Reading and Study Skills

John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Community College for more than 25 years. The author of a popular series of college textbooks on both writing and reading, John enjoys the challenge of developing instructive materials that are clear and lively. Before teaching, he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. He also spent a year writing fiction that “is now at the back of a drawer waiting to be discovered and acclaimed posthumously.” While in school, he supported himself by working as a truck driver, a machinist, a battery assembler, a hospital attendant, and an apple packer. In addition to his wife and Philly sports teams, his passions include reading and conveying to nonreaders the pleasure and power of books. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit “Townsend Library”—a collection of more than 100 new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age.

• Part One: Motivational Skills •••Preview •••Your Attitude: The Heart of the Matter •••Setting Goals for Yourself •••Learning Survival Strategies •••Part Two: Study Skills •••Preview •••Taking Classroom Notes •••Time Control and Concentration •••Textbook Study I: The PRWR Study Method •••Textbook Study II: Using PRWR •••Textbook Study III: Applying PRWR to a Textbook Chapter •••Building a Powerful Memory •••Taking Objective Exams •••Taking Essay Exams •••Using Research Skills •••Part Three: A Brief Guide to Important Word Skills •••Preview •••Using the Dictionary •••Understanding Word Parts •••Vocabulary Development •••Part Four: Reading Comprehension Skills •••Preview •••Introduction •••Ten Key Skills •••Comprehension and Rapid Reading •••Skill 1: Recognizing Definitions and Examples •••Skill 2: Recognizing Enumerations •••Skill 3: Recognizing Headings and Subheadings •••Skill 4: Recognizing Signal Words •••Skill 5: Recognizing Main Ideas in Paragraphsand Short Selections •••Skill 6: Knowing How to Outline •••Skill 7: Knowing How to Summarize •••Skill 8: Understanding Graphs and Tables •••Skill 9: Making Inferences •••Skill 10: Thinking Critically •••Part Five: Skim Reading and Comprehension •••Preview •••Introduction •••How to Skim-Read •••Selection 1: Visual Assertion •••Selection 2: Science and the Search for Truth •••Selection 3: The Nature of Power •••Selection 4: Defense Mechanisms •••Selection 5: Fatigue •••Skim-Reading Progress Chart •••Questions on the Skim-Reading Selections •••Part Six: Rapid Reading and Comprehension •••Preview •••Introduction •••Selection 1: From The Autobiography of Malcolm X •••Selection 2: Learning to Keep Your Cool during Tests •••Selection 3: Wired for Touch •••Selection 4: The Scholarship Jacket •••Selection 5: Dare to Think Big •••Selection 6: Winning the Job Interview Game •••Selection 7: A Door Swings Open •••Selection 8: From Nonreading to Reading •••Selection 9: The Certainty of Fear •••Selection 10: What You Need to Know to Succeed at Math •••Rapid Reading Progress Chart •••Reading Rate Table •••Part Seven: Mastery Tests •••Preview •••Motivational Skills •••Taking Classroom Notes •••Time Control and Concentration •••Textbook Study I •••Textbook Study II •••Textbook Study III •••Building a Powerful Memory •••Taking Objective Exams •••Taking Essay Exams •••Taking Objective and Essay Exams •••Using Research Skills •••Using the Dictionary •••Understanding Word Parts •••Vocabulary Development •••Definitions and Examples •••Enumerations •••Headings and Subheadings •••Signal Words •••Main Idea •••Outlining •••Summarizing •••Understanding Graphs and Tables •••Making Inferences •••Thinking Critically •••Skim Reading •••Rapid Reading Passage •••Part Eight: Additional Learning Skills •••Preview •••Studying Mathematics and Science •••Reading Literature and Making Inferences •••Reading for Pleasure: A List of Interesting Books •••Writing Effectively •••Acknowledgments •••Index •••