Opening Doors: Understanding College Reading - Softcover

Cortina, Joe; Elder, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0072871962 ISBN 13: 9780072871968

Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx), 2005

Synopsis

This text presents a systematic way of approaching college textbook material that is designed to make students more efficient in their reading and studying. It reinforces the essential skills of identifying the topic, main idea and supporting details, and also provides strategies for important skills, ranging from predicting and questioning actively as you read, to selecting, organizing and rehearsing textbook material for a test. The book provides 27 full-length selection from both textbooks and popular sources, and two complete textbook chapters for practice and application of reading skills and study techniques. Each chapter concludes with review cards to reinforce the understanding of important concepts.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Full Color Throughout: Opening Doors has been completly redesigned. Pages are illustrated with photographs, cartoons, tables, and charts all brought to life in eye-catching color.
Integrated Web Links: Each reading contains Internet references for students interested in learning more about the topic or author.
Full Chapter on Critical Thinking: Chapter Nine includes material on distinguishing fact from opinion, making inferences and drawing logical conclusions, evaluating an argument, identifying propaganda devices, and distinguishing inductive and deductive reasoning.
Nine New Readings: Each selection is accompanied by activities and exercises:

1-1 Why Go to College (Student Success)

2-1 World Wide Web (Information technology)

4-2 Latinos (Sociology)

5-3 Demography (Sociology)

6-1 Benjamin Franklin (Newspaper article)

7-1 Career Choice (Personal finance)

8-3 Excerpt from Joy Luck Club (Fiction)

9-1 Sport Utility Vehicles: How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways (Newspaper article)

9-3 Take Out the Trash, and Put It'Where? (Magazine article)

About the Author:

Joe Cortina earned his B.A. degree in English from San Diego State University and his master’s degree and doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction in reading from the University of North Texas. He has taught undergraduate teacher education courses in reading at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University. In 1981 he was selected to represent the Dallas County Community College District as a nominee for the Piper Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition, Dr. Cortina was chosen as his division’s Piper Award nominee for excellence in teaching in 1987, 1988,, and 1993. In 1992 he was selected as an honored alumnus by the Department of Elementary, Early Childhood, and Reading Education at the University of North Texas, and in 1994 he was a recipient of an Excellence Award given by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. In addition to teaching reading courses at Richland College, he has served as faculty leader of Richland’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program. Dr. Cortina has served as a member of the advisory board of The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. He is a frequent speaker at professional meetings. He has worked with Janet Elder as a writing team since 1985. Their first book, Comprehending College Textbooks: Steps to Understanding and Remembering What You Read, is now in its third edition. The second edition of Opening Doors: Understanding College Reading was published in 1998.

Janet Elder was graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin with a B.A. in English and Latin. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was the recipient of a government fellowship for Southern Methodist University’s Reading Research Program, which resulted in a master’s degree. Her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction in reading is from Texas Woman’s University, where the College of Education presented her the Outstanding Dissertation Award. She established the Richland College Honors Program and directed it for many years. She periodically serves as a member of the teaching teams in honors English and humanities courses. She has served ona task force that reevaluated Richland’s college-wide writing program. She received the Extra Mile Award from special services students, has been her division’s Piper Award nominee for excellence in teaching, and in 1993 received an Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. She used a recent sabbatical to create multimedia instructional materials. In addition, Dr. Elder and Dr. Gonnet co-authored the reading section of How to Prepare for the TASP, 2/e, a study guide for entering college students who must take the Texas Academic Skills Program Test.Dr. Elder serves as a presenter at many professional conferences.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx)
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0072871962
• ISBN 13: 9780072871968
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 734