topic
subject of the text
what the text is about
expressed in a few word at most
main idea
most important point being made by the author
needs a full sentence to be completely defined
main idea vs topic
topic: penguins
main idea: penguins are different from other birds in many ways
supporting details
in some cases will be clearly stated with words like for example or for instance
or words like first second last
supporting details can be factual but irrelevant to the authors point
conversely they can seem relevant but ineffective because they are based on opinion
making inferences
- must look for contextual clues
- answer can be true but not correct
footnotes
listed at the bottom of a page
lists where facts and figures within that document page were obtained
endnotes
similar to a footnote but listed at the end of paragraphs and chapters of a document
glossary
list of terms and their definitions found at the back of certain types of books
index
- found in the back of a book
- lists important names, topics, words and gives the page number where the topic is discussed
bar graph
- used to illustrate sets of numerical data
- for example, heights of basketball players
line graph
- used to measure trends over time
- persons income over a course of a year
pictograph
- uses pictures or symbols to represent data
- must have a key that defines the picture and symbols
drawing conclusions
- looks for phrases such as likely, may, can, will, often
- avoid extreme phrases such as always or never
- do not use any outside knowledge that is not gathered from the passage
theme
- an issue, an idea or a question raised by a text
- seldom stated directly
dialectical approach
- when the author dramatizes a theme by using characters to express opposing viewpoints
thesis
- what the author is arguing for or against
primary source
- contain original information that was gathered by the author
- can include firsthand accounts, found in sources such as books, autobiographies
- could be records of information such as government documents or personally conducted research
secondary sources
- reference information originally provided by another source
- may be articles, essays, videos, books
- provide information and conclusions the researcher may not have found or considered otherwise
six criteria to evaluate journal articles
- source
- length
- authority (should be authoritative and written by experts)
- Date
- audience
- usefulness (is it relevant to my particular research)
organizing information
- spatial organization (lets the user see the information)
- chronological organization
- logical organization (compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution)
6 major type of logical organization
- Illustartions (like examples)
- Definitions
- Dividing information
- Compare/comtrast
- Cause and effect
- Problem and solution
generalization
