Lesson 16 — Activity 1: Strategies for Reading and Finding Information


This is an example of a non-narrative text.



You know that non-narrative texts give information or instructions.

Many of the same strategies that you used for reading narrative texts (making predictions and connections, asking questions, understanding and building vocabulary, monitoring as you read, and reflecting when done) can also be used for non-narrative texts.


There are also some other strategies that you can use for reading just non-narrative texts:

  • Think about what you want from the text. Is there specific information you need to find?
  • Think about how the text is structured. Is the material organized according to topics? In alphabetical order? In chronological order?
  • Use features such as the Table of Contents or Index to find the information you need.
  • Use graphic organizers to help you record information and help you see the relationships between ideas.
Another example of a non-narrative text.

Sometimes you may be asked to read non-narrative texts to find particular information for a report or a research essay.

Doing research for these kinds of assignments requires searching for information quickly and accurately.
You may have to do research to find information about a topic.


Clues for Finding Information

You can search through the following:




The Table of Contents:
  • is a list of sections or chapters found at the front of a book
Scan the Table of Contents for keywords related to the topic you are searching for.
An example of a Table of Contents.

Indexes are presented in alphabetical order.



The Index:
  • lists, in alphabetical order, topics in the book and the page numbers where they are covered
  • is found at the back of a book
Look up keywords related to your topic or questions that you would like to find answers for.




The Glossary:
  • lists, in alphabetical order, words that are important in the book and defines what they mean
  • is usually found at the back of the book
Look in the glossary for keywords that you want to know the meaning of.
You will find important words in the glossary.


The bibliography will list where the author got information from.

The Bibliography:
  • is a list of resources that the author used for help in writing the book
  • is found at the back of the book
Scan this list for other books that are related to your topic.


You will have noticed the word "scan" in the above clues.

Scanning, and another strategy called skimming, can be used to find specific ideas or the main idea of a text.

Scanning:

  • is looking over a text very quickly

  • You are not reading every word and trying to understand it; instead, you are looking for key words and phrases that apply to your topic.
  • If you find them, then you can stop and read carefully to see if the information will be useful.
  • If you don’t find the key words you are looking for, you can be fairly certain that particular resource will not be helpful to you in your research.
 

Skimming:

  • involves more reading than scanning, but not as much as reading carefully for comprehension
  • is running your eyes quickly over a text

  • When you are skimming through a textbook or an article, look for titles, headings, pictures, charts, and diagrams that will give you a clue as to whether or not the information might be useful.
  • You might also read the first sentence and concluding sentence of a paragraph to see if the topic sentence relates to the topic you are researching. 

Click here to watch this video that will give you further information about scanning and skimming.


Remember, scanning and skimming are strategies to save you time when looking for a certain topic.


You will need to read the information carefully to be sure you understand it, but you can use scanning and skimming to help you reduce the amount of careful reading you need to do.
Images courtesy of www.imagesgoogle.com

Go to the next page to try a Self-check Activity on identifying strategies you may use when reading non-narrative texts.