FEATURES OF THE NEW FIFTH EDITION
1. A Full-Color Design
New to the text is a full-color design, with color carefully used not as window dressing but to add clarity and readability to the different parts of the book.
2. Visuals
Because so many students today are visual learners, numerous cartoons and other graphics have been added to help introduce or illustrate points made in the book. Look, for example, at the PDF excerpts available under the the table of contents tab.
3. New Chapter on Critical Reading
Now included among the ten skills is a chapter on critical reading that will give students practice in all of the following: separating fact from opinion, detecting propaganda, and recognizing errors in reasoning.
4. Fresh Materials
The book includes four new high-interest readings, and practice materials have been freshened throughout.
5. Clarity and Friendliness
Exceptional clarity has always been a hallmark of John Langan’s books—in the step-by-step explanations for each skill, in the logically sequenced materials, and even in the care given to the questions and answer choices in the activities.
Countless numbers of teachers have praised the friendly and helpful tone of John Langan’s books—a tone that never condescends to students. This revised book is no exception. In addition, the human content of the paragraphs and longer selections will definitely appeal to you and your students.
6. Online Exercises
At the end of each skill chapter, this icon is used to refer students to online exercises that both teach and test the skill. See for yourself how user-friendly they are. Just go to the TP website, www.townsendpress.com, click on “Online Learning Center,” and then click on “Take the exercises now.”
7. Price and Service
This full-color book will sell for a net price of $24—the same price as the previous edition. College bookstores then typically add 33% for their profit. No competing publisher matches the prices of TP books. Our goal has always been to provide the highest possible quality at the lowest possible price.
If you have ever e-mailed or called us, you know we respond to you right away. And orders, including desk copy requests, are typically shipped out on the same day that we receive them. We pride ourselves on prompt, personal service that no competitor can match.
OTHER IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE TEN STEPS SERIES:
• Focus on the basics
Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills, 5/e, 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 feedback 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
Preface: To the Instructor
INTRODUCTION
1 How to Become a Better Reader and Thinker
2 Reading for Pleasure and Power
3 Some Quick Study Tips
PART ONE: Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills
1 Vocabulary in Context
Reading: Night Watch Roy Popkin
Mastery Tests
2 Main Ideas
Reading: Here’s to Your Health Joan Dunayer
Mastery Tests
3 Supporting Details
Reading: Child-Rearing Styles Diane E. Papalia and Sally Wendkos Olds
Mastery Tests
4 Implied Main Ideas
Reading: Rowing the Bus Paul Logan
Mastery Tests
5 Relationships I
Reading: Wonder in the Air Jeff Gammage
Mastery Tests
6 Relationships II
Reading: Students in Shock John Kellmayer
Mastery Tests
7 Inferences
Reading: Gender Inequality in Health Care and in the Workplace James M. Henslin
Mastery Tests
8 Purpose and Tone
Reading: The Scholarship Jacket Marta Salinas
Mastery Tests
9 Argument
Reading: In Praise of the F Word Mary Sherry
Mastery Tests
10 Critical Reading
Reading: Gambling—A Dangerous Game Jon Volkmer
Mastery Tests
PART TWO: Ten Reading Selections
1 The Yellow Ribbon Pete Hamill
2 The Certainty of Fear Audra Kendall
3 Shame Dick Gregory
4 The Bystander Effect Dorothy Barkin
5 “Let’s Roll.” Karen Breslau, Eleanor Clift, and Evan Thomas
6 Coping with Nervousness Rudolph F. Verderber
7 Compliance Techniques: Getting People to Say Yes Shelley E. Taylor, Letitia
Anne Peplau, and David O. Sears
8 Lizzie Borden James Kirby Martin and others
9 Nonverbal Communication Anthony F. Grasha
10 The Power Within John Langan
PART THREE: Combined-Skills Tests
Appendixes
Pronunciation Guide
Writing Assignments
Limited Answer Key