Intro to the
“4 Essential
Skills”
Take 1 page of CN in your AVID Spiral
Notebook (Section 1, Page 17)
Essential 1: Analyzing a prompt
of academic task.
WHY THIS IS AN “ESSENTIAL SKILL”:
•During the first and second years of college,
most student writing requires the close analysis
of a prompt, followed by an in-class timed
response.
•As students progress, however, they will often
write in other genres important to their discipline.
Essential 1: Analyzing a prompt
of academic task.


If students are to complete assignments
successfully, they must learn the skill of
prompt analysis.
The activities and handouts provided in our
curriculum will help students break down—
and effectively respond to—a variety of
prompts.
Essential 1: Analyzing a prompt
of academic task.
A writing prompt tells students what to do and
think about when they write. Here are some
questions we will consider when analyzing a
prompt:
 Where is the prompt?
 Is it only in one place?
 What does the prompt tell you to do?
 What is missing from the prompt that you
need to know to complete this assignment?
Essential 2: Selective & PurposeDriven Reading
WHY THIS IS AN “ESSENTIAL SKILL”:
•Students often approach a reading assignment
without a thorough knowledge of the
historical/rhetorical context for the text and, more
importantly, without a plan for reading.
•The reading activities in our curriculum are
designed to assist students in understanding the
context for the source and to guide them in reading
the source with a purpose, looking for information
and argumentation that will help them respond to
an assigned prompt.
Essential 2: Selective & PurposeDriven Reading

Students are also asked to skim or scan a
text, do a jigsaw reading, or use their
sources for other AVID activities!
Essential 2: Selective & PurposeDriven Reading
Using readings from sources is important to
good academic writing. Here are some
questions we will consider when reading
with a purpose:
 What sources does this assignment tell you
to read and integrate into your texts?
 What are you to read selectively for?
Essential 3: Focused Note-Taking
WHY THIS IS AN “ESSENTIAL SKILL”:
•Students need to record the information and
argumentation gained from reading and listening to
lectures.
•One of the great strengths of the AVID program is
its focus on Cornell note-taking. To augment CNs,
this curriculum suggests other methods of takign
notes for a specific assignment.
Essential 3: Focused Note-Taking

The activities in this curriculum for ES#3
encourage students to ask, “What types of
notes will help me organize information
needed to respond to this prompt?” Several
possibilities will be suggested and practiced!
Essential 3: Focused Note-Taking
Taking focused notes is a MUST in college!
Here are some questions we will consider
when taking focused notes:
 Does this assignment tell you how to take
notes? What kinds?
 If notes are not mentioned, what do you
think you should take notes on?
 When should you take notes for this
assignment?
 Finish this sentence: “I need to take notes
on…when…”
Essential 4: Integrating Sources
into Texts
WHY THIS IS AN “ESSENTIAL SKILL”:
•If students are to succeed in post-secondary
education, they must thoroughly understand what
they have read or heard in lectures and be able to
articulate this understanding in their own words.
•They must also be able to compare information
and argumentation appearing in several sources
and synthesize material from other sources for use
in their speaking and writing.
Essential 4: Integrating Sources
into Texts


Activities focusing on ES#4 will give students
opportunities to practice paraphrasing,
summarizing, and synthesizing.
This practice prepares students for
integrating sources they have used into their
own written texts!
Essential 4: Integrating Sources
into Texts
Using sources in your own academic writing
will be very important in many college
classes. Here are some questions we will
consider when integrating sources:
 What does this assignment tell you about
how you should use sources when you write
your paper?
 Complete this sentence: “To provide
authority for the claim I plan to make, I need
to…”
Debriefing your Learning:
YOUR EXPERIENCES
In pairs, discuss the following and answer
them in your SUMMARY section of your
CN from this lecture:
1.) Which of these skills have you found to be
most challenging in high school?
2.) Which of these skills do you assume will be
the most challenging in college?
3.) How would you rank these four skills, in
order of difficulty?