Improving Your Vocabulary

Four Techniques for Acquiring Words

Using Context Clues

* Using Print and Online Dictionaries

* Practice Selection: Dave Barry Tips for Women: How to Have a Relationship with a Guy

Critical Reading Worksheet

The Main idea, Supporting Ideas, and Writer's Purpose

Part 1. Getting Started: Practicing the Basics

* Josh Sens, The Truth Is Out There – Somewhere

* Pamlea Grim, Care in Midair

* Lori Hope, Did I Save Lives or Engage in Racial Profiling?

Luis J. Rodriguez, La Vida Loca ("The Crazy Life"): Two Generations of Gang Members

Rose Del Castillo Guibault, The Conveyor-Belt Ladies

Eddy L. Harris, Mississippi Solo

*Andres Dubus, Digging

Annotating, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Part 2. Refining the Basics

Sheldon Campbell, Games Elephants Play

Charles Finney, The Life and Death of a Western Gladiator

Geoffrey Cowley, The Language Explosion

Richard Wolkomir, Making Up for Lost Time: The Rewards of Reading at Last

* Paco Underhill, Shop Like a Man

* Martha Fay, Sedated by Stuff

* Lawrence Shames, The Hunger for More

Making Inferences

Part 3. Tackling More Challenging Prose

* Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: Behind the Counter

* Val Plumwood, Being Prey: Surviving A Crocodile Attack

Elliot West, Wagon Train Children

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

* Anwar Accawi, The Telephone

Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy, New Jersey v. T.L.O.: The School Search Cases

David Ferrell, Badwater: The Ultra Marathon

Persuasive Writing and Evaluating Evidence

Part 4. Reading About Issues

* Bill McKibben, The Environmental Issue from Hell

* Jay Weiner, Sports Centered

* Maggie Gallagher, Fatherless Boys Grow Up into Dangerous Men

* Alex Raksin and Bob Sipchen, Lost, Then Found: Helping People Off the Streets

* Nicholas Thompson, Hero Inflation

* Rick Weiss, A Uniquely Human Debate

Patterns of Development and Transitions

Part5. Mastering Difficult Prose

* Scott Anderson, In Country

* Jon Katz, What Hath Goth Wrought?

Arthur Zich, Japanese Americans: Home at Last

Jared Diamond, Easter's End

* Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

Reading Comprehension Progress Chart

Index of Vocabulary Preview Words