As I’ve already discussed in class and in the Course Description, one of the goals of this course is to help you learn how to read scientific materials.  Later in life you’ll find that sometimes the only way to learn new things is by reading; it’s an absolutely essential skill as a scientist.  But there’s no reason why reading scientific materials should be easy, innate, or the same as reading poetry, USA Today, or romance novels.  It’s a new skill that you’ll have to work on and I’ve designed Chem 121 to help you develop that skill.

    The first thing to know about much science writing is that it is information dense.  That is, it seems like there is a new idea in every sentence and every paragraph.  This can make for slow reading since it’s generally quite important that you understand each idea before moving on to the next idea.  Science writing, like science classes, tends to be linear and cumulative.  If you don’t understand paragraph one, it’s unlikely that the paragraphs that follow will become understandable.

    Recommendation #1:  Read slowly and thoughtfully.   Be prepared to stop and think as you read.  Reading just to “get through the material” is a waste of time.

or

    Recommendation #2:  “Pre-read” a section at a more rapid pace just to get a sense of the overall picture; then return to the beginning and re-read at least once in a more meticulous fashion.

Only the brightest, fastest-uptake folks are going to understand science writing on the first reading.  I assume that you’ll have to read and re-read some paragraphs or sections several times.  If all of this science stuff were easy and obvious, we’d probably have lots more scientists.  Only those who persist and are tenacious are likely to succeed.

    Reading science is not just reading words.  It’s reading equations, reading tables of data, and reading graphs.  (Science textbooks also have lots of beautiful pictures in them; some of these are important and should be studied and some of these are just nice looking pictures to break up the text.)   When reading equations you must make sure that you understand all the variables and the physical interpretation of the mathematical equation.  Simple algebraic equations are... well, simple.  But look carefully at exponential and logarithmic equations (and, later, calculus equations) to make sure you see the relationships being expressed.  Data tables should be closely examined.  Do trends in data support general relationships or math equations or are exceptions seen?  What is the purpose of the data table in the book?   Graphs are extremely important.  Study the x- and y-axes carefully and make sure you know what’s being plotted.  Is the plot linear or not?  How does this relate to some equation?  Why is the plot included at all?  Proving something?  Are there data that don’t fall on the general curve or trend?  Graphs need to be digested slowly.  They often contain lots of information and scientists love to use graphs.  Know them; love them.

    Recommendation #3:  Read the book with a pencil in your hand and make notes - everywhere! - about things you don’t understand.  Draw lines connecting tables and graphs and equations and words to show the connections.  Use the large margins in texts to write to yourself.

I discourage using a highlighter because they aren’t useful for writing notes to yourself.  Some students highlight boldface terms; that’s being redundant.  Some students highlight sentences; instead give it a quick underline and write a note to yourself in the margin about why this sentence is so important!  Some students seem to highlight just about every sentence; yes, they’re all important but what good does highlighting all of them serve?

    Some textbooks have a glossary in the back of the book.  Does yours?  (Go look!)  Whether it does or not...

    Recommendation #4:  Read the text with a dictionary close by.  It’s expected that you’ll run into words that you don’t know; that’s OK as long as you figure them out before continuing.

    Everyone has had the experience of reading something and not understanding it.  It’s what you do after that happens that defines who you are and influences your probability of success as a student and scientist.  If you are interested in learning, you will re-read and concentrate and make notes as you read.  If you are interested only in “completing the reading assignment” (which means passing your eyes over all the words at least once - with or without understanding) then all of your reading will be easy and fast and worthless.

    Recommendation #5:  Grab your textbook, a dictionary, some pens/pencils and get thyself to a quiet place where you won’t be distracted.  Read, re-read, re-read (?).

    Reading, like all skills, improves with practice.  Right now you have the opportunity to learn to read well-written scientific material.  Later in life you will inevitably have to read some poorly written scientific material.  When you have to read a technical manual for a new instrument that you just bought and have to learn to operate you’ll yearn for the days of well-written lab instructions in Chem 121!  Now’s the time to practice!

    Finally, a few comments directed specifically at our textbook.  1)  At the beginning of each chapter there is an introduction that’s easy to skip as you dash into Section 1.  Read this introduction; it “sets up” the whole chapter and gives a bit of context for understanding the chapter.  2)  There are also Exercises highlighted in light blue boxes throughout the text.  Do these exercises; don’t just look at them.  My exams will not require that you just look at questions and answers and see if they make sense; you’ll have to read questions and supply your own answers!  Practice the tasks you’ll have to perform!  3)  Each chapter has a Summary at the end of the chapter.  Would it surprise you that I recommend reading it!?!

    Happy reading!  (Didn’t you enjoy reading this!?!)