Rabu, 10 Juni 2015

Reading Comprehension

Chapter 1: Background of reading skill
Introduction
Reading is one great habit that can truly change your life forever. Reading can entertain you; amuse you, but most of all it will enrich you with knowledge, and experiences narrated. Reading purely for leisure is fun as we all know but there exists certain reading skills and strategies which if mastered at a nascent stage can help us be better and far more comprehensive readers.Although the term reading strategies might sound to mechanical and dry for the ears of a creative book-lover, these strategies can enhance your grasping power and help you get the most out of any book or any text that you lay your eyes on. These skills might not necessarily be learned as rigid theories or rules but if understood well once they can definitely enhance the reading process and increase the quality as well as quantity of output that you get from after reading. Not only can these strategies can be taught to children right from school, but can also be used by any person of any age to help improve their reading process.

Think About What You Want to Know

Before you start reading anything, ask yourself why you're reading it. Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after you've read it?
Once you know your purpose, you can examine the resource to see whether it's going to help you.
For example, with a book, an easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings. The introduction should let you know who the book is intended for, and what it covers. Chapter headings will give you an overall view of the structure of the subject.
Ask yourself whether the resource meets your needs, and try to work out if it will give you the right amount of knowledge. If you think that the resource isn't ideal, don't waste time reading it.
Remember that this also applies to content that you subscribe to, such as journals or magazines, and web-based RSS and social media news feeds – don't be afraid to prune these resources if you are not getting value from some publishers.
Theory about reading strategy and skill
The strategy and skill of skill are:
1.      Anticipating and predicting.
2.       Skimming
3.      Scaning
4.      Detail reading
5.      Guessing unknow words.
6.      Understanding main idea
7.      Inferring
8.      Understanding text organization
9.      Restatement
10.  Multiple choice strategy
11.  Assesing a writer’s purpose
12.  Evaluating a writer’s atitude.





Chapter II  : Content of reading strategy and skill.

1. ANTICIPATING AND PREDICTING

Who are some of the women who changed the world?
Who can regret the importance of women in our every day life? Women help not only with the housework but also in the progress of countries. They have reached a high place comparable to that of men in all fields: politics, business, sport, art, literature etc.
Here is a list of seven women who made history.
1. Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani-born politician, with Pakistani and Kurdish origin, who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a centre-left political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She was Pakistan's first and to date only female prime minister. she was assassinated on 27 December 2007, after departing a PPP rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate.
2. Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru to Jawaharlal Nehru. She was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, a total of fifteen years. India's only female prime minister to date, she remains the world's longest serving female Prime Minister as of 2011. She was also the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared an emergency in order to 'rule by decree' and the only Indian Prime Minister to have been imprisoned.
3. Khadija bint Khuwaylid
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Khadijah successfully managed her father's business interests and preserved the family's fortune. It is said that when the Quraysh's trade caravans gathered to embark upon their lengthy and arduous journey either to Syria during the summer or to Yemen during the winter, Khadijah's caravan equalled the caravans of all other traders of the Quraish put together. She is important in Islam as Muhammad's first wife, and one of the "mothers of the believers" .
4. Margaret Thatcher
In 1975 Margaret Thatcher became Leader of the Conservative Party and became the first woman to head a major UK political party. Following the 1979 general election she became Britain's first female Prime Minister. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, particularly of the financial sector, flexible labour markets, and the sale or closure of state-owned companies and withdrawal of subsidies to others. She survived an assassination attempt in 1984. She took a hard line against trade unions, and her tough rhetoric in opposition to the Soviet Union earned her the nickname of the "Iron Lady".
5. Mother Theresa
Mother Theresa was a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. She was internationally renowned as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary and book Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work.
6. Rosa Parks 1913-200
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement". On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.
7. Simone de Beauvoir 1908-1986
Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She is now best known for her metaphysical novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins, and for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. She is also noted for her lifelong polyamorous relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre.
Anticipating and predicting are basic in reading Skill that we use to guess or predict how a pasage will develop. For excample from the text above. My anticipating process is, when i read the title, i know the article must be something about some women who changed the world.
My anticipating from the title is, i have to know about women who changed the world, What is their purpose, and what they do.
And then i have to anticipate many word, that can include on the text. Such as history, world, women, men, etc.
My prediction are       :
1.      This text tell about 7 women who changed the world.
2.      The reason why they choosed by people as people who changed the world.
3.      The subject is the women.
 CONCLUSION
Making predictions activates students' prior knowledge about the text and helps them make connections between new information and what they already know. By making predictions about the text before, during, and after reading, students use what they already know—as well as what they suppose might happen—to make connections to the text.Snow (1998) has found that throughout the early grades, reading curricula should include explicit instruction on strategies used to comprehend text either read to the students or that students read themselves. These strategies include summarizing the main idea, predicting events or information to which the text is leading, drawing inferences, and monitoring for misunderstandings.
PREDICTING
Effective readers use pictures, titles, headings, and text—as well as personal experiences—to make predictions before they begin to read. Predicting involves thinking ahead while reading and anticipating information and events in the text. After making predictions, students can read through the text and refine, revise, and verify their predictions. The strategy of making predictions actively engages students and connects them to the text by asking them what they think might occur in the story. Using the text, students refine, revise, and verify their thinking and predictions.
2. SKIMMING
How to be a good citizen ?
Definition of citizenship
Citizenship is a sacred honor, a plaque we carry proudly on our chests and a burden pressing hard on our backs. A citizen is a member of a country. He has the right to ask for its protection, and the duty to protect it and obey its laws and rules. In other words, citizenship is the relationship between an individual and a state in which the individual belongs, and owes allegiance to the state and in turn is entitled to its protection.
Fortunately, being a good citizen doesn't stop at the exchange of rights and duties, it requires a lot of civilized behavior, and responsible acts.
Simple acts to do in your daily life
All the members of our community, from the youngest to the eldest, have to cooperate. By cooperating, I don’t mean giving huge efforts. Simple acts and easy behavior can help us ameliorate our level of life. As citizens, and students in particular, all we have to do are the steps below :
  • Start with your own home, clean it regularly, and take care of your front door area.
  • Being a good neighbor by caring about others.
  • Don’t overuse water and electricity.
  • Respect your neighbors, help them if necessary, and act politely.
  • Don't litter, or throw trash in the street.
  • Don't spit in the street, it doesn't only bother the other passers-by, but it also affects your discipline, and it's very far from being civilized.
  • Try to cross the street in the crossing passage. The town will look organized, and it lowers the level of accidents.
  • Let’s try to walk in the sidewalk, or the pavement, because it causes fewer difficulties to drivers in the city.
  • Respect your school, especially its doors, walls and windows. They are not yours ; you only borrow them for a year or more.
  • Being a citizen is a source of pride. Don’t try to ignore your origins in front of foreigners. Have you ever seen any of them deny being who s/he really is ?
  • Act nicely with tourists. If we want our country to receive millions of tourists , try to be nice.
  • If you can study about your country, it would be great. See the extreme diversity you have (the desert, the sea, the mountains, the different dialects, the traditions, the traditional clothes).
  • If you don’t vote, who will ? A simple act can place the right person in the right place.
  • In emergencies, don’t be afraid. Help the people in need. (Blood donations, call the police, the ambulance, and help a lady in the street...) Imagine you were in their place, wouldn't you like to have other people standing by your side ?
  When you become a parent, teach this to your children. Citizenship starts from childhood, and only ends by the time you die. It’s only by practicing those really simple acts that our daily life can get better. I hope this will help us understand another meaning of good citizenship.
 SKIMMING
My skimming process is I try to find is           :
1.      The title is how to be a good citizen ?
2.      Introductory paragraph Citizenship is a sacred honor.
3.      First, second and last sentences of following paragraph.
4.      Concluding paragraph When you become a parent, teach this to your children. Citizenship start from chilhood, and only ends by the time you die. It’s only by practising those really simple acts that our daily life can get better.
CONCLUSION
Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word, instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research.






3. SCANNING
The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is a novel was the last major work of fiction to be written by Ernest Hemingway and published in his lifetime. It is considered to be one of his most famous works and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.
The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle between an old, experienced Cuban fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night. On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf Stream. He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. After a long struggle with the fish Santiago manages to strap the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed. While Santiago sails back back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. Despite his efforts to ward off the sharks, they have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. The next day, a group of fishermen gather around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach. The old man feels very unwell and also coughs up blood a few times towards the end of the story. He doesn't tell the boy.
The novel has received so much praise and is considered to be one of the best novels in American literature. Santiago fights the creatures of the sea and some readers think that the story is about man’s battle against the natural world. However, the novel can be viewed as the story of man’s place in relation to nature. In the story, Santiago and the marlin show similar qualities of pride, honor, and bravery, and both are subject to the same eternal natural law - they must kill or be killed. Santiago himself says:
“man is not made for defeat . . . [a] man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Scanning
Scaning is the way to read quickly, to find the specific piece of information from the text.
My process to find the information from the text are           :
1.      I read the text quickly and i try to find the word is connected with the topic, for example, the topic is about the old man and the sea , and i try to find the related word about the man and the sea.
Conclusion
Scanning is a technique you often use when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. You search for key words or ideas. In most cases, you know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it.



4.DETAILED READING
Sedna the Sea Goddess
Sedna was a beautiful Inuit girl who didn’t want to get married. Many hunters wanted to marry her, but she refused their offers. Her father scolded her, saying, “I am getting older, and soon you will need a good husband who can provide you with food and furs. You must marry the next hunter who asks for you.” Sedna still wasn’t interested.

Soon a young hunter from a distant place came to her father’s camp . He was dressed in warm furs, and spoke in a soft voice. He promised to provide a good home and plenty of animals for food and clothing. Although he kept his face hidden under his hood, Sedna was very impressed with him, so she agreed to marry him.

Sedna got into her husband’s kayak and travelled with him to her new home. When they arrived at his island, she saw that her home was nothing but some sticks and bits of moss and feathers clinging to a large rock. Her husband took off his hood, and she realized that he was not a man, but an evil raven. He never hunted, he only caught fish. Sedna was cold, lonely, hungry, and very unhappy. Every day she cried for her father to come and save her.

Her father heard her cries and decided to rescue her. He paddled his kayak to the island where she was living. On their way home, Sedna looked back and saw that the raven was following them. He was gaining on them quickly. As the raven came close, her father took his paddle and struck the bird, who had to fall back. Then the raven flapped his powerful wings at the ocean and caused a huge storm to blow up.

When her father saw that their lives were in danger, he became afraid for his own life. He threw Sedna over the side of the kayak. Sedna tried to save herself. She grabbed onto the kayak with her fingers, but her father took his paddle and beat at her fingers until they broke off. As they sank into the ocean, her fingers turned into seals and fish. Again, Sedna grabbed the kayak with her hands, but her father took his paddle and beat her hands until they also fell into the water. As they sank into the ocean, her hands turned into whales and walrus. Sedna also sank into the ocean.

Sedna lives at the bottom of the ocean. She is the goddess of the sea. She is the one who provides animals for the hunters, but only when she feels generous. When she is angry, and this is often, the hunters can’t find food; and the people go hungry.
Top of Form

DETAILED READING
From the text i can get information about the goddes of sea and why Sedna became sea goddes.
CONCLUSION
Detailed reading means reading carefully to aid understanding. Some disciplines such as law and literature, for example, require a very detailed understanding of the text.  This kind of reading is always more time consuming, but can be combined with skimming and scanning for greater efficiency. If the text you are reading is a photocopy or your own book, take full advantage by underlining or highlighting and using the margins for your own comments or questions.





5. Guessing Unknow Word.

Tips to succeed in your career

Because the world has become so competitive, you will have to do your best to secure your share of success. The following are tips to get you ahead in your career.

1. Priorities and goals

What are your priorities of the day? Make a list and of your priorities and plan your day. The tasks of the day must be outlined with the most important and urgent ones on top.
Likewise determine your short-term and long-term goals and evaluate your progress frequently.

2. Be focused

Are you really present physically and mentally. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your tasks and career.

3. Broaden your skills

Nothing remains the same and so do job requirements. Update your knowledge and skills. Seek improvement of your know-hows. Attend seminars, conferences, read books, be an eternal learner.

4. Socialize

Be ready to participate in social functions. Be open to new acquaintances. Meet new people and deal with them respectfully and enthusiastically. Be an active listener; you will surely learn something new...

5. Know your merits

Know your strengths and weaknesses. If you think you deserve a position or promotion, claim it.

6. Accept challenge

Through challenge you will reach areas of your personality you have never discovered before. It is a good idea to step away from your comfort zone to explore new horizons. If you settle into a routine and play it safe all the time, you will never get ahead in your career. 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll only get what you've already got'

7. Communication

Learn to communicate effectively. Listen to what others are saying and focus on how to give and receive constructive feedback, to persuade effectively and to ask for help and collect information.

8. Avoid gossip

Avoid office gossip about colleagues and the boss. Be respectful and work for the good of the company.

9 Relax

Relax and do something different, a hobby that you love doing. Take time off for yourself. This will help boost your productivity during week days.

10. Seek satisfaction

If you are disappointed with what you are doing, try to transform it into something you love. If you fail, it might be a good idea to do something different. As Confucius said: 'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. '


GUESSING UNKNOWN WORDS
My process to guessing the unknow word are, I’ll try to fing the difficult word, and the sentence has symbol ( - - ) from the text, for example. And after i read all the article, i try to find the difficult word and try to search it in dictionary.
CONCLUSION
 The first paragraph, we use definition clues indirectly.The second paragraph, we use contrast clues. And the third paragraph, we use example clues to make us more understand.
6 . UNDERSTANDING MAIN IDEAS
                           RAMADAN








Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on February 4, 1913 and died on October 24, 2005. She was an African-American civil and was called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement".
Rosa Parks' first event in her fight for civil rights was in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. This disobedience and defiance had the effect of sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.
Although widely honored in later years for her action, she suffered for it, losing her job as a seamstress in a local department store. Eventually, she moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she found similar work. From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to African-American U.S. Representative John Conyers. After retirement from this position, she wrote an autobiography and lived a largely private life in Detroit. In her final years she suffered from dementia, and became involved in a lawsuit filed on her behalf against American hip-hop duo OutKast.
Parks eventually received many honors ranging from the 1979 Spingarn Medal to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Her death in 2005 was a major story in the United States' leading newspapers. She was granted the posthumous honor of lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.
My process to understanding main idea from the text above is with read the article each paragraph. For example, this article have 4 paragraph.
1.      First paragraph tell us about who is Rosa Louise McCauley Parks.
2.      Second paragraph tell us about how he became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation.
3.      Third paragraph tell us about why she moved to Detroit, Michigan.
4.      Fourth paragraph tell us about how many honors she got.
CONCLUSION
A main idea is important information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or section of a text. A main idea is a sentence that states what that essay or article will be about. The main idea sets up the rest of the article and is included in the introduction or first paragraph.
7. INFERRING
FILMS

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images on a strip of plastic which, when run through a projector and shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of CGI (Computer-generated imagery) and computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.
Films usually include an optical soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that are to accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected.
Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer.
The individual images that make up a film are called frames. During projection, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame in turn is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
The name "film" originates from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay and flick. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the movies and cinema; the latter is commonly used in scholarly texts and critical essays, especially by European writers. In early years, the word sheet was sometimes used instead of screen.
My process to inferring the text is, I make an answer  from the question, 
1.      what the topic about? About Films.
2.      Why the writers make the definitions of films ? To make us understand.
CONCLUSION
Inferences are those pieces of information we glean from print that aren't directly stated, or "reading between the lines." The meaning that is inferred from the actions characters take, for example, or from the order of certain events all help us to draw inferences. Inferences are skills needed to understand what we read in order to continue reading. They answer questions about who, what, where, when, why and how. To get to an inference, or an answer, the obvious questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how need to be asked when information isn't obvious. Simply asking them, and thinking about what the answers might be based on what is known so far, can help draw an inference.



8. Understanding Text Organization
How to read health news
By Dr Alicia White
If you’ve just read a health-related headline that has caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick), it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. On reading further, you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, such as: “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually (study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)”.
The most important rule to remember is: don’t automatically believe the headline. It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called, “Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know”? Probably not.To avoid spraying your newspaper with coffee in the future, you need to analyse the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Bazian (the company I work for) has appraised hundreds of articles for Behind The Headlines on NHS Choices, and we’ve developed the following questions to help you figure out which articles you’re going to believe and which you’re not.
Does the article support its claims with scientific research?
Your first concern should be the research behind the news article. If an article touts a treatment or some aspect of your lifestyle that is supposed to prevent or cause a disease, but doesn’t give any information about the scientific research behind it, then treat it with a lot of caution. The same applies to research that has yet to be published.
Is the article based on a conference abstract?
Another area for caution is if the news article is based on a conference abstract. Research presented at conferences is often at a preliminary stage and usually hasn’t been scrutinised by experts in the field. Also, conference abstracts rarely provide full details about methods, making it difficult to judge how well the research was conducted. For these reasons, articles based on conference abstracts should be no cause for alarm. Don’t panic or rush off to your GP.
Was the research in humans?
Quite often, the 'miracle cure' in the headline turns out to have only beetested on cells in the laboratory or on animals. These stories are regularly accompanied by pictures of humans n, which creates the illusion that the miracle cure came from human studies. Studies in cells and animals are crucial first steps and should not be undervalued. However, many drugs that show promising results in cells in laboratories don’t work in animals, and many drugs that show promising results in animals don’t work in humans. If you read a headline about a drug or food 'curing' rats, there is a chance it might cure humans in the future, but unfortunately a larger chance that it won’t. So there is no need to start eating large amounts of the 'wonder food' featured in the article.
How many people did the research study include?
In general, the larger a study the more you can trust its results. Small studies may miss important differences because they lack statistical “power”, and are also more susceptible to finding things (including things that are wrong) purely by chance.
You can visualise this by thinking about tossing a coin. We know that if we toss a coin the chance of getting a head is the same as that of getting a tail – 50/50. However, if we didn’t know this and we tossed a coin four times and got three heads and one tail, we might conclude that getting heads was more likely than tails. But this chance finding would be wrong. If we tossed the coin 500 times - i.e. gave the experiment more "power" - we'd be more likely to get a heads/tails ratio close to 50/50, giving us a better idea of the true odds. When it comes to sample sizes, bigger is usually better. So when you see a study conducted in a handful of people, treat it with caution.

Did the study have a control group?
There are many different types of studies appropriate for answering different types of questions. If the question being asked is about whether a treatment or exposure has an effect or not, then the study needs to have a control group. A control group allows the researchers to compare what happens to people who have the treatment/exposure with what happens to people who don’t. If the study doesn’t have a control group, then it’s difficult to attribute results to the treatment or exposure with any level of certainty.
Also, it’s important that the control group is as similar to the treated/exposed group as possible. The best way to achieve this is to randomly assign some people to be in the treated/exposed group and some people to be in the control group. This is what happens in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and is why RCTs are considered the 'gold standard' for testing the effects of treatments and exposures. So when reading about a drug, food or treatment that is supposed to have an effect, you want to look for evidence of a control group and, ideally, evidence that the study was an RCT. Without either, retain some healthy scepticism.
Did the study actually assess what’s in the headline?
This one is a bit tricky to explain without going into a lot of detail about things called proxy outcomes. Instead, bear in mind this key point: the research needs to have examined what is being talked about in the headline and article (somewhat alarmingly, this isn’t always the case).For example, you might read a headline that claims: “Tomatoes reduce the risk of heart attacks”. What you need to look for is evidence that the study actually looked at heart attacks. You might instead see that the study found that tomatoes reduce blood pressure. This means that someone has extrapolated that tomatoes must also have some impact on heart attacks, as high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attacks. Sometimes these extrapolations will prove to be true, but other times they won’t. Therefore if a news story is focusing on a health outcome that was not examined by the research, treat it with a pinch of salt.

Who paid for and conducted the study?
This is a somewhat cynical point, but one that’s worth making. The majority of trials today are funded by manufacturers of the product being tested – be it a drug, vitamin cream or foodstuff. This means they have a vested interest in the results of the trial, which can potentially affect what the researchers find and report in all sorts of conscious and unconscious ways. This is not to say that all manufacturer-sponsored trials are unreliable. Many are very good. However, it’s worth seeing who funded the study to sniff out a potential conflict of interest.
Should you 'shoot the messenger'?
Overblown claims might not necessarily be down to the news reporting itself. Although journalists can sometimes misinterpret a piece of research, at other times the researchers (or other interested parties) over-extrapolate, making claims their research doesn’t support. These claims are then repeated by the journalists. Given that erroneous claims can come from a variety of places, don’t automatically assume they come from the journalist. Instead, use the questions above to figure out for yourself what you’re going to believe and what you’re not.
How can I find out more?                                                    
It’s not possible to cover all the questions that need to be asked about research studies in a short article, but we’ve covered some of the major ones. Visit some of the useful links above if you’re interested in finding out more.
My process to understanding text organization is, i try to find what the purpose of the writer. From the text above i know, the writer want to tell us about how to read healty news, and how the way to read it.
CONCLUSION
Writer’s structure, or organizetheire writngin many different ways. Recognized the ways in which a text has been organized will help you tounderstanding its meaning more fully. A writer may want to outine a situation, discuss a problem and propose a solution, or to compare and contrast two idea.  
9. RESTATEMENT
Amazon river
The Amazon River (US /ˈæməzɒn/ or UK /ˈæməzən/; Spanish and Portuguese: Amazonas) in South America is generally regarded as the second longest river in the world and is by far the largest by waterflow with an averagedischarge of about 209,000 cubic meters per second (7,381,000 cu ft/s), greater than the next seven largest rivers combined (not including Madeira and Rio Negro, which are tributaries of the Amazon). The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square kilometres (2,720,000 sq mi), accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. The river would have the biggest drainage basin in the world even just counting Brazil, which it enters with only one-fifth of the volume that will finally be discharged into the Atlantic.[3][4]
In its upper stretches, above the confluence of the Rio Negro, the Amazon is called Solimões in Brazil; however, inPeru, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, the river is generally called the Amazon downstream from the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers in Peru. The Ucayali-Apurímac river system is considered the main source of the Amazon, with its main headstream being the Carhuasanta glacial stream flowing off the Nevado Mismi mountain.
The width of the Amazon is between 1.6 and 10 kilometres (1.0 and 6.2 mi) at low stage but expands during the wet season to 48 kilometres (30 mi) or more. The river enters the Atlantic Ocean in a broad estuary about 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide. The mouth of the main stem is 80 kilometres (50 mi).[5] Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called The River Sea. The first bridge in the Amazon river system (over the Rio Negro) opened on 10 October 2010 nearManaus, Brazil.
The total volume of water of the Amazon river in a year is about 6,591 cubic kilometers (to compare, the water volume of Lake Baikal is 23,615 cubic km).
Mammals
Along with the Orinoco, the Amazon is one of the main habitats of the boto, also known as the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). It is the largest species of river dolphin, and it can grow to lengths of up to 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in). The color of its skin changes with age. It varies from gray when it is young, to pink and white as it matures. The dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt in the river's tricky depths.[19] The boto is the subject of a legend in Brazil about a dolphin that turns into a man and seduces maidens by the riverside. Thetucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), also a dolphin species, is found both in the rivers of the Amazon Basin and in the coastal waters of South America. The Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) also known as "seacow" is found in the northern Amazon River Basin and its tributaries. It is a mammal and an herbivore. Its population is limited to fresh water habitats and unlike other manatees, it does not venture into salt water. It is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Amazon and its tributaries are the main habitat of the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis). It is a member of the weasel family and is the largest of its kind. Because of habitat destruction and hunting its population has dramatically decreased.
Reptiles
The anaconda is found in shallow waters in the Amazon Basin. One of the world's largest species of snake, the anaconda spends most of its time in the water, with just its nostrils above the surface. In addition to the thousands of species of fish, the river supports crabs, algae, and turtles. The caiman, which is related to alligators and other crocodilians, also inhabits the Amazon.
Fish
The Amazonian fish fauna is the center of diversity for Neotropical fishes, of which more than 5,600 species are currently known[20] Thebull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) has been reported 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) up the Amazon River at Iquitos in Peru. The arapaima, known in Brazil as the pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), is a South American tropical freshwater fish. It is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, reportedly with a maximum length of 3 metres (9.8 ft) and weight up to 200 kilograms (440 lb).[21] Another Amazonian freshwater fish is the arowana (or aruanã in Portuguese), such as the silver arowana(Osteoglossum bicirrhosum), which is also a predator and very similar to the arapaima but only reaches a length of 120 centimetres (47 in). Also present in large numbers is the notorious piranha, an omnivorous fish which congregates in large schools and may attack livestock and even humans. There are approximately 30 to 60 species of piranha. However, only a few of its species are known to attack humans, most notably Pygocentrus nattereri, the red-bellied piranha. The candirú are a number of general parasitic,[22] fresh water catfish in the family Trichomycteridae; all are native to the Amazon River.[23] The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) and more than 100 species of weakly electric fishesGymnotiformes also inhabit the Amazon Basin. River stingrays (Potamotrygonidae) are also known.
Microbiota
Freshwater microbes are generally not very well known, even less so for a pristine ecosystem like the Amazon. Recently, metagenomics has provided answers to what kind of microbes inhabit the river.[24] The most important microbes in the Amazon River are ActinobacteriaAlphaproteobacteriaBetaproteobacteriaGammaproteobacteria andCrenarchaeotThe Amazon river has a series of major river systems in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, some of which flow into the Marañón and Ucayali, others directly into the Amazon proper. Among others, these include the following rivers: Putumayo, Caquetá, Vaupés,Guainía, Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, Tigre, Nanay, Napo, andHuallaga.
The most distant source of the Amazon was established in 1996,[10] 2001,[11] 2007,[12]and 2008,[13] as a glacial stream on a snowcapped 5,597 m (18,363 ft) peak calledNevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes, roughly 160 km (99 mi) west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km (430 mi) southeast of Lima. The waters from Nevado Mismi flow into the Quebradas Carhuasanta and Apacheta, which flow into the Río Apurímac which is a tributary of the Ucayali which later joins the Marañón to form the Amazon proper. While the Ucayali–Marañón confluence is the point at which most geographers place the beginning of the Amazon proper, in Brazil the river is known at this point as the Solimõesdas Águas. Further downriver from that confluence the darkly colored waters of the Rio Negro meet the sandy colored Rio Solimões, and for over 6 km (4 mi) these waters run side by side without mixing.
After the confluence of Apurímac and Ucayali, the river leaves Andean terrain and is surrounded by floodplain. From this point to the Marañón, some 1,600 km (990 mi), the forested banks are just out of water and are inundated long before the river attains its maximum flood stage. The low river banks are interrupted by only a few hills, and the river enters the enormous Amazon Rainforest.
The river systems and flood plains in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, whose waters drain into the Solimões and its tributaries, are called the "Upper Amazon". The Amazon River proper runs mostly through Brazil and Peru. It is part of the border between Colombia and Perú, and it has tributaries reaching into Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
My restatement is The Amazon River in South America is generally regarded as the second longest river in the world and is by far the largest by waterflow with an averagedischarge of about 209,000 cubic meters per second (7,381,000 cu ft/s), greater than the next seven largest rivers combined (not including Madeira and Rio Negro, which are tributaries of the Amazon). It have mammals, reptiles and fish. It also have microbiota.
CONCLUSION
Restatement is to understand the article, you must be able to identify restated information or put into other words information given in the passage.

10. MULTIPLE CHOICES READING

What to do during summer holiday?

After a whole school year of hard work, you may be wondering what you can do during the summer holiday. Here are some suggestions.
1. Rest
Don't feel guilty. Take some time to rest. You deserve it after a year of hard work.
2.Movies
See the latest movies or just pick one of the old movies that you have missed. Make it a family movie night every week.
3.Beach or swimming pool 
When you're feeling a bit bored, a dip in the water will revitalize your mood. Of course, make sure to protect your skin with a hat and sunscreen.
4. Learn a skill
You might be interested in learning new skills such as cooking, playing soccer, playing a musical instrument. The summer is a great time for that.
5. Read
You've got plenty of time to read. Although technology has taken a major part of our lives, there is nothing more entertaining and informative than reading a book. Choose a topic you are interested in and read about it during the summer holiday.
6. Writing 
keep a journal of what you are doing during the holiday. Writing a diary helps you a have a clear view of the events of the day. You might even give free vent to your artistic side and have a try in writing poems, short essays...
7. Travel
Visit places you have never been to. You don't need to make a long journey to find such places. They may be just near where you are.
8. Sport
If you are not already practicing a sport, think of taking up jogging, walking, tennis, soccer, or whatever... Make a decision about it and start exercising in order to be healthier, reduce stress and get ready for a new year of hard work.




My process to understand the text I have to know how to answer the multiple choice question for example.
1.      What to do during summer holiday ?
a.      Do your hobby.
b.      Take a rest.
c.       Travelling.
d.      Study.
CONCUSION
Some question are in a multiple  choice, format. They are follow the same principle, the same idea that there one stem. Althougth only one correct.
11. ASSESING A WRITER’S PURPOSE
MICHAEL JACKSON
Michael Joseph Jackson[1][2] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter, dancer, businessman andphilanthropist. Often referred to by the honorific nickname "King of Pop", or by his initials MJ,[3] Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became the dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It," "Billie Jean," and "Thriller," were credited with breaking down racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then relatively new television channel MTV to fame. With videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot, and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop, and rock artists.
Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987),Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first and only dancer from pop and rock music. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards as well as theGrammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s"; 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era; and the estimated sale of over 400 million records worldwide.[4][5][6][Note 1] Jackson has wonhundreds of awards, making him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.[7] In what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday on August 29, 2010, he became the most downloaded artist of all time.[8][9] Jackson constantly traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism and the 2000 Guinness Book of Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities.[10]
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court for about $25 million and no formal charges were brought.[11] In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his comeback concert series titled This Is It, Jackson died of acutepropofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief and a live broadcast of his public memorial service was viewed around the world.
Assesing a writer’s purpose
My process  to know what the writer purpose is, when i read the title, the writer want to give some information about Michael Jackson.
CONCLUSION
From  the text we can know what the porpuse of the writer. May be they want to give information, or persuade the reader, or may be both of these.
12. EVALUATING A WRITER’S ATTITUDE
CAT BEHAVIOUR
Free-ranging cats are active both day and night, although they tend to be slightly more active at night. The timing of cats' activity is quite flexible and varied, which means that house cats may be more active in the morning and evening (crepuscular behavior), as a response to greater human activity at these times. Although they spend the majority of their time in the vicinity of their home, housecats can range many hundreds of meters from this central point, and are known to establish territories that vary considerably in size, in one study ranging from 7 to 28 hectares (17 to 69 acres).
Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually 12–16 hours, with 13–14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours in a 24-hour period. The term "cat nap" for a short rest refers to the cat's tendency to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period. While asleep, cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep often accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests that they are dreaming.

Sociability

Although wildcats are solitary, the social behavior of domestic cats is much more variable and ranges from widely dispersed individuals to feral cat colonies that form around a food source, based on groups of co-operating females. Within such groups one cat is usually dominant over the others. Each cat in a colony holds a distinct territory, with sexually active males having the largest territories, which are about ten times larger than those of female cats and may overlap with several females' territories. These territories are marked by urine spraying, by rubbing objects at head height with secretions from facial glands, and by defecation. Between these territories are neutral areas where cats watch and greet one another without territorial conflicts. Outside these neutral areas, territory holders usually chase away stranger cats, at first by staring, hissing, and growling, and if that does not work, by short but noisy and violent attacks. Despite some cats cohabiting in colonies, cats do not have a social survival strategy, or a pack mentality and always hunt alone.
Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling/snarling, grunting, and several different forms of meowing.[7] By contrast, feral cats are generally silent.[119]:208 Their types of body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of whole body, and kneading of paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats,[120][121] e.g. with a raised tail acting as a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicating hostility. Tail-raising also indicates the cat's position in the group's social hierarchy, with dominant individuals raising their tails less often than subordinate animals. Nose-to-nose touching is also a common greeting and may be followed by social grooming, which is solicited by one of the cats raising and tilting its head.
However, some pet cats are poorly socialized. In particular, older cats may show aggressiveness towards newly arrived kittens, which may include biting and scratching; this type of behavior is known as Feline Asocial Aggression.
Even though cats and dogs are believed to be natural enemies, they can live together if correctly socialized.
For cats, life in proximity to humans and other animals kept by them amounts to a symbiotic social adaptation. They may express great affection towards their human (and even other) companions, especially if they psychologically imprint on them at a very young age and are treated with consistent affection.[citation needed] It has been suggested that, ethologically, the human keeper of a cat functions as a sort of surrogate for the cat's mother,[citation needed] and that adult housecats live their lives in a kind of extended kittenhood, a form of behavioral neoteny. It has even been theorized that the high-pitched sounds housecats make to solicit food may mimic the cries of a hungry human infant, making them particularly hard for humans to ignore.

Grooming

The hooked papillae on a cat's tongue act like a hairbrush to help clean and detangle fur.
Cats are known for their cleanliness, spending many hours licking their coats. The cat's tongue has backwards-facing spines about 500 micrometers long, which are called papillae. These are quite rigid, as they contain keratin. These spines allow cats to groom themselves by licking their fur, with the rows of papillae acting like a hairbrush. Some cats, particularly longhaired cats, occasionally regurgitate hairballs of fur that have collected in their stomachs from grooming. These clumps of fur are usually sausage-shaped and about two to three centimeters long. Hairballs can be prevented with remedies that ease elimination of the hair through the gut, as well as regular grooming of the coat with a comb or stiff brush. Some cats can develop a compulsive behavior known as psychogenic alopecia, or excessive grooming.
Basedon the text, I think the writer attitude is good enough because theire report is objective and give information to reader, and also persuade the reader to open the mind about that issue.
CONCLUSION
writers are not necessaryneutral or objective wheb write. It is important to us to recognized what’s author attitudes is in relation to the ideas or information, because attitude can infuence the reader which information is presented.


Tidak ada komentar:

Posting Komentar