Building Strategies for College Reading: A Text with Thematic Reader

This valuable book informs readers about the skills, strategies, attitudes, and habits associated with effective reading that are vital for success in every walk of life. Readers will see themselves as active participants in the reading process. Updated to include even more practice material—numerous excerpts, examples, and articles—Building Strategies for College Reading, 4/E stresses the importance of learning strategies to expand vocabulary. Nine chapters of this useful guide to effective reading are devoted to the development of skills and strategies. Topics include: reading as a process, building vocabulary, understanding main ideas, reading multi-paragraph selections and graphics, author's point of view, and organizing information. The selection of readings is divided into thematic sections, giving a context for understanding the skills presented; they include: “First Amendment Freedoms,” “Today's Workplace,” “Violence and Crime,” and “Biodiversity.” This book is a valuable tool and reference for anyone who needs to develop better reading, comprehension, and vocabulary skills.

Jane L. McGrath earned her undergraduate degree and M.A. in education and mass communications and her Ed.D. in reading education from Arizona State University. During her more than twenty-five years with the Maricopa Colleges, McGrath taught a variety of reading, English, journalism, and computer applications courses. She was named Innovator of the Year by the Maricopa Colleges and the League for Innovation in Community Colleges for Project Read-Aloud, a college-community service program, and has received Outstanding Citizen awards from the cities of Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona, for her community service activities. McGrath's other books include Basic Skills and Strategies for College Reading: A Text with Thematic Reader, second edition, and Strategies for Critical Reading. In addition to her work in reading education, McGrath and her husband Larry write for the high-performance automotive industry. Their work has appeared in magazines such as Drag Racing Today and Circle Track, and their monthly column appears in Performance Racing Industry.