Reading Guides for Science Texts and Critiquing Research Articles
Reading Guides for Science Texts
Reading guides help students distinguish the most important ideas from a science text (G. Zellers, CAL). A series of statements and questions, reading guides may be developed for an entire chapter or for each section in a chapter.
If reading guides are not available from the instructor, tutors, or workbooks, students may compose their own using the following examples as guidelines. Sample items for reading guides, which may be phrased as statements or questions, and two completed reading guides are provided below. Reading guides are covered in more detail in the Reading Comprehension page of the General-Purpose Learning Strategies main stack.
Sample Items for Reading Guides
The main idea introduced is _______________________ Illustrations in the text show _______________________ Examples of the main idea are _____________________ The main idea may be divided into __________________ The formula for calculating ____________is __________ |
A reading guide was developed for the following excerpt from a chemistry book (REFERENCE). It is an example of how a reading guide can be developed and completed for a physical science text.
Show Me An Example Of A Physical Science Reading Guide
A reading guide was developed for the following excerpt from a sociology book. It is an example of how a reading guide can be developed and completed for a social science text.
- Over the centuries, the discovery of feral (wild) children has been reported from time to time. Supposedly, these children were abandoned or lost by their parents at a very early age and then raised by animals. In one instance, a feral child, known as the wild boy of Aveyron, was studied by the scientists of his day. This boy, who was found in the forests of France in 1798, walked on all fours, and pounced on small animals, devouring them uncooked. He could not speak, and he gave no indication of feeling the cold. Other reports of feral children have claimed that on discovery, these children acted like wild animals: They could not speak; they bit, scratched, growled, and walked on all fours; they ate grass, tore ravenously at meat, drank by lapping water; and showed an insensitivity to pain and cold (Henslin, 1995, p. 60).
Sociology
What is the main idea introduced? How is it defined? What is an example? What are the characteristics of it? |
Sociology
What is the main idea introduced? Feral (wild) children How is it defined? Children raised by animals after being lost or abandoned at an early age by their parents What is an example? The wild boy of Aveyron What are the characteristics of it? Can't speak, growl, walk on all fours, insensitive to pain and cold, devour meat, lap water |
Checklist for Critiquing a Research Article
Science instructors often require that students read and evaluate research articles in scholarly journals. Kuyper (1991) provides a checklist to guide students through the process of critiquing a research article. The twenty questions on the checklist cover five aspects of a research paper: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and overview. Check off the items as they are completed.
