Reading section Flashcards
primary sources
firsthand records of events, theories, opinions or actions
- not written 100s of years after event
facts
information based on real, provable events or situations
opinions
beliefs based on personal judgments, rather than fact
biases
opinions or beliefs that affect a person’s ability to make fair, unclouded judgments or decisions
stereotypes
oversimplified opinions about entire groups of people or things
- do not account for individual differences
critical reading
reader analyzes the text
author’s purpose
main reason for writing a piece
narrative text
tells a story or relates a chain of events
expository passage
- introduces or explains a subject
- gives groundwork info that is necessary for understanding later ideas
- or, analyzes information objectively
technical writing
passes along precise information
- usually about a specific topic
- formal or semi-formal style
- more specific that expository
persuasive writing
tries to get the reader to agree with author
topic
general subject matter covered by the work
main idea
- work’s specific message
- reason the text was written
supporting details
flesh out and explain the main idea
themes
- subjects that written work frequently touches upon
- ideas or concepts the book comes back to again and again
topic sentence
expresses the main point of a paragraph or of a larger text
summary sentences
generally appear at (or near) the end of a paragraph, chapter, section, or document
logical conclusion
- an idea that follows from the facts or ideas presented in the text
- may be illogical, but will be consistent with the writing
inference
- a next step or logical conclusion that is not actually written in the text
- it is deduced by the reader, based on information that is in the text
- making conclusions and predictions
informative writing
inform the reader about some fact or event
- newspapers often fall into this category
persuasive writing
persuade the reader to a particular viewpoint
entertaining the reader
most fiction novels
expressive passages
express feelings
- a large amount of poetry is concerned with evoking a feeling or emotion on the reader
text structure: problem - solution
- may be one paragraph presenting problem and another presenting the solution
- or may do both in one paragraph
text structure: comparison - contrast
present two different cases w/intent of making the reader consider the differences (or similarities) between the 2
text structure: cause-effect
presents an action first, then describes the effects that result (or may result) from that action