Active Reading in the Arts and Sciences

Active Reading in the Arts and Sciences is designed to develop students' critical thinking abilities as they apply to the reading of college textbooks and other academic materials. The art of questioning with extensive demonstrations of what questions to ask in reading discipline-specific materials and which answers to look for forms the underlying structure of the book. The book is divided into four general sections. Part I introduces students to basic reading skills required for college work such as the connections between thinking and reading, words and ideas, generalizations and supporting material, and previewing and efficient reading. Part II moves students through the analytical reading skills of recognizing and working with the organization of material to the critical reading skills of determining an author's purpose and methods of evaluating an author's evidence and reasoning and ends with a chapter on general reading and strategies studies. Part III follows with chapters on the application of the skills and techniques learned to reading in specific academic fields. Part IV applies the skills learned to specific disciplines the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences and history. Students learn the roles of patterns of thought and the roles of evidence in these areas.