon Woodrow Wilson had bitterly refused. (5) After three long years in prison for opposition to World War I, Debs was at last a free man.

Minimizing the Physical Effects of Stress
Sometimes stressful situations persist despite our best efforts to resolve them. Knowing that chronic stress can jeopardize your health, what can you do to minimize the adverse impact of stress on your physical well-being? Here are three simple suggestions that you should find helpful.

Suggestion 1: Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercise like walking, swimming, or running, is one of the best ways to reduce the impact of stress. Simply walking briskly for 20 minutes four or five times a week will improve your physical health and help you cope with stress. Compared to sofa slugs, physically fit people are less physiologically reactive to stressors and produce lower levels of stress hormones. Psychologically, regular exercise reduces anxiety and depressed feelings and increases self-confidence and self-esteem.

Suggestion 2: Avoid or Minimize the Use of Stimulants

In dealing with a stressful situation, people often turn to stimulants such as coffee or tea to keep them going. And most smokers react to stress by increasing their smoking habit. However, common stimulants like caffeine and nicotine actually increase the physiological effects of stress by raising heart rate and blood pressure. In effect, users of stimulant drugs are already primed to respond with greater reactivity, exaggerating the physiological consequences of stress.

The best advice? Avoid stimulant drugs altogether. The next best advice? Make a conscious effort to monitor your use of stimulants, especially when you’re under stress. You’ll find it easier to deal with stressors when your nervous system is not already in high gear because of caffeine, nicotine, or other stimulants.

The role of smell in influencing food aversions and preferences is well known. People with colds often lose their appetites because they cannot smell food. However delicious a dish might appear to the eyes, if the nose perceives any odor like that of putrefaction, the tongue will probably not taste it. What is not so well appreciated is the role of the eyes in modifying food preferences.

Food technologists add orange coloring to their synthetic orange drinks not just to be consistent, but because without the color, the flavor does not taste as orangey. Thus grape-flavored drinks are colored purple, cherry drinks are red, and so on. When lemon and lime drinks came out, however, food synthesizers were faced with a dilemma. Both juices are essentially colorless. How to inform consumers what flavor they were supposed to taste? The decision was to adopt the color of the rind. Thus lime drinks are green and lemon drinks are yellow.

In one experiment, researchers scrambled five flavors and colors and found that if, for example, the lemon-flavored drink was red, taste testers tended to call it strawberry. The test involved drinks flavored with lemon, orange, strawberry, grape, and blueberry—and colored yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue. When the "right" color was combined with the flavor, 72 percent of the testers guessed the correct flavoring. But when the colors were scrambled, only 22 percent could name the flavor.

Eclipses are among the most spectacular natural phenomena. During a lunar eclipse the brilliant full Moon often darkens to a deep red, while during a solar eclipse, broad daylight is transformed into an eerie twilight, as the Sun seems to be blotted from the sky. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. This can happen only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in a straight line at full Moon. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s shadow moves across the Earth’s surface. As seen from Earth, the Moon moves in front of the Sun. This can happen only when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned at new Moon.

A hypnotic trance is not therapeutic in and of itself, but specific suggestions and images fed to clients in a trance can profoundly alter their behavior. As they rehearse the new ways they want to think and feel, they lay the groundwork for powerful changes in their future actions. For example, in hypnosis, I often tell people who are trying to quit smoking that they will go for hours without even thinking of a cigarette, that if they should light up, the cigarette will taste terrible and they’ll want to put it out immediately. I’ll talk them through the imagery of being a nonsmoker--some combination of finding themselves breathing easier, having more energy for exercise, enjoying subtle tastes and smells again, having fresh breath and clean-smelling clothing, feeling good about their health, even saving money on cigarettes or whatever motivates that person to quit. The deep relaxation of a hypnotic trance is also broadly beneficial as many illnesses, both psychological or physical, are aggravated by anxiety and muscle tension.

(1) Feeling conspicuous—that there are many eyes on us—is an uncomfortable sensation. (2) It’s especially troubling while we’re giving speeches, because that is when all eyes truly are on us! (3) Speakers often comment about how audience members appear to behave toward them during speeches. (4) They may notice some listeners’ failure to make eye contact with them, or some listeners conversing with one another during a speech, or a listener pointing at them. (5) When we notice audience members behaving in ways like this, our tendency is to think we must be doing something inappropriate or silly; then we wonder what’s wrong and whether the whole audience is noticing it.

(6) This kind of thinking builds rapidly and, if not properly checked, can distract us from our speech, with all our attention now focused on "me." (7) As we focus on "me," we become even more sensitive to things that might be wrong with what we’re doing—and that makes us feel even more conspicuous, which increases our anxiety. (8) In actuality (and ironically), an audience notices very little about us that we don’t want to reveal, especially if our speeches are well developed and effectively delivered. (9) Consequently, there really is no reason to be anxious about being the center of attention. (10) You see yourself more critically than an audience does, so relax!

Minimizing the Physical Effects of Stress
Sometimes stressful situations persist despite our best efforts to resolve them. Knowing that chronic stress can jeopardize your health, what can you do to minimize the adverse impact of stress on your physical well-being? Here are three simple suggestions that you should find helpful.

Suggestion 1: Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercise like walking, swimming, or running, is one of the best ways to reduce the impact of stress. Simply walking briskly for 20 minutes four or five times a week will improve your physical health and help you cope with stress. Compared to sofa slugs, physically fit people are less physiologically reactive to stressors and produce lower levels of stress hormones. Psychologically, regular exercise reduces anxiety and depressed feelings and increases self-confidence and self-esteem.

Suggestion 2: Avoid or Minimize the Use of Stimulants

In dealing with a stressful situation, people often turn to stimulants such as coffee or tea to keep them going. And most smokers react to stress by increasing their smoking habit. However, common stimulants like caffeine and nicotine actually increase the physiological effects of stress by raising heart rate and blood pressure. In effect, users of stimulant drugs are already primed to respond with greater reactivity, exaggerating the physiological consequences of stress.

The best advice? Avoid stimulant drugs altogether. The next best advice? Make a conscious effort to monitor your use of stimulants, especially when you’re under stress. You’ll find it easier to deal with stressors when your nervous system is not already in high gear because of caffeine, nicotine, or other stimulants.

General pain relievers are made for general kinds of pain—like backaches or sore muscles. Prescription Imitrex is different. Made specifically for migraines, it was the first medicine of its kind believed to target the nerves and blood vessels that can trigger your total migraine—the throbbing pain, nausea, sensitivity to light and sound—without drowsiness. If migraines are disrupting your life, tell your doctor. And target your total migraine with Imitrex Tablets.

About 25 percent of all children have at least one episode of sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism. Sleepwalking typically occurs during the first three hours after the child has gone to sleep. The child gets out of bed and moves about in a slow, poorly coordinated, automatic manner, usually with a blank staring look on his face. Surprisingly, the sleepwalking child is usually able to navigate around objects without much difficulty. However, the child’s general lack of awareness of his surroundings is evident. The sleepwalker may try to dress, eat, or go to the bathroom in the wrong location.

Everyone knows why you visit a mountain: because it’s there. With high-altitude recreation at an all-time high--millions of Americans are scrambling, biking, hiking, and climbing on peaks once considered remote and inaccessible--you might expect to find the country’s greatest high points overloaded with wannabe alpinists. And, yes, some are, but our five secret peaks are remote, gorgeous, and fun--once you’ve found them. So why head for one of these mountains? Not because it’s there, but because nobody else is.

(1) While walking through a supermarket, you subconsciously pace yourself in time to the music being played. (2) During the day the music often has a slow, wandering sound, while near closing time the beat speeds up and you march right out of the store. (3) Office environments can also be altered by the type of music played.

GETTING HELP
People seeking help for psychological problems face a bewildering array of choices. There are not only many different types of therapy, but also different types of therapists and helping professionals. Nor is professional treatment necessary for everyone. Many people with psychological disorders turn to clergy or trusted friends. Self-help groups or support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Gamblers Anonymous, also help many people experiencing psychological problems. When problems become overwhelming or persistent, or when people seem to be at risk of harming themselves or others, professional help is indicated.

A Who’s Who of Psychological Health Professionals
Different kinds of professionals treat psychological disorders, including physicians, psychologists, counselors, and social workers. Some people without psychological disorders also seek out health professionals to help them gain better insight into themselves or reach their full potentials.

Psychiatrists Psychiatrists are medical doctors (M.D.s or D.O.s) who complete residencies in psychiatry. Residencies last three to five years and provide training and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Psychiatrists use psychotherapy, and as licensed physicians, they can prescribe psychotropic drugs and use other medical techniques, such as ECT. Many psychiatrists also complete more extensive training in psychoanalysis or other psychotherapeutic approaches.

Psychologists Psychologists complete advanced graduate work in psychology, usually a doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D. or Psy.D.). They may train in specialty areas within psychology, such as clinical or counseling psychology, that equip them to diagnose disorders and to treat them with psychotherapy. They complete internships in health care settings or university clinics and are licensed to practice in their states. Clinical psychologists also receive training in the use of psychological tests to diagnose psychological disorders and in research methods to enable them to conduct scientific studies in the field.

Counselors Counselors usually possess a master’s degree in education or a health-related field (such as occupational therapy or rehabilitation counseling). Counselors work in many settings, including public schools, college testing and counseling centers, and hospitals and health clinics. Many specialize in academic, vocational, marital, or family counseling, or in career development or the treatment of milder psychological disorders, such as adjustment disorders. Pastoral counselors are religious personnel (ministers, etc.) who are trained to help parishioners cope with personal problems.

Social Workers Social workers usually hold a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree and are licensed by the state in which they practice. Clinical social workers provide counseling or psychotherapy and help people obtain the services they need from community agencies and organizations. For example, they may help people with schizophrenia adjust to the community once they leave the hospital. Many social workers, like counselors, also specialize in marital or family therapy.

Apology is not just a social nicety. It is an important ritual, a way of showing respect and empathy for the wronged person. It is also a way of acknowledging an act that, if otherwise left unnoticed, might compromise the relationship. Apology has the ability to disarm others of their anger and to prevent further misunderstandings. While an apology cannot undo harmful past actions, if done sincerely and effectively, it can undo the negative effects of those actions.

Apology is crucial to our mental and even physical health. Recent research shows that receiving an apology has a noticeable, positive physical effect on the body. An apology actually affects the bodily functions of the person receiving it—blood pressure decreases, heart rate slows, and breathing becomes steadier.

Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to. If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind--they begin to seem like characters instead of real people. The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death. Writing is at its best--always, always, always--when it is a kind of inspired play for the writer. I can write in cold blood if I have to, but I like it best when it’s fresh and almost too hot to handle.

Who has the power to terminate treaties: The president? The Senate? The president with the agreement of the Senate? In Article II, Section 2, the Constitution states: “The President . . . shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties.” But the Constitution is silent about the power to terminate treaties; and that silence on at least one occasion has given rise to a conflict between the president and the Senate.

In 1979 Republican Senator Barry Goldwater and several other senators sued Democratic President Jimmy Carter because he had unilaterally terminated a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan without the Senate’s approval. Carter claimed that as president he had the inherent power to terminate treaties. But Goldwater and other senators countered that because treaties are made with the Senate’s consent, the president must secure the Senate’s consent to terminate them.

(1) Those who live with hearing loss are a diverse group. (2) Some are profoundly deaf; others have limited hearing. (3) Some were deaf "prelingually" (before developing language); others have known the hearing world. (4) Some sign and identify with the language-based Deaf Culture; others, especially those postlingually deaf, are "oral" and converse with the hearing world by reading lips or reading written notes. (5) Still others move between the two cultures. (6) Those who grow up around other deaf people more often identify with Deaf Culture and feel positive self-esteem. (7) Deaf children raised in a signing culture, whether by deaf or hearing parents, also express higher self-esteem and feel more accepted (Bat-Chava, 1993, 1994).

GETTING HELP
People seeking help for psychological problems face a bewildering array of choices. There are not only many different types of therapy, but also different types of therapists and helping professionals. Nor is professional treatment necessary for everyone. Many people with psychological disorders turn to clergy or trusted friends. Self-help groups or support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Gamblers Anonymous, also help many people experiencing psychological problems. When problems become overwhelming or persistent, or when people seem to be at risk of harming themselves or others, professional help is indicated.

A Who’s Who of Psychological Health Professionals
Different kinds of professionals treat psychological disorders, including physicians, psychologists, counselors, and social workers. Some people without psychological disorders also seek out health professionals to help them gain better insight into themselves or reach their full potentials.

Psychiatrists Psychiatrists are medical doctors (M.D.s or D.O.s) who complete residencies in psychiatry. Residencies last three to five years and provide training and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Psychiatrists use psychotherapy, and as licensed physicians, they can prescribe psychotropic drugs and use other medical techniques, such as ECT. Many psychiatrists also complete more extensive training in psychoanalysis or other psychotherapeutic approaches.

Psychologists Psychologists complete advanced graduate work in psychology, usually a doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D. or Psy.D.). They may train in specialty areas within psychology, such as clinical or counseling psychology, that equip them to diagnose disorders and to treat them with psychotherapy. They complete internships in health care settings or university clinics and are licensed to practice in their states. Clinical psychologists also receive training in the use of psychological tests to diagnose psychological disorders and in research methods to enable them to conduct scientific studies in the field.

Counselors Counselors usually possess a master’s degree in education or a health-related field (such as occupational therapy or rehabilitation counseling). Counselors work in many settings, including public schools, college testing and counseling centers, and hospitals and health clinics. Many specialize in academic, vocational, marital, or family counseling, or in career development or the treatment of milder psychological disorders, such as adjustment disorders. Pastoral counselors are religious personnel (ministers, etc.) who are trained to help parishioners cope with personal problems.

Social Workers Social workers usually hold a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree and are licensed by the state in which they practice. Clinical social workers provide counseling or psychotherapy and help people obtain the services they need from community agencies and organizations. For example, they may help people with schizophrenia adjust to the community once they leave the hospital. Many social workers, like counselors, also specialize in marital or family therapy.

Picture your body as a library filled with millions of books. Imagine that somewhere on one of those shelves is a book you need, somewhere in that book is a page you need, and somewhere on that page is a single word with one misplaced letter.

Now go find that letter. Starting at the front door to the library.

If that sounds daunting, welcome to the challenge faced by today’s doctors, scientists, and researchers as they chase after the elusive origins of diseases. Hidden somewhere in the maze of the human makeup is a flawed gene, a diseased cell, something molecular that’s gone haywire and caused Alzheimer’s disease to start forming, diabetes to evolve, or cancer to emerge.