Reading books

When you read a book, edited book or chapter, several sections give clues to the content.

• Titles
• Year of publication
• Table of contents
• Chapter headings, section headings
• Introduction
• Index
• References, bibliographic details, authors

Titles and year of publication

Titles are generally clear and indicate the research focus although some are less obvious. It is a good idea to look at the year the book was published. As the world changes and theories develop, it is more appropriate to make reference to up-to-date and recent books. Some books however, are foundational reading and the theories in them do not significantly change. It is a good idea to ask yourself 'Is it relevant now?' The work of Piaget is foundational and still relevant in Early Childhood studies today.

From the title you can identify

• the subject area (Discourse Analysis)
• that it is an introduction so you do not need prior knowledge (Introduction)
• that it will contain discussion about theories and methods (Theory and Method).

From the title you might also assume it will include discussion about language and communication with examples of how to analyse talk between two or more people.

The title suggests this book is written for teachers who are beginning their career (New Teachers). It also suggests there may be some behavioral problems in classes. You could assume that the book discusses different behaviour (Guide to Behaviour) among students in schools and presents new teachers with strategies to cope (Survival).

Table of contents

The Table of contents includes chapter and section headings that direct more precisely to the contents and specific sections. In many books, especially edited editions that contain the work of several writers, the introduction contains a brief outline of the entire book contents. 'An introduction to discourse analysis' takes a theoretical and practical standpoint while 'The New Teachers' Guide to Behaviour' takes a practical approach. It considers that you are a teacher and speaks directly about you, your class, your school and personal resources. It also addresses typical challenges you are likely to face. Rather than read the entire book you can select specific chapters or sections that give the information you need.

Table of contents

Example: Book 1	Example: Book 2
Gee, J. (1999). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. New York: Routledge	Roffey, S. (2004). The New Teacher's Survival Guide to Behaviour. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications
Contents	Contents
Acknowledgements	Foreword Acknowledgements Preface
Introduction	Introduction
Discourses and Social Languages	You as a Teacher
Situated Meanings and Cultural Models	You and Your Resources: Physical; Time; Emotional
Cultural Models	You and Your Class
Discourse Analysis	You and Your School
Processing and Organizing Language	You and Your Community
An example of Discourse Analysis	You and Your Biggest Challenges Part A - Thinking about Students with Challenging Behaviour Part B - The Learning and Behavoiur Connection Part C - Taking Action Part D - Your Own Survival
Appendix: Grammar in Communication	Summary and Useful Reading
References	References
Index	Index

Table 1: Comparison of the Table of Contents of two texts

Index

The Index is a treasure chest. The itemized list of contents and key words makes it a quick reference guide to particular topics.

References

Looking through the references you see sources of other related work in the field. It is a quick way to identify and locate other reference material that can help you as all bibliographic details are there. From the reference list you might also become acquainted with the work and ideas of particular authors. Getting to know their works helps you seek out certain types of information that you can rely upon. James Gee focuses on Discourse Analysis and Discourse Communities. Knowing this you can look for his work by doing an author search in the library or even on Google. You also know his work is academically recognized so can comfortably reference his work. Lists of authors are present at the back of academic texts and journal articles. This helps pin-point other work the author has written. You can keep a list of authors and useful bibliographic details for future reference.