The Reading Context shows students how reading is a three-step process through a clear and easy-to-remember “prepare — read — respond” strategy.

The book starts where developmental students need to start: with an explanation of the context created by author, work, and reader. It also stresses the importance of thinking about who the writer is, what the author's purpose is, what kind of work students are about to read, and what they expect to gain from it.

Selections have been chosen to hold student interest while representing the kinds of material they will meet in their college assignments — textbook material from geology to psychology, from advertising to history, from health to economics. Chapters are filled with short pieces for illustration and practice and conclude with two or three longer selections. In each chapter, clear explanations of strategies to improve reading are supported by many exercises.

The text's eleven chapters form three sections. Chapters 1-4 comprise the “nuts and bolts” strategies for reading and introduce the idea of the reading context and active reading. In chapters 5-8, students examine an author's use of writing strategies as aids to comprehension and develop their own writing-to-learn strategies. Chapters 9-11 provide students with opportunities to read more widely: to study expressive and persuasive writing and explore a variety of works all designed to improve critical thinking skills.