Chapter 3: Reading Technical Information
In this chapter Burnett describes different ways of reading that can help someone better understand. Some of these ways are the following: Identifying Purposes, Reading-Writing Relationships, Strategies for Effective Reading, Identify Structure and Hieracrchy, Determine the Main Points, Draw Inferences, Generate Questions and Examples, and Monitor and Adapt Reading Strategies.
Identifying Purposes:
When people start to read there are certain things that they read for. The main thing in identifying purposes is what you are reading for and why. This way you will have a better understanding of what you are to get out of the reading. The following are a few purposes for reading:
Reading to asses
Reading to learn
Reading to do
Reading to learn to do
Reading Writing Relationships:
Whether you think about it or not your reading and writing are very closely related. When reading articles Burnett describes looking for words that you understand and when we find one that we are completely lost with, that is when the piece of writing loses us. Therefore she describes writers having to think of who their audience is and write for that audience so when they read it they are not confused.
Strategies for Effective Reading:
This section of the chapter was split into three different areas to help with reading. The three areas are the following:
Skim:
When skimming a document it is a good idea to run through everything quickly to catch where the main points are and to also understand what kind of information is going to be present in the document. This strategy is also useful when thinking about how long the document itself is.
Scan:
Scanning can be mistaken for the word skim, but it means something a little different. When scanning you are looking for key terms as well as locating specific images, charts or examples. These things are usually located by the use of bold, italic type and also by key terms.
Predict:
While you are skimming and scanning you can now predict what the document will be about. This will help you better understand what you are getting yourself into and what you may need to take out of the reading. Also, by predicting, you can also think of questions to ask yourself before reading the document that way you are paying more attention when you read.
Identify Structure and Hierarchy:
Burnett describes this as the headings in a document to highlight what is important and what may be coming up next in the reading. She also describes how abstracts in a reading can be the easiest to understand because it is shorter for one and you are more likely to read abstracts faster and even understand them better if you tend to anticipate what they are about.
Visual cues: Burnett describes visual cues as, "cues that help you recognize the hierarchy of ideas in a document." The following are three that she describes:
Information is chunked so that relationships are clear.
Information is arranged so that the sequence is clear.
Information is emphasized so that important elements are signaled.
Previews and Reviews:
Previewing and reviewing is explained by Burnett as giving you a chance to understand and then reinforce the structure of the reading. By previewing and reviewing it gives the reader a better understanding of what the reading is about and will have a better chance of remembering the information later on.
Determine the Main Points:
By determining the main points of a document you can pick out what is most important and helps you to better understand material in the document. Burnett also describes by doing this it can you with understanding the relationships with in a certain document. Things such as italicized words, or boldface type, or hanging indents can draw attention to something that is probably important.
Draw Inferences:
This is the portion in which we can mention whole detail the subject and imply it. The reader draws Inferences to be specific WIth ideas and be technical in writing.
Generate Question and Examples:
The most readers are asked this six levels of question;
a) Knowledge question: It talks about the specific method in the information.
b)Compreshension question: It refers to incorporate idea with the reader writing.
c) Appplication question: It mention about the specific knowledge int he theories.
d) Analysis question: It outlet the analysis of the information.
e) Synthesis question: It refers to particular structure.
f) Evaluation question: It makes evaluation on the inforamtion from the subject.
Monitor and Adapt Reading Strategies:
The readers are basically engaged in their text with effective concepts. So, the reader plan to monitor their
strategies with implies. And they want to give best result with their ablity.
22 comments:
This chapter makes me feel somewhat as a child. I generally read for entertainment. Reading to learn is a struggle for me unless there are pictures. For instance, the article starting on page 96 would have been torture for me had a picture not been placed on the opposite page. When there are pictures, I ALWAYS look at them first. Then when reading, I have a point of reference to look back at to further understand what I am reading. Too much Dr. Seuss when I was little?
This chapter is exactly about how I read and look for information. I am not a very big reader so when I do read an article or magazine I like so skim through and get the main points of it. Also at the same time when I am doing homework out of a book I like to scan through the book looking for the main terms and headlines in the chapter of the book. Then the last thing I look for when reading or doing work out of books is the main headlines that stick out to me.
I find textbooks very difficult to read. I look at main headings and usually a paragraph or two under each main heading to see whats in the section or subsection. Pictures and diagrams are critical for me to get a good understanding of what I am reading. The post did a good job of staying concise and short. I liked it.
This chapter is definetly helpful to me personally. In high school like many people i got in to the habit of reading as little as possible. I've gotten better since then with all the reading we have to do for courses here, but I still have a problem sometimes paying attention to what I'm reading.
I think that this is a good topic to be discussed because as college students we spend a lot of time reading. I personally am not the best reader and I have a hard time staying focused when I do try to sit down and read. Sometimes if the topic isn’t something that I’m interested in I find that I space out and don’t remember anything that I just read. I think that the strategies that Burnett has explained in this chapter will help me to become a better reader.
When i read chapters for class i like to use these techniques. They make the reading go painless and quick, even better i still remember what i looked at and went over. Very handy on test day!! This group did great on puting it all together, i like the bolds, spacing, and the fact its short sweet and to the point
These are good tips for anyone who reads whole chapters or documents at a time instead of just skimming or scanning the information to get what they want out of it. I am sometimes guilty of reading every word instead of just looking for boldface type, definitions and key terms. I agree with everyone else, it was a good chapter summary that was short, to the point and easy to read.
I usually find myself doing these same steps. I find myself scanning through the reading in hopes to find the answer on that page which never seems to happen. Also, predicting how it will end up I tend to do a lot whether it be where the answer is or where this chapter ends. With images in the pages you always tend to look over at those and understand those more than the reading at hand which can sometimes get you confused, but on the same time help you better understand the topic at hand. This is a good article in helping people understand that better.
Technical information is typically less friendly than other information. This chapter provides useful strategies on how to read and understand technical information. Whenever I read books, magazines, newspapers, or product manuals, the first thing I do is to skim through just to get an idea of what's in the document and where it's located. In case of a book I usually skim through the chapter. Once I have an understanding of what's in the document and where it is, I then start reading the sections that appeals to me or the sections that have the information I’m interested in. I scan through the documents when I want to locate some information like definitions, formulas, figures, tables and examples. The authors of this post did a good job at summarizing this chapter. It short and easy to follow.
This chapter summery was really helpful for me. The way the summery discribes the diffrent parts of reading strategy made me easier to understand the reading technique, i hope it will not only improve my reading rather also improves my writing along with the reading.
Drietz and Shresta's comment on chapter three was informative. I liked how it mentioned that it is important to identify exactly what kind of reading to expect, or what you want to get out of it. If you are reading a technical publication you may have to focus more than a novel. I also liked how it mentioned to skim, scan and predict. This is very similar to the technique I learned in grade-school which was Survey,Question, Read, Recite and Review. It is good to know that these basic concepts are not only still taught and practiced but that they are emphasized on all levels of education.
This chapter shows the basic idea of reading to asses, reading to learn, reading to do, and reading to learn to do. The authors did a great job of summarizing the chapter into headings. The skim, snan, and predict reading method is something we do everyday and the better we can master these three steps, the better and more efficient readers we will be. The last questions that are presented by the author, give a great example and steps to further delve into the piece of written work. By asking yourself those questions when you read a piece or writing, not only helps you fully understand what was written but it also prepares you for more reading on that topic. Good job on summarizing this chapter.
When I read for my own personal entertainment I am just find and can understand everything, but when I am trying to read something that I am not necessarily interested in it becomes very difficult. Like this summary said, I find it especially difficult when ther are words in a reading that I cannot understand. I cannot follow and comprehend what I am reading when I don't know what the words mean.
After reading the chapter, I found that I use many of those reading strategies already without even knowing it. Before reading the summary, I had first skimmed through for the keywords and got a good idea as to what it was about. The summary did a great job of making the main points easy to find and understand. It allows the reader to get the most out of what they are reading. Trying to read an article that is one large paragraph with no bolding or seperation is not only hard to do, but also difficult to understand and follow from beginning to end.
I like this chapter because of the fact that I do a lot of skimming. I have been trying to master the art of it and caught some good pointers in here. I always try to use the best of my time and this chapter deals with what information you should be paying attention to and what information is ok to kind of fly through. The use of bold face, pictures, and other eye-catching gags is the easiest way to figure out what information is important which is why is seems like every text book I’ve had is just a bunch of words surrounding these.
There are many reasons why people choose to read. Whether it be to learn, enjoyment, or required reading materials for their job, reading is also a big part of technical communication. The main thing you want to understand is what you are reading for and why, this allows you to understand what the material is actually saying. Some good reading strategies would include skimming, or just running through the document looking for main points. Scanning is closely related to skimming, however it includes looking for pictures, graphs, and bold letter words, and last but not least is predicting, if you have an idea of where the author is taking you you’re able to understand better what needs to be taken out from the document.
I can completly relate to everything that Burnett explains in this chapter summary. When reading over the skiming and scaning section of the summary I can relate because I know exactly what she is talking about because I do it all the time even when reading the summary. I looked for information that was important to keep in mind to write a good response. I always look for visuals and words bolded to get the best information I can instead of reading over the whole page to get what I'm trying to find.
this chapter is totally how i read when i have to study. when i am reading or studying i sometimes space out and do not even remember what i read about 3 minutes before. it isnt that im not interested, its more of i have other things on my mind. i think it all goes back to your grade school teaching. if you were taught to read and study well, you will do well in the future
The summary gave good examples on how to better understand what you are reading. It is hard for me to concentrate when reading mostly because the things I have to read I am not all that interested in. It gave good ideas on how to look for the important points of what you are reading.
While reading a technical information, one should read to asses, learn, do and understand that piece of information. There are several ways how you can be efficient in reading. One way is to skim. While skimming one should know how to run through quickly and catch the main points. Second way is to scan. By scanning the pictures, charts and locating examples and specific data, one can grasp the basic idea of the information.The blog presented here is clear and substantive.
this chapter focused on reading technical information. i think that this group did a good job on summerizing the chapter. this chapter made it clear that it is imprtant to be effective at knowing how to read technical information. having the skill to be good at being able to read TI well is a good skill to have becaue there is TI everywhere, and it would be very hard if you didnt know how to read it. in construction i have to look at technical information all the time when im looking at construction plans. it is very important for me to be able to do my job well and quickly.
Reading technical information
In the course of my construction career that I am currently working on, I have read many different types of technical documents as well as have had to explain them to workers and other professionals. This chapter has helped me identify different parts of documents to help me better myself in understanding the information at hand. In my readings I found that there are a couple of different ways in which to read through technical documents when looking for a specific type of information. This will help me in the future to easily problem solve and find the information needed in a fast process.
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