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individual, the only one mentioned in a feature title? (This person will come as no
surprise, but in other sections you might not always recognize an individual named in
a title or feature. You can always count on his or her historical importance, however.)
Similarly, in the third section, “What was the impact of European conquest on the
New World?” what New World empires and European countries are identified in
subheadings? In the fourth section, “How did Europe and the world change after
Columbus?” what commodities are mentioned in subheadings or shown in
illustrations? What is the only social and economic system mentioned in a
subheading? In the fifth and final section, “How did expansion change European
attitudes and beliefs?” what subjects are mentioned in the subheadings? Which
individuals are named in subheadings?

this sample.
Remember, there’s no need to write down the answers to these questions. The point right now is just
to get a clear idea of the “big picture” developments covered in the chapter. You haven’t read the chap-
Worth Publishers.
ter yet, and you haven’t taken a single note. But by spending five minutes pre-reading the chapter, you
already have a good idea what the chapter is about. By taking this time, you’ll be able to read with a
clear focus, saving yourself a lot of time as you read more efficiently. Now that you have a good idea
Uncorrected proofs have been used in
of the “big picture,” you’re ready to begin actually reading the text.

DURING READING Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
by Bedford, Freeman &
As you read chapters of this text, remember that reading is an active process — so stay focused. The
meaning will only become clear as you work at it. The authors have intentionally written an organized
textbook and want you to be able to follow along, so take advantage of the clues provided, especially
titles and headings. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.

Active readers use four skills to understand texts: questioning, clarifying, summarizing, and predicting.
These steps don’t have to happen in a particular order. In fact, once you become comfortable with
Copyright ©
them, they’ll pop up in your mind independently without much effort on your part, perhaps several
at the same time. That’s when you know that they’ve truly become habits of mind. Use these skills
Distributed
along with note taking to get the most out of your reading.

Questioning
Historians look at the world in a particular way, and they usually organize their writing around the
historical thinking skills and reasoning processes discussed above: causation, comparison, contextual-
ization, and so forth. Many of the main questions in each chapter involve one or more of these think-
ing skills. For example, the first question in Chapter 1, “How did climate change shape the late
Middle Ages?” is a question about change over time and about causation. As the authors answer that
question in the section on pages 10–11, they utilize other historical thinking skills and reasoning
processes as well. They explain a historical process; develop an argument using many types of sources,
including evidence gathered by scholars in other fields, such as biologists who study tree rings; compare
the consequences in different parts of Europe and the responses of different rulers to the crisis; contex-
tualize the developments in Europe within global processes of climate change; and make connections
between climate change and other changes in society. In this section the authors do not apply insights
gained from studying climate change and natural disasters in the later Middle Ages to the present, but
as you read it you might be reminded of current issues and thus make connections and do some com-
parisons of your own.

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