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2.1 The Textbook Checklist

Erin Thomas, MFA

Retention and Comprehension

Reading effectively is much more than being able to decode a pattern of words in sentence form. When you are being held responsible for the information you read, you have to make it stick one way or another. This is perhaps your greatest challenge in college … once you finally crack the book, how do you stay focused? Once you are focused, how do you retain the material over weeks, months?

The major focus of this course is to practice strategies to help you find the answer to these questions and develop your individual reading process. The short answer to these questions is before you start reading, you should identify your purpose for reading. Based on that purpose, you should plan how you will read. To develop a plan, you need to answer the following questions:

    • Do I need to read this?
    • Why am I reading this?
    • How much do I need to read?
    • How long do I need to remember what I read?

We live in a world of IO, “information overload,” where deciding what not to read is just as important as deciding what to read. Moreover, some things we need to read very well, and other things we can skim over more passively. For this reason, we should always vary our reading process based on the task at hand.

At first, the idea of a reading plan might seem overwhelming. One major focus of this course is to enhance your ability to read textbooks. To simplify the process of developing your individual reading strategy playbook, use The Textbook Checklist as the basis of your preliminary reading plan. A reading plan should be divided into before, during, and after as the process of learning from your reading takes place over time. The Textbook Checklist will help you be more intentional about the way you read. As you become more familiar with your learning preferences, you can refine your reading plan. The purpose of this checklist is to train your brain to be habitually systematic as well as to give you ideas on how to improve your process.

The Textbook Checklist

Category Strategies
Developing Schema Watch YouTube videos or read a Wikipedia article on the topic of the textbook to get an overall sense of the subject-matter.
Pre-reading Strategy (whole text) 1. What is the title of the text? Does it provide information about the subject of the text?
2. Who is the author? Is an author bio included?
3. Familiarize yourself with the contents of the textbook by skimming through the Table of Contents.
4. Read the introduction or overview.
5. Flip through from beginning to end, reading the chapter/section titles and skimming over the graphic information.
6. Note the pattern of the headings, numbering, or bullet points throughout the chapter. How is each chapter organized?
7. Note the general length of chapters and estimate how long it might take to read each of them.
8. Note the pattern of each chapter:

1. Does the beginning of the chapter start with learning objectives?

2. Where is the summary information for the chapter (beginning/end)?

3. Are there chapter questions/quizzes at the end of the chapter?
9. Review the appendix materials in the textbook to anticipate how they might help you understand/ navigate the information in the book.
10. Come up with a general semester strategy for reading your textbook, using your reading-time proximations.
Pre-reading Strategy (chapter) 1. What is the title of the chapter? Does it provide information about the subject of the chapter?
2. Flip through the chapter from beginning to end, reading the chapter titles and skimming the graphic information to get a sense of the contents and how long it will take you to read.
3. Consider the following pre-reading strategies:

1. Before reading the chapter, skim all the chapter summary sections at the beginning and end.

2. Before reading the chapter, read the chapter questions/quizzes at the end.

3. Before reading the chapter, form 3-4 questions that you have about the information and write them down.

4. Skim the chapter from beginning to end in 5-10 minutes to get a general idea of what it is about.
Reading Strategy 1. For those who concentrate on extensive reading easily, find a comfortable spot with good light and low noise, and read the text for meaning from beginning to end.
2. If your mind tends to wander, decide how long you plan to read for before reading. Mark off a section that you plan to read, form questions about the contents from the section titles, read the chapter in parts, reviewing your questions after you finish each section.
3. Consider highlighting or annotating the chapter as you read.
4. Maintain an active reading dialogue with your text and react as you encounter the information. Your reactions may include some of the following.

1. I have heard of that before.

2. That is interesting.

3. What does that mean?

4. I agree with that.

5. I disagree with that.
5. You shouldn’t worry if you understand everything on the first read; for many people, understanding comes a step at a time.
6. Some people concentrate better with background noise. Consider putting on instrumental music at a low volume.
7. Some people concentrate better when moving. You could consider reading while on an exercise bike or sitting on a yoga ball.
8. Consider taking breaks after reading for half an hour to an hour and taking a short walk or doing pushups, sit-ups, or jumping jacks.
9. Consult the images, graphs, tables, or charts to understand what the visual information is trying to convey.
Re-Reading Strategy 1. Read the chapter questions at the end and scan the article to find the answers.
2. Compare the text information to the information from the lecture. Consult your instructor to find out if he/she tests on the text or lecture, or a combination of both.
3. Note that the “important information” can be subjective based on the preferences of your instructor; focus your study on the ideas that are important to your instructor.
4. Reread the sections of text to review the target information.
5. Highlight/annotate the important parts.
6. Circle key/repeating words in difficult paragraphs to understand the main idea.
7. Watch YouTube videos, ask AI, or read Wikipedia articles to clarify difficult concepts from the chapter.
Vocabulary Strategy 1. To understand a text, you need to understand about 80-85% of the vocabulary.
2. Scan the text for the bolded words. Look up the meanings in the Appendix. Note, you can also consult outside sources for more information about difficult concepts attached to words and expressions.
3. Look up only the words and expressions that are critical to understanding the text. Skip the others.
4. For more difficult required texts, read the texts over multiple times. You can vary your deep reading with skimming/scanning to improve your comprehension.
5. Does the text contain any manipulative or emotional language, or does it have a factual tone.
Evaluation Strategy Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is this text current? (the date can usually be found on the cover or publication page)
2. Is it written by experts? Or is it written by a person with notoriety in the field?
3. Is the author or organization reliable?
4. Who is the audience for this text?
5. Is the text appropriate for its audience?
6. Does it include any research/citations?
7. Does academic research support the conclusions of the text?
8. Is this text biased? What is the bias?

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