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Chapter 7: Organizing Ideas

Reading Across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, 3/e

Kathleen McWhorter

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In this chapter you will learn how to:

Organize ideas by: Highlighting Annotating Paraphrasing Outlining Mapping Summarizing

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Highlighting

Analyze the assignment. Assess your familiarity with the subject. Read first, then highlight. Use the boldface headings. Highlight main ideas and only key

supporting details.(continued)

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Highlighting

Avoid highlighting complete sentences. Move quickly through the document as

you highlight. Develop a consistent system of

highlighting. Highlight no more than 15-25% of any

given page.

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Annotating

Circling unknown wordsMarking definitionsMarking examplesNumbering lists of ideas, causes,

reasons, or eventsPlacing asterisks next to important

passages(Continued)

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Annotating

Putting question marks next to confusing passages

Making notes to yourselfMarking possible test itemsDrawing arrows to show relationshipsWriting comments, noting

disagreements and similaritiesMarking summary statements

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Paraphrasing

A paraphrase is a restatement of a passage’s ideas in your own words.

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Paraphrasing Effectively

Read slowly and carefully. Read the material entirely before

writing. Pay attention to exact meanings and

relationships among ideas. Paraphrase sentence by sentence.

(continued)

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Read each sentence and express the key idea in your own words.

Don’t try to paraphrase word by word. Instead, work with ideas.

For words or phrases you are unsure of, check a dictionary.

You may combine several sentences into a more concise paraphrase.

Paraphrasing Effectively

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Outlining

Read an entire section and then jot down notes.

As you read, be alert for organizational patterns.

Record the most important ideas in the briefest possible form.

Think of your outline as a list of the main ideas and supporting details of a selection.

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Write in your own words; do not copy sentences or parts of sentences from the selection.

Use a system of indentation to separate main ideas and details.

Outlining

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Use Indentations to Separate Main Ideas and Details

TOPICMain Idea

Supporting Detailfactfact

Supporting DetailMain Idea

Supporting DetailSupporting Detail

factfact

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Mapping to Show Relationships

Mapping – drawing of a diagram to describe how a topic and its related ideas are connected.

Visual means of learning by writing; organizes and consolidates information.

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Mapping to Show Relationships(Concept Mapping)

Identify the topic and write it in the center of the page.

Identify ideas, aspects, parts, and definitions that are related to the topic. Draw each detail on a line radiating from the topic.

As you discover further details, draw new lines branching from the idea that the details explain.

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Mapping to Show Relationships(Concept Mapping)

TOPIC

Detail

Detail

Detail

DetailDetail

Diagram presents ideas spatially rather than in list form.

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Mapping to Show Relationships(Process Diagrams)

Diagram visually describes steps, variables, or parts of a process.

The Search Process

PeriodicalsBooksEncyclopedia

Overview of

Topic

Detailed Information

Basic Information

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Mapping to Show Relationships (Time Lines)

Shows sequence or order of events as a central focus.

1932—F.D.R. elected President 1933—Emergency Banking Relief

Act 1934—Securities and

Exchange Commission authorized

1936—F.D.R. reelected

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Mapping to Show Relationships (Part & Function Diagrams)

Diagrams that are labeled drawing.Use and description or classification of

physical objects.Example: learn the parts and

functions of the brain by drawing it.

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Summarizing to Condense Ideas

As a first step, highlight or write brief notes on the material.

Write one sentence that states the writer’s overall concern or most important idea.

Be sure to paraphrase, using your own words rather than those of the author.

Review the major supporting information that the author gives to explain the major idea.

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The amount of detail you include depends on your purpose for writing the summary.

Present ideas in the summary in the same order in which they appeared in the original material.

If the writer presents a clear opinion or expresses an attitude toward the subject matter, include it in your summary.

If the summary is for your own use only, do not worry about sentence structure.

Summarizing to Condense Ideas

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