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Instead of memorization, recall, and shallow engagement, “deep reading” requires reflection, curiosity, humility, sustained attention, a commitment to rereading, consideration of multiple possibilities, and what the education scholar Sheridan Blau has called “intellectual generosity.” These are characteristics highly valued in the workplace, and they can be of great service to you in all areas of your life. Why not start developing them now?
​—— Patrick Sullivan, Professor of Manchester Community College, Manchester, Connecticut.
June 21, 2013
Pulling up a seat at your favorite coffee shop may be the most efficient way to write a paper or finish a work project. But now a new Web site lets you bring the coffee shop to your cubicle.
August 04, 2013
When you become a writer, you don’t do so in abstract, but in relation to a certain language. To practice writing is to grow roots into that language; the better writer you become, the deeper the roots.
December 01, 2009
A talk to the incoming international students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, August 11, 2009.
September 01, 2015
"Word-for-word translation can result in a nonsensical mess. Instead, break longer, complicated phrases into shorter units of single concepts. ‘‘A good translator does not interpret words; he interprets meaning,’’ says Ajalyaqeen, who grew up in Syria. Be prepared to dive into senÂtences without knowing where they are going grammatically."
December 01, 2014
â—‹An object's purpose is primarily aesthetic.
â—‹Objects serve a functional purpose.
â—‹The incidental details of objects do not vary.
â—‹Artists work to overcome the limitations of their materials.
â—‹The basic form of objects varies little across cultures.
â—‹Artists work in concert with their materials.
â—‹An object's place of origin is difficult to determine.
The Origins of Cetaceans—By ETS for TOEFL
July 10, 2014
â—‹Recent discoveries of fossils have helped to show the link between land mammals and cetaceans.
â—‹The discovery of Ambulocetusnatans provided evidence for a whale that lived both on land and at sea.
â—‹The skeleton of Basilosaurus was found in what had been the Tethys Sea, an area rich in fossil evidence.
â—‹Pakicetus is the oldest fossil whale yet to be found.
â—‹Fossils thought to be transitional forms between walking mammals and swimming whales were found.
â—‹Ambulocetus' hind legs were used for propulsion in the water.
Desert Formation—By ETS for TOEFL
October 02, 2015
The deserts, which already occupy approximately a fourth of the Earth's land surface, have in recent decades been increasing at an alarming pace. The expansion of desert-like conditions into areas where they did not previously exist is called desertification.
Artisans and Industrialization—By ETS for TOEFL
June 09, 2011
Before 1815 manufacturing in the United States had been done in homes or shops by skilled artisans. As master craft workers, they imparted the knowledge of their trades to apprentices and journeymen. In addition, women often worked in their homes part-time, making finished articles from raw material supplied by merchant capitalists.
Swimming Machines—By ETS for TOEFL
November 24, 2010
Tunas, mackerels, and billfishes (marlins, sailfishes, and swordfish) swim continuously. Feeding, courtship, reproduction, and even "rest" are carried out while in constant motion. As a result, practically every aspect of the body form and function of these swimming "machines" is adapted to enhance their ability to swim.
Colonizing the Americas via the Northwest Coast—By ETS for TOEFL
September 15, 2008
It has long been accepted that the Americas were colonized by a migration of peoples from Asia, slowly traveling across a land bridge called Beringia (now the Bering Strait between northeastern Asia and Alaska) during the last Ice Age.