Locating & Summarizing Readings
In case you're looking for one, here's an online dictionary!
This web file is meant to accompany Library workshop sessions that focus on both computer literacy and information literacy skill development. Students are asked to locate a book, read and briefly summarize it. The best source for details about how to summarize a book for a class assignment is, of course, your instructor. This web file is designed to lend some support while you move through the steps required to deliver the finished assignment in time to meet your deadline.
First, let's review what you need to do by breaking it down into simple steps.
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Step 1 Find Topic
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Step 2 Find 2 Books, 2 Articles, and 2 Authors
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Step 3 Find 10 New Vocabulary Words
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Step 4 Find Meanings and Write Down Definitions
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Step 5 Reread and Take Notes
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Step 6 Find Readings by Same Authors and Record Title, Date of Publication, Page Numbers, and Publisher
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Step 7 Find a Fictional Book
Our business here today is everything between those seven steps. Let's get started.
The difference between fact and fiction
For most of the work you do today you will be working with articles and books that are Non-Fiction. Non-fiction books are about events that have really happened. Fiction books are entirely made up; the events in them have never happened.
Find a book to read
- Use the online book catalog -- It takes practice. There's an online tutorial that you can try but there's no substitute for doing it together.
- Browse the shelves -- There's an art to finding the right book at the right time. Sometimes, looking through the lens of the PC isn't as useful as looking at the books displayed on the library shelves. For this exercise let's take a look at what is available in the BHCC Library's Reading Enrichment Section. To visit the shelves you'll need to locate the Reading Enrichment Section on the Library Map.
- For those who are searching from off campus here are some sample titles from the Reading Enrichment Section:
Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Have a look at some Newberry Award titles. These are award winning books written for young adults, which are suitable for adults, young and old, who are students of English as a Second Language.
Finding Resources for Definitions.
You can find definitions in a number of what are called reference sources.
- Dictionaries - Dictionaries are sources that tell you what a word means. They will tell you if the word has more than one meaning, and how to say it. It will also tell you how old a word is.
- Thesauri - A thesaurus is a book that tells you what words have the same or similar meaning. An example of this would be the words "boat" and "ship".
- Encyclopedia - An encyclopedia is a book that tells you background information about a subject. Encyclopedias are necessary when just the definition is not enough.
Let's consider notetaking.
For your assignment you have been instructed to limit yourself to one page of notes. Given this, make sure you write down the bare essentials. It will not be necessary to write down everything that happens if your readings are fiction, or if they are news stories. Just provide the reader with enough information to know what is going on.
Using one sentence or passage
Good habits begin early so now is as good a time as any to take care when you take someone's words out of its original context. It's confusing for the listener sometimes to know what you said and what the author of the book said unless you are clear when distinguishing the author's words from your own. There are some helpful tips for using quotes.
But let's try to keep citing simple for this assignment. Usually it is enough to have on hand a clear, brief statement of :
- Who is the author?
- What is the title of the work from which the sentence is taken?
- What page did you find it on?
- What is the year the book was published?
- What is the name of the publisher?
Think of it this way. What if someone in the class is really inspired by the passage you decided to take from the book you read. He may want to find the book and read the sentence as it sits on the page within the other sentences and words of the original author (within it's original context). It's your job to make sure it's easy for him to find the book you read, on his own. Give him all the ingredients he needs to perform a successful search.