Becoming a "Word Detective"

Along with your regular assignments, we have one additional assignment this week.

1. Pick three or more important words as you go through your study this week. (A definition of "important words" will be below.

2. Look at the first use of that word and see how it seems to be used in that context. The context means to see how it is used in that particular sentence or paragraph.

3. Write down, in your own words, what the word seemed to mean in that sentence or phrase. (Important: DO NOT LOOK UP THE WORD IN A DICTIONARY OR EVEN AN ONLINE DICTIONARY.)

4. Each time you come to the word, look at the context again. See if the definition in your own words still seems to fit. If so, good. If not, change your definition to where it fits better. (Sometimes you may have two definitions that are slightly different. That is O.K. too. Keep both of them handy to use the next time you see the word.)

5. At the end of the week. Look up the words in a dictionary or online (for this exercise, do not do this until you have read your chapters of viewed all your DVD's for this). Then see if one of the definitions is close to your homemade definition. Write down the one that seems to be closest to what you came up with.

Three definition of "Important Words" for this exercise: (1) These are words that stand out as being the main thing that is discussed. These are also words that the author is emphasizing a lot.

(2) Another definition of important words for this type of exercise is: a word that has a common meaning but is being used in a very specialized way by this author. He may be giving an "unusual slant" upon this word.

(3) The most important words for you are the words with which you are unfamilar. They could be new words that you have never heard before. They could be words that you have a vague idea of what they might mean. They are the most difficult words. This could be a different group of words for each reader.

You are not limited to three words. Pick as many as you like. Don't agonize over which words to pick. If none stand out when you first read this, just pick three or more, and go through the steps mentioned above.

At the end of the week, you will be asked to tell us the words you chose, give us your first guess as to what it meant. Then give us the last guess as to what it meant when you have finished reading the chapters and have looked at it in different contexts. (These might be the same, but sometimes you refine your guess as you look at different sentences.) After that, you will give us the dictionary defintion that most closely resembled your homemade definition. (Sometimes you may have been completely off base--if so, just acknowledge that and write down the dictionary definition.) You will have learned a lot in this process, and you will have been actively engaged in your reading. Even if you missed the meaning of the word, it will probably really stick in your mind for future reading.

If you wish, as you go through this exercise, you can even mention what you are doing in your posts. The rest of us may also comment about what we have thought those words meant. The only thing that is off limits is to give the dictionary definitions for those particular words during the week. If the author of your book defines the word for you, of course that is all right. He has helped you out!

Happy Studying!