Reading skill Building
To demonstrate reading skill on the SAT Essay, you must go beyond merely restating what the author has said. Instead, you must paraphrase the author’ s argument, putting things in your own words. Let’ s examine some examples of good and bad paraphrasing of a couple of famous historical documents.
Preamble to the U.S Constitution
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
GOOD PARAPHRASING: We should establish our constitution insuring justice, domestic peace, common defense, right to freedom to ourselves and our posterity.
ANOTHER GOOD PARAPHRASING: “The U.S Constitution will provide the fundamental elements for a long-lasting, successful governmental structure.”
Abraham Lincoln’ s Gettysburg Address
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate- we cannot hallow- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that causes for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
GOOD PARAPHRASING: “The author has tried to imbibe the feeling of valor among people to toil for bringing democracy to a land consecrated by the sacrifices of Our forefathers, who gave their lives fighting for liberty and equality”.
ANOTHER GOOD PARAPHRASING: “Those who perished on this battlefield fought for human freedom and equality. It is our solemn obligation to honor their memory by continuing to fight for the ideals for which they so nobly sacrificed”.
When Did Music Become Optional?
Paragraph 1
A man taking an elevator up twenty-one floors, a woman on hold with her insurance company, a car of seventeen-year-olds driving to a high school football game, a hungry family walking into an Italian restaurant- what do all of these instances have in common? They ‘d be utterly unbearable without music. The importance of music can best be surmised through the understanding that every culture since the beginning of time has made music. Long before writing and reading and mathematics, there were instruments and voices and melodies. Music is as old as humanity, and its diminution in schools is intolerable, for everybody.
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: Universally used by cultures and peoples throughout history to make otherwise dull experiences enjoyable, music should not have been deemphasized in school.
Paragraph 2
The argument for music could rest alone on the joy it brings. Name one person who detests music- not a type of music, but music as a whole. You cannot. No person exists. And if he or she did, I would wager that he or she was merely not exposed to enough music to adequately testify. Music, in its beauty and breadth, transcends communication and brings people together, evoking emotion and boosting social behavior. In short, music is pleasurable. And, its pleasures and only intensified by its versatility. We listen and play music to help ourselves think, relax, and let loose. We use music to express ourselves and interact with others. We go to music to mourn, to celebrate, to unite, and even to resist. It is a language that is not limited by language, and its delights are truly empowering.
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: Anyone fully exposed to the joys of music undoubtedly finds that it gives him or her an endless variety of ways to express feelings and enjoy life.
Paragraph 3
Still, when it comes to education and the training of our future generations, many will demand more than joy and empowerment as the rationale for the inclusion of music programs in public school curriculums. They will not be disappointed. President Obama’ s PCAH (President’ s Committee on Arts and Humanities) found in its landmark study, Reinventing in Arts Education, that there is a direct link between arts education and achievement in other subjects, identifying inventiveness, resourcefulness, and imagination as key strengths of the arts-instructed. A 1999 article, “The importance of Music in Early Childhood,” advocated for music education in learning of language, mathematics and social studies. Music- readily available and easily engaged- is a powerful memory trigger that can be approached via “play,” beginning in delight but ending in knowledge.
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: Far from being a mere means to pleasure, music study is linked to improved performance in a variety of academic areas.
Paragraph 4
The advantages of music don’ t stop there. Musically-educated students are more likely to be involved in extracurricular activities and volunteer in their communities. They are less likely to have discipline problems or use alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. A 1998 study reported that high school music students have more positive attitudes toward school and less classroom fiction. The College Entrance Examination board found students in music programs taking away from other subjects, they are known to enhance students’ academic abilities across the board while building confidence and creativity. Schools with music programs, regardless of demographics, see higher graduation rates than those without.
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: The positive impact of music education goes far beyond the classroom -it can lead to decreased juvenile delinquency, more positive life outlooks, and improved test scores and graduation rates.
Paragraph 5
With cuts in education funding, music programs are usually the last to be added and the first to go. District administrators argue that, with 80% of schools facing dramatic budgets cuts since 2008, they have little choice; they can only afford to keep those subjects which are tested. Yet, this mindset that the arts, and music more specifically, are “extras” is damaging and quite simply, incorrect. Music itself improves education and stimulates learning in those highly-regarded STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses that continue to get preferential treatment. Parents are not fooled either: in a recent Harris Poll, 93% of Americans named the arts as vital in a well-rounded education. Moreover, Concordia University is conducting research to confirm that instrumental training produces long-lasting changes in brain structure that prove more beneficial in adulthood than long-forgotten Biology or Calculus classes.
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: Instead of being seen as the first thing on the budget chopping block, music should be rightly appreciated as a foundational component of a high quality, well-rounded education.
Paragraph 6
PARAPHRASED SUMMARY: The U.S should follow the examples of other countries that have embraced music as an untouchable component of their school curriculum.
Now, practice paraphrasing this source text on your own, paragraph by paragraph.
Now, practice paraphrasing this source text on your own, paragraph by paragraph.
Books: A Lost Art
It is not solely nostalgia for the good old days when you finished a great book and passed on your copy—Coffee stained and splattered with notes-to a friend who would add her own thoughts and pass it to another that has book lovers resenting the age of the e-book (through certainly this is part of it). Instead, book lovers argue that the severed relationship between reader and print book in the current technologically- inclined generation is more worrying and encompassing than most imagine. It is not just the literary crowd, devotedly attached to their overflowing bookshelves, who have a stake in the disappearance of hard-copies, but also small business owners, editing and publishing firms, and even the general public.
With the e-book’ s conquest over traditional hardcovers and paperbacks, Publishers weekly released a report of a steady decrease in print sales, with 2012 sales down 9% from those in 2011. Meanwhile, after the disastrous closing of borders and plummets of sales suffered by Barnes and Noble, Business insider suggested that bookstores, large and small, were doomed. The convenience and low cost of e-books has many hesitant to drive out to a store that may or may not have what they are looking for. Yet, it is not just the enthusiastic reader trying to reverse the trend of disappearing book-stores. Are we truly ready to give up the retail experience—shelves upon shelves of your favorites, quiet nooks to cuddle up in, Children’ s reading hour, a latte and a stack of magazines—in its entirety? In February 2015, U. S News and World report directly connected the suspension in economic recovery to the decline of small businesses. If their research is conclusive, it is not just the unique shopping experience or quirky atmospheres of independent bookstores at risk.
Likewise, dwindling print sales means unpredictability in the publishing and editing industries, where professionals are trying hard to keep up with erratic consumer trends. The rise in e-books, self-publishing, and the Amazon empire has made revenues more unstable than ever. With bookselling drifting more and more to the online marketing, publishing will also turn digital, and the implications for traditional publishing companies are grave. Publishers wonder how quickly it will take for their jobs to follow the tendencies of print books and become gradually obsolete. And how long will it take writers, competing for quick sales, to turn to direct online publishing to boost their own prospects for success?
If the evidence of failing small businesses and unhinged bookselling industries is n’ t enough to favor the printed, in-hand book, then perhaps an account by the Atlantic released in late 2014 will be; data shows that the number of American nonreaders has tripled since the 1980s. With the fading of the hard-copy, reading itself has plummeted, undoubtedly in favor of the savvy digital distractions that make up Our on-the-go-e lifestyles. Certainly, there are many factors contributing to America’ s abandonment of literature, but it stands that e-books are failing to keep the public’ s nose in a book. Perhaps, the e-book age has discouraged having books on hand, visiting the library on the weekends, and telling stories before bedtime. Could it be that once frequent readers have lost the love for, stories that they once had when they could feel them in their hands, turn their pages, and never have to plug them in or interrupt them for an email alert? When asked why she neglected reading after thirty years, one mother of three answered, “I grew up around books—we had hundreds. When I got older, I used to spend Saturday mornings at a coffee shop down the street reading for hours. Somewhere along the way, life got faster and I lost it.”
Possibly, few can relate to Jason Epstein’ s declaration in his 2001 Book Business: “A civilization without retail bookstores is unimaginable. Like shrines and sacred meeting places, bookstores are essential artifacts of human nature. The feel of a book taken from the shelf and held in the hand is a magical experience, linking writer to reader.” But surely, it is not just the Epstein’s of the world who understand the value of a literature, engaged public. What’ s next to go, libraries?
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