Before diving into every line of text in a textbook reading assignment, it is helpful–and saves time–to find out, first, what resources the entire book has to offer you. Then, as those chapter readings are assigned, it helps to first skim read them for the big picture meaning.
Exercise 2.1 will help you find all the resources in your textbook–and some textbooks have a lot more help in the front matter and back matter of the text than you may realize. I always think of one Effective Learning student who, when given this exercise to use on any textbook he had with him, picked his math book. He was at that time re-taking that math class because he had failed it the term before. As he did the exercise, he realized the back matter of the book included an answer key for half of the problems for every exercise. “Had I known this last term,” he said, “I would have passed!” See if you, too, find something useful in your textbook that perhaps you didn’t know was there, either.
Exercises 2.2 and 2.3 will then cover good strategies for skim reading specific chapters as well as a strategy for getting the most out of graphics included in textbooks.
UNIT 3, EXERCISE 2.1
Here is a list of several kinds of resources typically in the front of a textbook, known as “front matter,” and a list of typical “back matter” resources. For one of your textbooks, put a check mark next to the front and back matter features it includes, then answer the two questions, below.
Textbook title____________________________________________________
FRONT MATTER
___Table of Contents
___Preface
___Introduction
___To the Teacher
___To the Student
___Other (list, here): _____________________________________________
BACK MATTER
___Glossary of Terms
___Index of subjects
___Answer Keys
___Additional Exercises
___Additional Readings
___Tables, graphs, charts
___Maps
___Other (list, here): ________________________________________________
Answer the following questions:
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Were there any surprises for you?
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How can you use the front and back matter in your text to help you with your studies? (3 or 4 sentences)