Page 178 - Keys to College Success

get analytical

SURVEY A TEXT

Complete the following on paper or in digital format.
Improve surveying skills by practicing on a textbook currently assigned for one of your courses.

1. Skim the front matter, including the table of contents and preface. What does this material tell you about the
book’s focus and point of view?

2. Are there unexpected topics listed in the table of contents, or expected topics that are missing?
3. Now look at a typical chapter. List the devices that provide structure for the content.
4. Name an idea that pops out to you after skimming the chapter. What device communicated that idea to you?
5. Finally, skim the back matter. What elements can you identify?

6. How do you plan to use each of the elements you identif ed in your text survey when you begin studying?

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy can help you understand and ask a variety of questions
that engage different levels of thinking. This system was developed by educational psy-
chologist Benjamin Bloom, whose research focused on the varying levels of effort and
thinking required by different types of questions. Key 6.4 on the next page shows the
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six levels identified by Bloom. The three-column table explains what each level is and
provides associated verbs and examples linked to headings from Out of Many. When
you read, use these verbs to create specific questions.

KEY 6.3 Create questions from headings.

HEADINGS QUESTIONS
The Meaning of Freedom What did freedom mean for both slaves and citizens in the
United States?

Moving About Where did African Americans go after they were freed from
slavery?

The African American Family How did freedom change the structure of the African American
family?

African American Churches and What effect did freedom have on the formation of African
Schools American churches and schools?
Land and Labor After Slavery How was land farmed and maintained after slaves were freed?

The Origins of African American How did the end of slavery bring about the beginning of African Reading, Research, and Writing
Politics American political life?

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