Reading for Understanding

What is it?

Reading for understanding means reading to grasp the main ideas, the primary concepts being presented in a particular reading passage. It is different than reading to master the details.

Why do it?

You remember more quickly and more easily words and ideas related to an idea you understand than ones that don't seem to have any relationship to each other. A main idea gives you a way to relate pieces of information to each other.

How do
you do it?

First, you begin by breaking the text into smaller parts: into sections bounded by headings and into paragraphs within those sections.

For example, let's take the section entitled "Bank Holiday" in your chapter.

Second, you focus your attention on the general point you expect to be made in a section by reading the heading of the section. Then turn that heading into a question, generally a "why," "how," or "what was the importance of..." question that will lead you to focus on the main idea, rather than a "what,""who," or "when" question that would lead you to focus on a detail or a single fact. Write the question down on a separate piece of paper or on a computer page.

Some readers begin by looking for the topic of the paragraph (what it was about) and then consider what they learned about it from the sentences in the paragraph.
And some readers are just lucky: the main idea just comes to them without having to use a strategy!

For example, in your chapter there is a section entitled, "Bank Holiday." You might ask yourself, "What was the importance of the Bank Holiday?"

Third, read the paragraphs between this heading and the next one, one at a time. As you read a paragraph, try to formulate a statement of the main idea of the paragraph in your own words. There are a variety of approaches to doing this:

Some readers begin by assuming the first sentence is the main idea. As they read each sentence that follows it, they revise the first sentence so it includes the ideas contained in the other sentences.

Some readers read all of the sentences, searching for important or related words, concepts, or ideas that are present in all of the sentences. They then formulate a main idea that reflects those things the sentences had in common.

For example, consider the first paragraph in the section, "Bank Holiday." You might begin with the topic: "banking." Then you ask yourself what is said about that topic in the paragraph, what is emphasized. In this case, is it

the cause of the crisis;
what President Roosevelt had to do;
the importance of the problem;
the effect of the crisis?

Fourth, once you have decided on the main idea, then write it in your own words next to the paragraph in the margin of the page.

One statement of the main idea for this paragraph might be, "As President Roosevelt took office, the crisis in the U.S. banking system was beginning to cripple the economy."

Fifth, write the main idea of each paragraph in the margin next to it until you reach the next heading.

Sixth, read the question you wrote on your paper. Read over the main ideas you've written in the margin. Then, without looking at the text itself or your marginal notes, write a paragraph summing up what you learned from the section. If you can't do it, then read over your marginal notes again, and write the main idea without looking at them.

Seventh, repeat the same process for all of the pages you've been assigned.

Task #15

Read through the pages of the "Populist Voices" carefully. Write down the section question, the paragraph main ideas, and then answer the section question.

E-mail me the section question you created from "Populist Voices," your answer to the question, and your paragraph summaries. When I receive yours, I will send you model answers for this section, so you can compare yours to it.

If you've done a good job, then you may continue working on this section, "The Second Hundred Days," until you're ready to take the quiz on it. The quiz will be in the testing center for you. Remember: you need to pass two of the quizzes in order to be eligible to take the chapter exam. Once you've passed two, you don't need to take the other section quizzes.

If you need to refine your work using this method, I'll let you know after I've reviewed your answers on this setion. Then you'll need to do Task #16.

Task #16

When you've had a chance to compare your answers to mine, complete the pages of "A Shift in Focus," following all of the steps above.

When you've finished your work on this section, "The Second Hundred Days," take the quiz on it.