9
Steps to Successful Reading FOR Evidence and Writing WITH Evidence –These basic steps apply to any question where you have to figure
things out accurately and quickly. |
Personal Encouragement: Much of this webpage I started learning in 4th
grade. I thought the teacher was mean, but I learned so much from her. My joke
now is “everybody needs a mean 4th grade teacher.” It is never too
late to begin developing habits to match the future you want. If you have
questions, just ask.
If you are just collecting information for
a general paper, you can probably work as you did as a kid and be OK. If you need to figure something out
accurately and quickly, critical thinking is a lot like a math problem that
is too big to work in your head. You have to use paper and pencil to work
it—to try out different solutions and reject some things if necessary. Typing is not a good idea because you
believe what you type. Paper with
lines (so you can make tables) and a pencil help: ·
With reading FOR evidence ·
With the 5Ws chart (or table) to help you
understand things so you can write WITH
evidence – There are other charts that can work but the 5Ws is a good one to
begin with. |
Honorable reporters are expected to cover at least these things:
§ Who?
§ What?
§ When? (for this class, not a specific date but a period of time or an order of events)
§ Where?
§ Why?
§
and sometimes How?
Be sure you:
§ Line things up in each of the time periods so you can see changes easily. When you are doing this for yourself, just write the 5 Ws Chart on a piece of notebook paper with lines, but this shows you how you might make chart for a question where things changed from one document to another.
§ If you have 3 documents, you need 3 columns. (It also helps with 1 issue to more than 3.)
§ Notice how the columns are in time order from earliest to latest. That helps your brain interpret change because change over time is hard to see. (For the cognitive scientist, see Dietrich Dörner, The Logic of Failure.)
§
This method works with anything that you are trying
understand. For this example, it just says Issue
5Ws |
Issue
in the Earliest Document |
Issue
in the Middle Document |
Issue
in the Latest Document |
Who |
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What |
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When |
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Where |
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Why |
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How |
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§ Limit yourself to a word or two for each thing. Refer to things in the book or primary; don’t copy what is in the book, especially not a quotation.
§
Always make sure you understand the question.
For example, if you are answering a question is about a region, a type of
worker, or any category, always check that you have the right one.
Tip: With the writing
work for this term, your instructor provides the primaries and identifies the
required textbook pages: make sure you use them.
§
Write down the specific page number where you can find a specific fact you place
in the chart.
You have to be able to retrace your steps to figure out if you made an error in
understanding—and everyone makes a
mistake sooner or later. Prepare for that by developing good brain habits.
§
Do not write
down quotations at this stage. Instead, if you think you might want to quote a
phrase, write the word QUOTE with a
question mark (?) and the page number in the 5 Ws Chart as a reminder.
Tips:
· Don’t take notes from your textbook or your primary source in a separate notebook. If you have this habit, click here for why you want to replace this habit
·
For this writing assignment, use my exact pages.
·
For your future, remember this gift:
A Gift: Your best
buddy if your boss or prof did not list exact pages for you is the index to
the document you are required to use. The index is at the back of the book.
It is in alphabetical order and often has subcategories that help you. When you don’t know what pages in the textbook
might help you understand about a question about a fact in a specific time
period (like a Unit), do this: ·
Check to see the page number of the last page of
the last chapter covered in the Unit. ·
Then go to the index at the back of the book. ·
Look up words in the index that are in the
question and are also before the
last page number covered in the Unit. That way you avoid collecting
information without realizing it is about a later time. Tip: something
cannot cause something if it happens after. ·
Jot the page numbers down on a piece of paper and
look them up and read what is on the page. If the page numbers do not apply,
cross them off. ·
When the pages apply to the question, read
carefully and record in the 5Ws
chart using the method explained above. |
§ If you want to quote a phrase that you identified, open the book and quote it exactly. To avoid errors in quoting, use the brain trick in this link.
§ Keep
your book closed as you write. If you must check on something, open it briefly
but close it again before you write
a word.
Why? If you have your book open when
you write or you took extensive
notes in a separate notebook (please do not), in almost all cases you will make
both these errors:
- Plagiarize or do a “half-copy” version of plagiarism (to use the term in The Bedford Handbook)
- Be factually inaccurate
§ Read your paper syllable by syllable—ideally in a funny accent that will force you to pay attention.
§ Check your paper against each of the instructions for the assignment. Did you do everything?
§ Run spellcheck and grammar check with your paper, but do not make corrections automatically.
§ Check your citations: some people benefit by using this tactile method to make sure their citations are correct.
Here are
additional tips on how to prevent different types of errors:
·
How to verify content before you write
·
How to check evidence in your written work
· How to proof quotations - Plus the Basics about Quotations)
· How to proofread for clarity
Taking notes in a
separate notebook or on paper can be useful if you are collecting information
that you do not have easy access to. The typical example of when it is OK to
take notes is when you are collecting information for a term paper when you
can’t check a source out of a library...
If you take notes in
a notebook when you read a textbook or when you read anything you have to do something with, it is dangerous to
your success. The simplest way to put it is:
IF you are absolutely sure that taking notes from your textbook is
something you ought to do, then click
here for a PowerPoint
video on the danger of taking notes separately from your source. (It
is one I did years ago.)
Copyright C. J. Bibus,
Ed.D. 2003-2018 |
WCJC
Department: |
History
– Dr. Bibus |
Contact
Information: |
281.239.1577
or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
Last
Updated: |
2018 |
WCJC
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