Reading for Life
Reading a Textbook
Situation
You are taking a school trip to Washington, D.C., and you want to learn more about Lincoln’s presidency. You turn to your history textbook. To get the most out of your research, apply these strategies.
Strategies
Focus your research.
• Jot down the questions you want answered.
Evaluate the authorship.
• The author is identified on the book’s title page. Look for the author’s special qualifications.
Preview the presentation of the textbook.
• To get an overview of the content and organization of the textbook, skim the table of contents. Then, search the index for key words related to your topic.
• Look for special features in your textbook. Usually such features are highlighted in the table of contents.
• Look for primary sources, firsthand accounts by people who witnessed an event. Such sources include diaries, speeches, and autobiographies. Primary sources can give you a sense of being there.
Analyze the graphics.
• Graphics, such as photographs, maps, and charts, may expand on or even substitute for text. Color or special
type may highlight important terms, and icons may refer to other parts of the textbook.
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