Peer Review

How to find the topic sentence in a reading #1 (basic)

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: May 10, 2022 by English

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

Reading tutorial/demonstration about how to find the topic sentence of a paragraph, where the main idea lives. This is a study reading or active reading technique to improve reading comprehension.

Type of Material:

Presentation

Recommended Uses:

For remedial or development courses, this resource should be included as part of the curriculum. For mainstream or advanced courses, this resource should be included as a supplement / refresher.

Technical Requirements:

streaming video on YouTube requiring internet connection

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The major learning goals are (1) find the topic sentence, and (2) critical reading / analysis.

Target Student Population:

Grade School, Middle School, High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

refererences a previous presentation

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The information is clear and detailed. The example used was sufficient for users to follow. The speaker should be more mindful of tone and diction.
Concerns:: The captions are auto generated, which are not very clear (or grammatically correct). There should be captions included that correspond clearly with the speaker’s comments.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This exercise is especially helpful to students who are struggling with reading comprehension and critical analysis.

Concerns:

If the user / student / learner has visual or aural impairments, the material is inaccessible.

This demonstration is limited to a short paragraph and would not help readers looking to find the topic of more complex readings.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The resource is a YouTube video and is an appropriate time duration. The color-coding of sentences is a useful visual aide for students / learners who have no visual impairments.
Concerns:: Relies on YouTube's close captioning which may not be reliable

Other Issues and Comments:: This material was posted in 2012 and the video has not been altered since then. Some users may be bothered by the pubilc comments and unanswered questiosn in the comment section.
Creative Commons: