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EXERCISE: Look at the section following the question “How did class and gender
reinforce social difference in the nineteenth century?” on pages 452–459 in Chapter 12.
How did the divisions of Europeans into social classes change during this period, and
what aspects of earlier social structures continued? How did the lives of men and women
and ideals of masculinity and femininity change, and how did they stay the same?

Getting the Most out of Reading History

Active reading means reading for meaning. The big challenges of reading relate to length and detail, Historical Thinking Skills: A Primer
and history has quite a lot of both. But if you understand the “big picture,” you can read much more
quickly and effectively, which helps address the challenge of length. At the same time, recognizing the
main ideas allows you to see when specific information is provided to illustrate those big ideas; this
this sample.
helps address the challenge of detail. The three stages of reading described below will help you under-
Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Worth Publishers.
stand the big picture when reading this and other college-level texts.
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.
PRE-READING
Uncorrected proofs have been used in
When approaching an informational text, it is helpful to spend a few minutes pre- reading the
material. During the pre-reading stage, you are simply getting prepared for what you will be
reading. This involves two steps. First, try to determine chronology, theme(s), and region(s). Do
by Bedford, Freeman &
this by looking at chapter dates, the part or unit that includes that chapter (keeping in mind that
not all books are divided into units/parts), the chapter that came before and the one that comes
next, and the chapter title. Note that the next main section of a chapter may not describe some-
thing that happened later in time, but it may instead reflect a different theme about the same
time and place. Second, try to determine the major changes, comparisons, and connections dis-
cussed in the chapter by scanning the section titles, images and captions (maps, charts, photos,
etc.), and any pedagogical tools included (chronologies, key terms, document headnotes, review
Copyright ©
questions, exam tips, etc.). Also, skim the introduction to the chapter — usually reading the topic
sentences of this section is sufficient.
Distributed

EXERCISE: Let’s practice by pre-reading Chapter 3: European Exploration and Conquest,
1450–1650. Scan the chapter and answer the following questions without writing
anything down.
STEP ONE: Look at the chapter title. What is the chronology of this chapter? What is
the central theme?
STEP TWO: Look at the questions in the Chapter Preview on page 81. What are the
five major questions in this chapter? Which questions focus especially on
contextualization? Which focus on change over time? Which focus on causation?
STEP THREE: Page through each section, looking at the subheadings, maps, and
illustrations, keeping the following questions in mind: In the first section, “What was
the Afro-Eurasian trading world before Columbus?” what parts of the world had
important connections before 1492? Who were the major players in these
connections? In the second section, “How and why did Europeans undertake
ambitious voyages of expansion?” what countries were especially important in
exploration? From the order in which these countries appear in the subheadings, can
you get clues about the chronology of the voyages? Who is the most important

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