KEY FEATURES:

1. Focus on the basics.

Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills explains in an extremely clear, step-by-step way the ten skills most needed for literal and critical reading comprehension. Many examples, practices, tests, and comments are provided to ensure that students understand and master each skill. In general, the focus is on teaching the skills, not just on explaining or testing them.

2. High interest level.

The readings in the book have been chosen not only for the appropriateness of their reading level but also for their compelling content. They should engage teachers and students alike. Your students will never be bored by the practice materials in this or any other TP book.

3. Integration of skills.

Students do more than learn the skills individually in Part I. They also learn to apply the skills together through the reading selections in Parts I and II as well as through the combined-skills tests in Part III. They become effective readers and thinkers by means of a good deal of practice in applying a combination of skills.

4. Expanded supplementary materials.

• An Instructor's Edition is identical to the student text except that it also provides hints for instructors, answers to all the practices and tests, and?a greatly expanded feature in this edition? helpful comments on these answers. The annotations are the kind that any good teacher would come up with after a semester or two of teaching the book. The annotations mean that even last-minute adjunct teachers can use the book and do a creditable job of teaching a course.
  
  
• A combined Instructor's Manual and Test Bank includes suggestions for teaching the course, a model syllabus, a complete answer key, and readability levels and writing activities for the reading selections. The test bank contains four additional mastery tests for each of the ten skills and four additional combined-skills tests-- all on letter-sized sheets so they can be copied easily for use with students.
  
  
• Computer Software (in IBM or Macintosh format) provides two additional mastery tests for each skill. Additional tests are also available as online exercises on the Townsend Press website.
  
  
• These supplements are available at no charge to instructors adopting the text in quantities of 20 or more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

If an entry is underlined, click on it to see sample pages from that chapter.

Preface to the Instructor

Inroduction

1. How to Become a Better Reader and Thinker
2. Some Quick Study Tips

PART I: Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills

Chapter 1: Vocabulary in Context

End-of-chapter reading: "The Quiet Hour" Robert Mayer

Six mastery tests

Chapter 2: Main Ideas

End-of-chapter reading: "How Dual-Earner Couples Cope"

Diane E. Papalia and Sally Wendkos Olds

Six mastery tests

Chapter 3: Supporting Details

End-of-chapter reading: "Baby Love" Mary M. Gergen et al.

Six mastery tests

Chapter 4: Implied Main Ideas and the Central Point

End-of-chapter reading: "Personal Relationships in the Not-So-Good Old Days" Rodney Stark

Six mastery tests

Chapter 5: Relationships I

End-of-chapter reading: "Julia Burney: The Power of a Woman's Dream" Beth Johnson

Six mastery tests

Chapter 6: Relationships II

End-of-chapter reading: "The Influence of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy"

Ronald B. Adler and Neil Towne

Six mastery tests

Chapter 7: Fact and Opinion

End-of-chapter reading: "Managing Conflicts in Relationships" Rudolph F. Verderber

Six mastery tests

Chapter 8: Inferences

End-of-chapter reading: "A Legendary Moment" Haven Kimmel

Six mastery tests

Chapter 9: Purpose and Tone

End-of-chapter reading: "How to Become a Better Listener" Stephen E. Lucas

Six mastery tests

Chapter 10: Argument

End-of-chapter reading: "Obedience: Milgram's Controversial Studies" Mary M. Gergen et al.

Six mastery tests

PART II: Ten Reading Selections

1. The Professor Is a Dropout Beth Johnson
2. Taming the Anger Monster Anne Davidson
3. He Was First John Kellmayer
4. Keys to College Success Sheila Akers
5. Motivation and Needs Virginia Quinn
6. Effects of the Automobile James M. Henslin
7. Rabies Robert Berkow, M.D., ed.
8. Bad Managers Michael W. Drafke and Stan Kossen
9. Busy As a Bee? Then Who's Doing the Work? Natalie Angier
10. The Life of the Urban Working Class Robert E. Lerner, Standish Meacham, and Edward McNall Burns

PART III: For Further Study

1. Combined-Skills Tests
2. More About Summarizing and Outlining
3. Five Additional Readings
4. More About Argument: Errors in Reasoning
5. Understanding Bias
6. Writing Assignments

Appendixes

• Pronunciation Guide
• Limited Answer Key
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• Reading Performance Chart

CHANGES IN THE FOURTH EDITION:

• Online Exercises.
  At the end of each skill chapter, students are referred to online exercises that help teach as well as test the skill.
  


• More Visuals.
  In addition to tables and graphs, photographs and cartoons add visual appeal and help teach key skills. Boxes, rules, and colored screens set off patterns of organization, chapter reviews, and important points. The book is more visually friendly without being visually cluttered.
  


• New Teaching Features.
  Three new features in each chapter--Study Hints and Tips, "Check Your Understanding" exercises, and Chapter Reviews--make the book even easier to use. In addition, a new format for practice and test questions makes them even simpler to grade. And as already mentioned, a greatly expanded Instructor's Edition provides helpful comments on the answer choices for almost all the practices and tests in the book. These detailed annotations should be of real help to teachers.
  
  If you were happy before with a book known for its helpfulness and clarity, you'll be even more pleased with the Fourth Edition.
  


• Many New Practice Materials.
  The model and practice passages and readings have been an acclaimed feature of Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. The materials are always compelling, never boring; they engage students and teachers alike. In the Fourth Edition, many practice materials are new and will make the book a fresh experience for teachers who have used earlier editions.
  
  Four new readings include an inspiring personal story (with photos) and high-interest articles on anger in everyday life and the power of self-esteem.
  


• Completely Revised Chapter on Main Ideas.
  Understanding the main idea is the most essential reading comprehension skill, so changes here to an already successful book were not made lightly. Students are now given three specific strategies for finding the main idea:
  
  
  1. Looking for general versus specific ideas
     
     
  2. Looking for the topic
     
     
  3. Using clue words
     
  
  Reviewers have agreed that the changes in the chapter make it even more accessible for students.
  


• Treatment of Figurative Language.
  The book now explains, illustrates, and offers practice in the two most common figures of speech: similes and metaphors. Practice materials include a short story by Langston Hughes, a passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth, and an literary excerpt that tells about a dramatic and "legendary moment" in the lives of a husband and wife.