Things Good Readers Do

The following is a list of methods that good readers use to better understand the text they're reading.

Preview the cover and title of the book.

Preview:
  -Look at the cover and title.
  -Look at some of the pictures and read some of the text.

Question:
  -Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how.
  -Decide if what you have read makes sense

Predict:
  -Wonder about what will happen next.
  -Make guesses and read ahead to see if your predictions are correct.

Infer:
  -Imagine the details.
  -Use what you have read to understand what the author means.

Make connections to your own knowledge

  Connect:
    -Relate what you have read to what you know, and to your   thoughts and feelings.
    -Compare what you have read to other texts and to the world   around you.

  Summarize:
    -Organize and connect the details.
                                                                    -Draw your own conclusions.

Visualize:

  -Picture in your mind what you are reading about.

Evaluate:                                                          
  -Think about what you have read.
  -What did you learn?
  -Was it important to you? Why or why not?
  -Did you like it? Why or why not?

Formatting - LAHS Guidelines for Written Work

Click on the image below to view a paper demonstrating how you should format your paper. Every  paper written for LAHS should be formatted in this manner.

Helpful Links

   Here's a list of links to other helpful writing sites.

   MLA Format - Short Answers

 - http://www.andyspinks.com/mla/pdf/MLAguide.pdf

   Study Guides and Strategies

 - http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr3.htm

   The Five Paragraph Essay

 -  http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1437/expo.html

   English Essays

 - http://www.englishessays.org.uk/how-to-write-expository-essay.php

   Writing Resources   

 - http://bcweb.bluefield.edu/cowl/helpful2.htm

   Writing Tips and Tools

 - http://www.educationcoffeehouse.com/writing/index.htm

   The Owl at Purdue

 - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/677/01/

   Easy Bib

 - http://easybib.com

   Dartmouth Writing Program

 - http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/humanities/tools.shtml

   National Writing Project

 -http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource_topic/teaching_writinggclid=COTghOOlw5gCFSIgDQod42tL1w

   Guide to Writing a Basic Essay  

 - http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/

   Essay Writing Center

 - http://essayinfo.com/

   Essay Builder

 - http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/Tips/essay/index.htm

   Sensory Words  

 - http://slohs.slcusd.org/pages/teachers/jowhite/Sensory%20Words.pdf

A Quick and Easy Punctuations Guide - The Parantheses

 

USE PARENTHESES (   )

   To set off and de-emphasize explanatory or less important details that you want to insert into a sentence:

 - Bliss Perry taught at Princeton (although he was there only seven years).

A Quick and Easy Punctuation Guide - The Apostrophe

USE THE APOSTROPHE ( ’ )

   To mark a possessive:

 - That is Ruth’s banana, so please refrain from eating it! [singular word, not ending in “s”]

 - The elephants’ trunks were raised as a salute. [plural word]

 - The children’s toys should go in the toy box. [word that is plural without adding “s”]

   To mark the missing part of the word in a contraction (and other omissions).

 - These bananas are mine, so don’t eat them!

 - It's ten o'clock. [originally "It is ten of the clock."]

     *Special note:  The possessive form of “its” needs no apostrophe:  This book is losing its binding.

   To form certain plurals when clarity is an issue.

 - The typewriter won't print e's (“The typewriter won’t print es” would have a different meaning).

A Quick and Easy Punctuation Guide - The Dash

USE THE DASH ( -- )

   To mark any sudden break.

 - These men and women are up for election in November—if they live until then.

     *Special note: If word processing does not allow a long dash, two small hyphens are acceptable. 

   To set off elements added at the end of the sentence.

 - As you discover new ideas, also try to find a form—to shape, limit, order, and select.

   To set off interrupters, especially when they contain commas (a dash works as a “strong” comma).

 - The canned goods—beans, potatoes, and peas—were packed.

A Quick and Easy Punctuation Guide - The Colon & Semicolon

USE THE COLON ( : )

   After a complete sentence that introduces a list or quote.

 - There are three kinds of theories that try to explain the secret of fire walking: physical, psychological, and spiritual.

 - Consider the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

USE THE SEMICOLON ( ; )

   To connect closely related main clauses.

 - I waited for him for an hour; he finally showed up after I left.

 - The batter swung at the ball three times; however, he never came close.

   To separate a series of items which contains commas.

 - A board is elected from each of three categories:  for example, a judge or lawyer of good repute; a professor of art, literature, or one of the humanities; and a social worker, psychologist, or clergyman.

A Quick and Easy Punctuation Guide - The Comma

USE THE COMMA  ( , )

   To separate items in a series.

 - (series of words) – Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims were all represented.

 - (series of phrases) – She kissed him on the nose, on both eyes, and on the left ear.

 - (series of clauses) – They came to the party, they bothered everyone, and they refused to leave.

     *Special note: Some style guides and instructors will suggest leaving out the last comma in a series: Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims were all represented.

   To set off all types of nonrestrictive elements (where the information is not necessary to the meaning of the core sentence).

 - Boston, the site of the famous Tea Party, is a very old city.

 - The stream, once swift and clear, is now dry.

 - John, who knows everything about physics, can’t change a spark plug.

     *Special note:  Do not put commas around essential (restrictive) information:  The woman who is sitting four seats to the left is stealing donuts. [The location of the woman is essential information].

   To set off introductory elements.

 - When you get out of school, come over to my house.

 - Feeling tired and defeated, the Senator curled up with his teddy bear.

 - In the back of the house, you will find all you need to know about the crime.

   Before a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) when used to connect main clauses.

 - We visit them during Christmas vacation, and they visit us every summer.

 - The batter swung at the ball three times, but he never came close.

     *Special note:  Do not use a comma if your coordinating conjunction connects a main clause and a dependant clause: The batter swung at the ball three times but never came close.

   To connect free modifiers to a base sentence.

 - The jockeys sat bowed and relaxed, moving a little at the waist with the movement of their horses.

 - A few hours later we caught two small dolphins, startlingly beautiful fish of pure gold, pulsing and fading and changing color.

Common Editing Symbols

Click on the image below to view a list of common editing symbols. This way, if you're going over a paper correct by your teacher or Mrs. Parkinson/Mr. Beckstead, you can have a guide to help you understand our corrections =)

Commonly Misspelled Words

absence                accidentally accommodate accumulate achievement acquaintance acquire acquitted advice advise amateur among analysis analyze annual apartment apparatus apparent appearance arctic arguing argument arithmetic ascend athletic attendance balance battalion beginning belief believe beneficial benefited boundaries Britain business calendar candidate category cemetery changeable changing choose chose coming commission committee comparative compelled conceivable conferred

conscience                           conscientious       conscious       control       controversial       controversy       criticize       deferred       definitely       knowledge                   laboratory       laid       led       lightning       loneliness       lose       losing       maintenance       maneuver       manufacture       marriage       mathematics       maybe       mere       miniature       mischievous       mysterious       necessary       Negroes       ninety       noticeable       occasionally       occurred       occurrence       omitted       opinion       opportunity       optimistic       paid       parallel       paralysis       paralyze       particular       pastime       performance       permissible       perseverance       personal       personnel       perspiration       physical

picnicking                         possession                  possibility possible practically precede precedence preference preferred prejudice preparation prevalent principal principle privilege probably procedure proceed profession professor prominent pronunciation pursue quantity quizzes recede receive receiving recommend reference referring repetition restaurant rhyme rhythm ridiculous sacrifice sacrilegious salary schedule seize sense separate separation sergeant severely shining similar sincerely sophomore specifically specimen

statue studying succeed succession surprise technique temperamental tendency tragedy transferring tries truly tyranny unanimous undoubtedly unnecessary until usually village villain weather weird whether woman women writing

Transitions and Transitional Expressions

Thesis Statements

   The thesis statement is that sentence or two in your text that contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about. 

   Many writers think of a thesis statement as an umbrella: everything that you

carry along in your essay has to fit under this umbrella, and if you try to take on

packages that don't fit, you will either have to get a bigger umbrella or

something's going to get wet!

   The thesis statement usually appears near the beginning of a paper. 

It can be the first sentence of an essay, but that often feels like a simplistic, unexciting beginning. It more frequently appears at or near the end of the first paragraph. The first paragraph serves as kind of a funnel opening to the essay which draws and invites readers into the discussion, which is then focused by the thesis statement before the work of the essay actually begins.

   Avoid announcing the thesis statement as if it were a thesis statement.  In other words, avoid using phrases such as "The purpose of this paper is . . . . " or "In this paper, I will attempt to . .  ."

(From The Guide to Grammar and Writing)

Tips from Purdue Owl:

   Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

   The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

   Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

   In writing a thesis statement, once you have a question to focus on, write your possible ideas and answer them.  

     For example:

     Question: How does Conrad develop the idea that all classes of society are corrupt?
     Answer: He uses images of beasts and cannibalism whether he's describing socialites, policemen or secret agents.

   To write your thesis statement, all you have to do is turn the question and answer around. You've already given the answer, now just put it in a sentence (or a couple of sentences) so that the thesis of your paper is clear. 

     For example:

     In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad uses beast and cannibal imagery to describe the characters and their relationships to each other. This pattern of images suggests that Conrad saw corruption in every level of early twentieth century London society.