Reading for Thinking

7^th edition, available January 2011

A developmental reading text for students who need to sharpen their comprehension skills before delving more deeply into critical reading.

Publisher: Wadsworth Cengage Learning
20 Channel Center Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02210

In this, its seventh, edition,Reading for Thinking still uses a step-by-step approach to show how comprehension skills can be revised and refined into critical reading skills. But in this edition, there is an increased emphasis on paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing. All three of these key academic skills now get more attention, with summarizing and synthesizing becoming the focus of entire chapters. New to the 7th edition are also vocabulary exercises and quizzes that ensure students have mastered the words defined in the footnotes appearing throughout the chapters.

The 7th edition also features a series of extended readings that divide and end the book. Following Chapter 5, "Understanding, Outlining, and Summarizing Longer Readings," students get a chance to apply what they have learned about comprehension to four different textbook selections. The selections chosen raise questions I thought might interest student readers; for instance, What do people do when the city they live in decides to take over their house under the law of eminent domain? Is multi-tasking really a smart way to get things done? and What's the most effective method of resolving conflict in one's private and professional life?

The book's final chapter, "Analyzing Arguments," is followed by a set of longer readings. Only this time, the questions raised test both comprehension and critical thinking. Here again, I think the topics will grab students' interest and lead to lively discussions of controversial issues such as the effect of social networking on human empathy, the consequences of tax rebellions, and the troubling incidence of violence in youthful relationships.

The seventh edition has more writing assignments than ever before and spends more time illustrating how readers and writers need to collaborate so that the words on the page communicate their intended meaning. There are also new sections on navigating hypertext, evaluating web sites, and understanding how figurative language contributes to tone.