Before You Buy That Textbook
What do you
consider most important in choosing a textbook in your course?
This question
will definitely elicit different responses from different students
depending on
what each one sees as of utmost importance. The choice of a
textbook for any
course or subject should go beyond the physical aesthetics of
the book. Apart from
the information at the front and back cover, the most
important things to
consider should include the table of contents, introductory
outline, the font
size of alphabets in letters, images and diagrams, quality of
contents that make
up the stuff, and the kinds of questions at the end of each
topic, and finally
the glossary list. We shall look at these points one by one.
1. The
Front and Back Cover
The
contents on the front and back cover of a textbook should easily confirm
the
title, the author, the course it covered at first sight. This reference is very
important especially where there are several authors writing books on the
same
subject or course. Most times, textbooks are recommended for students
on
purpose by their teachers. At other times, some author’s exhibit deep
understanding of some topics in certain areas of their subject and when their
publication reflects this fact, teachers often recommend such textbooks. The
information displayed at the back cover of the book should not be limited to
the
brief summary about the book but should also give a brief history about the
author.
2. The
Table of Contents of the Book
Before
buying any textbook, check out the table of contents to ensure that it is
richly itemized. Each item should be numbered to represent the topic
discussed
in the chapter. Some textbooks have the topics in the table of
contents further
broken down to subtopics. With this, you can at a glance,
assess the book’s
quality and make up your mind to buy or not. If the list in the
table of
content of a book is scanty, you may be forced to get into the pages to
have a
further assessment of its richness in content before deciding whether to
buy it
or not.
3. The
Introductory Outline of the Book
The
importance of this page in any book cannot be over emphasized. Authors
usually
provide the background information about the genesis of the book
here. The page
usually describes the purpose of the book, whom it is written
for and how to
use the book. It gives a brief description of outline of the book
and perhaps
what makes it different from others or past editions. If any
observable
deficiency or errors were observed in the previous editions, the
author usually
corrects and explains it here, likewise when new topics are
added. Therefore
make it a point to read the introductory outline of a book
before spending your
hard earned money to pay for it.
4. The
Quality of information in the Contents
Always
read through a few pages of the book to ascertain the quality of the
contents.
Try using the topics as enumerated in the table of contents as a
guide in
selecting the pages to briefly read over. If there are topics that are
difficult to understand from other books, use the opportunity to discover if
the
book you want to buy will explain the topics in simplified and better form
for
you.
5. The
font size of alphabets in letters
I
don’t know about you, but I like buying books with bold and easily readable
fonts. Though you may not have any choice but to buy if the book is very
important to you but has tiny letters, always check to see if there alternative
publications of such a book with better bold characters for easy readability.
6. Quality
of images and diagrams
In
Mathematics, Sciences and Technology, diagrams form very important part
of the organized
information. It directly impacts on the understanding and
assimilation of knowledge
presented in textbooks. When diagrams are
correctly drawn as part of the answer
to a question, it not only earn you marks
but also helps to solve problems correctly
and fast.
Pictures
and images properly used complement the texts in a book and drive
home ideas
making it live longer in your memory. I recall reading a literature
text in my
high school titled ‘Toads for Super’ with a large image of a toad on
the front
cover of my copy. That looked admirable to me until I saw my friend’s
copy of
the same book but another edition. It had the picture of the entrance
gate to a
university with palm trees and activities which supposedly take place
in that environment
happening around the gate. Since the background of the
story was based on a
campus environment, that impacted more on me as it
created image of a real life
situation on campus while reading the novel.
7. Summary
of the discussions
Some
authors, at the end of each chapter, add the highlight of the major points
as
itemized brief summary. This helps students review the core information in
the
passage. Being brief and straight to the point remind you the basic ideas
dealt
by the chapter. It can come handy if questions on such knowledge form
part of
the test paper. They can easily be recalled under examination condition
because
they are short and straight to the points. Therefore if you have the
option to
buy or loan a book that has the summary of the contents at the end of
each
chapter, just go for it.
8. Practice
questions at the end of each chapter
This
cannot be over emphasized because it is crucial to knowledge retention.
Practice questions at the end of a chapter, in all courses and subject, tests
your grasp of the main ideas from the chapter. Therefore make it a priority
when making a buying choice for textbooks, check to ascertain that there are
enough practice questions at the close of each chapter. You may not reject a
textbook for lack of adequate practice questions, however, it would enable you
make alternative arrangement to buy past questions booklet for practice as
supplementary.
9. Check
for glossary list at the end
Having
a glossary list at the end of the contents of a textbook is sometimes
taken for
granted but it is often helpful. There are times when search items are
absent
from the table of contents of a textbook. It becomes difficult to get quick
finds of such terms hence the glossary list is the best option.