Chapter 6: Keeping Track of Information

1
Chapter 6 Keeping Track of Information

• Active Reading Skills, 2/eKathleen McWhorter
• Brette McWhorter Sember
• PowerPoint by Gretchen Starks-Martin

2
Five Ways to Keep Track of Information

1. Highlighting
2. Marking
3. Outlining
4. Mapping
5. Summarizing

3
Highlighting Effectively

1. Read a paragraph or section first.
2. Highlight important portions of any topic
   sentence.
3. Be accurate.
4. Highlight the right amount. (No more than 20 to
   30 percent of the material.)

4
Marking to Record Ideas

• Circle the words you do not know.
• Mark definitions with def.
• Make notes to yourself. (example, test
  question, reread, ask instructor.)
• Put question marks next to confusing words or
  passages.

5
Outlining

• I. Major topic
• A. First major idea
• 1. First key supporting detail
• 2. Second key supporting detail
• B. Second major idea
• 1. First Key supporting detail
• a. Minor detail or example
• b. Minor detail or example
• 2. Second key supporting detail
• II. Second major topic
• A. First major idea

6
Outline of an Essay Your Friends Vacation in
San Francisco

• I. Favorite Places
• A. Chinatown
• 1. Restaurants and markets
• a. Fortune cookie factory
• b. Dim sum restaurants
• 2. Museums
• a. Chinese Culture Center
• b. Pacific Heritage Museum
• B. Fishermans Wharf
• 1. Pier 39
• a. Street performers
• b. Sea lions sunning
  themselves on the docks
• 2. Ghiradelli Square

7
Suggestions for Outlining

1. Dont worry about following the outline format
   exactly.
2. Use words and phrases or complete sentences.
3. Use your own words, and dont write too much.
4. Pay attention to headings.

8
Mapping A Visual Method of Organizing
Information

1. Identify the overall topic or subject.
2. Identify major ideas that relate to the topic.
3. As you discover supporting details that further
   explain an idea already mapped, connect those
   details with new lines.

See Figures 6.1 to 6.4 in your book for examples
of maps.
9
Example of Mapping
How children learn to manage emotions
They learn how theyre supposed to feel
They learn to show or hide feelings
They learn how to change their feelings
10
Example of Mapping

• Process How to Prepare A Garden Bed

Remove weeds, rocks, and debris.
Find a sunny spot.
Smooth out lumps with rake and then plant!
Loosen soil and dig about 12 deep.
Mix compost to a depth of about 6-8.
11
Summarizing A Brief Statement that Pulls
Together the Most Important Ideas You Have Read

1. Underline each major idea in the material.
2. Write one sentence that states the writers most
   important idea.
3. Use your own words.
4. Focus on the authors major ideas, not on
   supporting details.
5. Keep the ideas in the summary in the same order
   as they appear in the original material.

12
Evaluating Your Progress

• Use the Outlining and Summarizing-Spring
  Break in Florida module in the Reading Skills
  section on the MyReadingLab Web site at
  http//www.ablongman.com/myreadinglab.

13
For more practice visit the Companion Web site.

• http//www.ablongman.com/mcwhorter