Topics

Tip 1  Teachers have known for a long time that when you read something, you do not just read the words on the paper. When you read you automatically relate what you are reading to your own knowledge and this helps you understand better.
For example if I write, "The beautiful clours of the autumn trees shone in the sunlight." What colours am I talking about? How did you know that?
Because of this constant linking of the text we are reading to our own knowledge, it helps if we know what the topic of the text is. Knowing the topic activates the background knowledge we have of that topic.

To find out what the topic is we should ask ourselves the very simple questions :
What is this about? What is the general idea? What is the topic? What is the subject?
For example look at the five words below. One of them is the topic which includes the others. What is the topic?
Shikoku, Okinawa, Sado, Japanese islands, Hachijo, Ishigaki
The topic, of course is Japanese islands, because all the others are examples of Japanese islands.

Task 1: Look at the groupsof words below.  One word in each group is the topic.
A) physics, chemistry, science, botany,  biology   Topic___________
B) almond, nuts, macademia, pistachio,  walnuts   Topic___________
C) reptile, snake, lizard, alligator, tortoise   Topic___________
D) dandelion, tulip, rose, hydrangea, flower  Topic___________
E) cod, tuna, fish, sardine, horse mackerel   Topic___________

Task 2: Do the same but this time there is no topic listed in the group. You have to decide the topic.
A) plants, structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism  Topic___________
B) Indian, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic,  Southern   Topic___________
C) electrons, nucleus, proton, neutron, nucleon   Topic___________
D) polymer, nucleotide, bases, sugar, phosphate  Topic___________
E)  prokaryotic, membrane, cytoplasm. eukaryotic, nucleus Topic___________

Task 3: In this task you are given the topic and you have make up a list of five related words.
A) Topic: planets   ___________
B) Topic: volcano   ___________
C) Topic: proteins   ___________
D) Topic: bioinformatics   ___________
E) Topic: BLAST   ___________

Task 4: With a partner choose a topic and make up a list of five related words. There must be a science focus to 3 of the 5 topics.
Now read your list to another pair. Do not tell them the topic, they have to work it out.
A) Topic: __________ words   ___________
B) Topic: __________ words   ___________
C) Topic: __________ words   ___________
D) Topic: __________ words   ___________
E) Topic: __________ words   ___________

Tip 2 When you are deciding the topic, it is important that your decision is neither too broad or too narrow.
Look at the following group of words and choose the best topic. You might need to look at an atlas for this one.
Rhine, Rhone, Seine. Vistula, Neva
a) rivers     b) West European rivers     c) European rivers
If you chose answer a) you would be wrong. Yes, all of these are rivers, but we can be more precise. Answer a) is too broad.
If you chose answer b) you would be wrong. All of these are rivers in Europe, but not all are in Western Europe. Answer b) is too narrow.
If you chose answer c) you would be right.

Task 5: Look at the word lists and try to choose three topics - a) too broad   b) best   c) too narrow
A) Kaga, Kai, Mikawa, Mutsu, Ezo   Topic a) ________ b) ________ c) ________
B) Fuji, Asama, Haruna, Bandai, Hakoda   Topic a) ________ b) ________ c) ________
C) Dasai, Soseki, Mishima, Miyazawa, Kawabata   Topic a) ________ b) ________ c) ________
D) Abe, Koizumi, Mori, Nakasone, Murayama Topic a) ________ b) ________ c) ________
E)  Sputnik, Explorer, Osumi, Rohini, Telstar Topic a) ________ b) ________ c) ________



Go on to Topic Sentences