Reading Informational Texts: Understanding your textbook!

Title Page- Beginning of the Book Title of the book Author of the book (anthologies often will not have authors listed because there are too many) Publisher of the book ON THE BACK: Copyright page Year of publication Publisher City and state of publisher Address to send permission requests

Comprehension Check: What is the official title of textbook? Who is the Publisher? Where is the publisher located? What year was the textbook published? Why might you need to know the publisher’s name, location of publishing company, and year the book is published?

Table of Contents Overview or outline of selections’ titles within the book. Page numbers where readers can locate information in text. Comprehension Check How many Table of Contents does your book have and how are these tables of contents organized?

Section Overview The sum-up of what information is included in the section. Heading: focus or main idea of the section Guiding Questions: questions readers should be able to answer by the end of reading the section. Key Terms/Points/Places: the most important ideas students should understand by the end of the reading

Comprehension Check Find “Reading Informational Text” from People, Places, and Change. What key term means “Indian troops commanded by British officers?” Can you find information regarding India’s culture today in this section?

Captions, I llustrations, I nsets I llustrations: visual aids that convey information to enrich readers’ understanding of texts. Captions: the text that explains the illustration; sometimes questions regarding interpretation of the visual are included. Insets: small map showing the location from where the photo is set Comprehension Check What architectural masterpiece is shown on page 657 and where is it located? Interpret the picture on page 656 of Mohenjo Daro Pakistan. Use the question to help you.

Boldface Print Key terms that are defined within the reading. These words are put in bold to capture a reader’s attention. You should know the definitions of these terms! Comprehension Check What 4 reading/literature terms are in bold on these two pages?

Boxed Text- Flagged Text Text that is often color-coded in a box or some other shape and stands apart from other text; used to indicate topic of section or skill focus of section Comprehension Check What are the three words in boxed, color- coded text? What are these words indicating to readers?

Subheadings Subtopics that assist readers in dividing the main topic into more manageable easier to understand sections. Comprehension Check Under what subheading can a reader find information regarding a man who urged Indians to peacefully boycott British rule?

Reading Reviews/Questions Questions or summaries that check reader’s comprehension of reading material. If you cannot answer the questions or if you don’t understand details within the summary, you need to re-read the section Comprehension Check Under what subheading can you find the answer to question 2?

Glossary Alphabetical listing of unfamiliar terms from reading sections within the textbook; operates like a dictionary. Comprehension Check What is the definition of “species” according to the glossary?

Handbook(s) Resource to locate more information on a topic/skill that is taught through the reading selections; organized alphabetically Comprehension Check On what page of the Reading and Informational Terms Handbook can you find more information about textbooks? Read what it says.

Index Alphabetical listing of textbook materials; offers page numbers to locate information in book; in back of books Comprehension Check Using the Index of Skills, find the page that explains indirect characterization.

Test Smarts Resource center for hints at successfully taking standardized/multiple choice tests Comprehension Check According to Test Smarts, what is a distracter?

Footnote Additional information provided at the bottom of a page to aid readers in their understanding of a text. Footnotes are indicated in text by a small number at the end of the word that the author is referencing. Comprehension Check Look on page 446. What two terms has the author footnoted?