My blog provides tips for new writers on writing paragraphs, tackling grammar, and designing essays. There are also prompts for creative writers and ideas for tutoring and teaching writing. Enjoy!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Finding stuff in your textbook

Sometimes finding stuff in your textbook is like going on vacation in a foreign country without knowing the language to read the map! I have this experience often when looking at math textbooks. There are a few useful places to look when your English textbook won't easily give up its secrets. Let's say you remember reading about pronouns, but you can't find where that was. The back of the textbook will have an index, pages that list important key words from the book. The index is in alphabetical order, so look for the P's and see if "pronouns" is listed. Next to "pronouns" will be page numbers where you can find information about pronouns. Another place to look for specific parts of the textbook is the table of contents which you will see within the first 10 pages. The table of contents lists the chapters in order with some informational titles about what is located in each chapter. Cruise the chapter titles to find the area in which you read about "pronouns," and the page where that info begins will be listed. Finally, I also suggest looking at the end of your textbook's chapters to see if they have any "chapter review" page. A review page is usually laid out nicely with good visuals and reminds you what important info was located in that chapter. Actually, I like to read the last page of the chapter first (the chapter review) to get an idea of what I should be learning when I go back and start reading the chapter.

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