Literacy

OverviewTheory Tips and tools Exemplers Related sites

Research  =Theory=

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - [|TKI English Online webpages]

 =Tips and tools=

__Vocabulary builders__ School readers Connected series [] - writing process Purdue index - [] writing guides - [], [] procedural writing - [] essay writing - [] Paramedic method of sentence writing - [], [] exercise in punctuation, grammar etc - [], []

Email etiquette - [] Essays for exams - [] podcasts other than English http://www.sbs.com.au/radio/ literacy podcasts - []

**STEPS information literacy **
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 =Exemplers=

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Reading skills
You may well think that learning to read is a skill accomplished in primary school. And you are right, to an extent. But, with the amount of literature that an A level history student is faced with, if you read like you were taught to read at primary school you will either, **a)** be up all night working and rapidly begin to hate the subject, or **b)** have a nervous breakdown. It is the A level that involves the most reading, and the competent history student must learn how to read selectively. //**So, here's a few tips:**//. Don't read every word. You are often reading for a particular purpose. You might have been set a task to make notes on Jansenism in Seventeenth century Europe. You will not pick up Cowie's 'Seventeenth Century Europe' and embark upon reading it cover to cover. What you should do is check the contents, and then narrow down the search by looking in the index. You may be looking for a certain topic, or issue. It would be worthwhile at this point jotting down a few questions about the topic, or a list of key words that you would like to know more about. You still do not read every word. **There are various methods you can use...** Skim the paragraphs, and read in detail the parts of the paragraphs that you find relate in detail to your topic. Top and tail. Most paragraphs start and end with statements, and the middle parts explain the issue or provide evidence. If you have done a fair bit of reading on the issue, and you are really just after opinions, this is an excellent way to read. This can be used for whole articles, if you are not sure that you are going to gain anything new from (yet) another source. Always start your reading with the easiest textbook that you can get your hands on, and gradually work your way up to the more complicated stuff. This way you will become more confident about the terms that are used and the main issues. //**Beware**// //**Highlighter pens.**// They are great, but only when used to highlight specific points. Some handouts that students are given by their teachers can look like colour-by-numbers when they are brought back to lessons! Not doing the reading / reading the bare minimum. Your teacher will be able to tell.

How to speed read
If you have a pile of books you need to read to research an essay you don't have to sit and read each one because you won't have time. Instead you can speed read - simply scan every other line and train your eyes to pick up important words that are relevant to your research. Whenever your eyes come to rest on a word that is called a "fixation". Most people fixate once on each word across a line of print. This way you can get an idea of whether a book/chapter or article is relevant to what you're doing.

Top tips to speed read:

 * 1) Don't focus on every word but group/words together/like this.
 * 2) Make sure you don't move your lips when you're reading! This will slow you down.
 * 3) Decide why you're reading the book you're holding. What exactly are you looking for? This'll save you time as you skim the text.
 * 4) If you spend a few minutes each day reading at a faster than comfortable rate you'll soon get your speed up.
 * 5) If you find it difficult to hold your concentration when reading you can practise reading for only 5-10 minutes at a time and gradually increase your time.
 * 6) There are books available to help you increase your reading rate if you're having problems or if you're very keen to improve your reading rate ask your teacher, school librarian or local library.

How to understand a text
As you get higher up in school you'll be given more and more texts to read, and not all of them will be exactly relevant to the work you're attempting to finish. Just reading the material is not an effective way of learning it, even if you do it many times. Instead you need to consider: You should be able to retain about 80% of what was on the page through speed reading.
 * What you want to get from the material
 * What looks important
 * Key points will almost certainly be in the introduction or the conclusion
 * Understand the bigger picture by getting an overall view of what the text is about