Unit 1: Active Reading
You will begin this course by reviewing the benefits of active reading. Successful students – and successful readers – approach reading with strategies to help them get the most out of their reading. These students actively look for main ideas and major themes, words they do not understand, and the purpose (why the piece was written) of what they are reading. In this unit, we will cover strategies to improve your active reading skills. Active reading will help you increase reading comprehension and will ensure that you retain the content. This unit will also cover creating a basic sentence and prewriting techniques to help improve your writing.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 14 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- take effective notes while reading a text or listening to a video or lecture;
- identify themes, main ideas, and topic sentences;
- write complete sentences with a clear focus, including topic sentences;
- identify and employ a variety of sentence patterns to improve coherence;
- apply prewriting strategies to narrow a topic and develop a piece of writing; and
- organize paragraphs effectively by using appropriate topic sentences and supporting sentences.
1.1: Active Reading
1.1.1: Active Reading Strategies
This course is designed to prepare you for the demands of college-level reading and writing. One of the foundational skills of this course – and of effective readers, writers, and learners – is active reading. Read this brief article for your first introduction to the concept of active reading. Once you are familiar with the concept of active reading, you will explore active reading strategies throughout this unit. We will return to these strategies throughout the course as you strengthen your reading comprehension skills.
1.1.2: Active vs. Passive Reading
Watch this video, which walks through different active reading strategies to improve your ability to understand and recall the material that you read. As you watch, try adopting the active reading advice you learned in the last article.
- As you watch, make brief notes of key ideas, as well as any words or concepts you don't understand well.
- Next, take a few moments to reflect on the video. What was the most memorable part of the video? What is one new piece of information you learned? What questions do you have about the video?
- Review your notes. If you do not understand all of the main points, watch the video a second time. You don't have to watch the whole thing again – it's okay to just review sections that address the specific questions you have.
- Finally, add to or revise your initial notes. Were you able to answer your unresolved questions? Can you list the most important "take-aways" from the video? In other words, what are 2 or 3 things from this video that you want to remember?
1.1.3: The Reading Environment
You will be doing a lot of reading in ENGL000. If you take a traditional college course with face-to-face instruction, it is likely that many of your assigned readings will be provided online. Reading in online environments is somewhat different than reading on the printed page. How can you apply active reading strategies to get the most out of your online readings in this course and beyond?
In this article, you will learn more about reading online. If you'd like some extra practice with your active reading skills, you may complete the "Explore a Web Page" activity in the middle of the page.
1.1.4: Taking Effective Notes
Taking effective notes while reading a text or listening to a lecture is an important part of active reading. This resource will teach you about one strategy for effective note-taking called the Cornell Note-Taking System. After you read, try reading it again and practicing your active reading by implementing this system.
1.2: The Main Idea
1.2.1: Identifying the Main Idea
The active reading strategies you practiced earlier are designed to help you identify, understand, and remember the most important ideas in an article or lecture. Now, you will learn to identify the main idea, topic sentence, and theme of a paragraph. To begin, read this lecture and complete the included activities, in which you identify the main ideas from the excerpts of "A Scandal in Bohemia", which is part of the active reading assignment later in this unit.
- Receive a grade
It's well known that effective readers make effective writers. Throughout ENGL000 you will be applying your active reading skills to your own writing. For your first ungraded writing exercise, read the prompt and write a paragraph using the information you learned about main ideas. When you are done, check your work against the Guide to Responding for Paragraph Writing Assignments.
1.2.2: Supporting the Main Idea
In this course, you will practice writing analytical paragraphs in which you state the main idea clearly in a topic sentence and support the main idea with evidence and examples. Read this lecture and complete the included activities, in which you identify the main ideas and supporting details of different paragraphs. When you are done, check your work against the Answer Key.
1.2.3: Topic Sentences
Now that you understand how to break down a paragraph into the main idea and supporting sentences, we'll learn some tips for developing effective topic sentences in your own writing. After you read, take a few moments to reflect and apply what you've learned. For practice, try writing a topic sentence that summarizes the main idea of Unit 1 of this course.
1.3: Sentences
1.3.1: The Basic Sentence
Writing effective sentences is crucial for writing effective paragraphs. But what makes a sentence effective? Read this lecture on the basic structure of a sentence and complete the practice activities, in which you identify subjects and verbs, revise clauses as complete sentences, and revise sentences to include proper punctuation. Once you complete the practice, check your answers against the Answer Key.
1.3.2: Strategies for Variation
Now that you've mastered the basics, it's time to practice using a variety of sentence types. Follow the link to a section about sentence style. You only need to read section 16.1, "Using Varied Sentence Lengths and Styles", and complete the accompanying exercises. You should keep this material in mind for future assignments. After you finish the exercises at the end of the section, compare your answers with this guide to responding.
1.3.3: Sentence Types
Continue building your understanding of sentences by following this link to read the section of the page about the variety of sentence structures. Pay attention to the information about simple, complex, and compound sentence structures. Be sure to take good notes by implementing the active reading strategies you learned earlier in this unit – you'll need to understand the difference between these sentence types to complete the quiz!
- Receive a grade
Take this ungraded quiz to check your understanding of the materials presented in this unit.
1.4: Prewriting
1.4.1: Introduction to Prewriting
One challenge for many writers, be they beginners or seasoned professionals, is how to get started. Reflect on your own experiences with writing – have you ever had trouble organizing your ideas? Many writers find prewriting activities useful. Prewriting is important because writing is a process that helps you learn, not just an exercise in which you set down on paper the things you already know. Prewriting can help you figure out what you know, what you still need to know, and how various pieces of your argument fit together. Read this lecture introducing two common prewriting techniques and complete the practice exercises.
1.4.2: Prewriting Questions
Earlier, you tried out two prewriting techniques: freewriting and idea mapping. This section introduces additional techniques and reviews what we've covered so far. As you read, complete Exercise 2 and Exercise 3, which focus on two new aspects of prewriting: asking questions and narrowing your focus. After completing these exercises, take a moment to reflect on your experiences with prewriting so far in this unit. Have you used any of these prewriting techniques in the past? Which ones were new to you? Which technique or techniques do you plan to implement in the future?
You may want to proceed through several stages of prewriting as you develop a topic. Different types of writing assignments may be suited to different prewriting processes. Watch this short video, which outlines a prewriting process for developing an argumentative essay. You will practice argumentative writing in Unit 2.
1.5: Active Reading Practice
This unit introduced one of the foundational skills for college-level learning: active reading. You should now be able to implement active reading strategies to improve your understanding and retention of the material you read. See if you can recall the active reading steps that you learned earlier. If you need a refresher, revisit your notes before completing this active reading practice exercise.
When you're ready, open this document to actively read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "A Scandal in Bohemia". After you read, take the quiz to assess your comprehension of the story. Did you use your active reading skills to take effective notes and gain a deeper understanding of the story?
Take this ungraded quiz to check your understanding of the materials presented in this unit.
Unit 1 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to check your understanding of the materials presented in this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.