The Longman Academic Reading Series is a five-level series that prepares English language learners for academic work. The aim of the series is to make students more effective and confident readers by providing high-interest readings on academic subjects and by teaching them skills and strategies for effective reading, vocabulary building, note-taking, and critical thinking. The series also encourages students to discuss and write about the ideas they discovered in the readings, making them better speakers and writers of English as well.

Features

• Readings based on academic sources — Every reading in the text focuses on an academic subject and is chosen with the intent of providing different and intriguing perspectives on the theme.
• Multiple reading genres — Readings come from a variety of sources or genres, from textbooks to on-line articles, and are written by a variety of experts from widely different fields.
• Explicit academic skills — From critical reading to vocabulary building, notetaking and critical thinking, the Longman Academic Reading Series provides students with a holistic approach to effective reading.
• Corpus-Informed approach to vocabulary (AWL) — Students build vocabulary and acquire skills that will help them become more confident and successful in preparing for their academic work.

Chapter 1 SOCIOLOGY: Home and the Homeless

Reading One Home and Travel

Reading Two Homeless

Reading Three Helping and Hating the Homeless

Chapter 2 HISTORY: Robber Barons Then and Now

Reading One The Robber Barons

Reading Two The Politics of Progressivism

Reading Three Message to Wall Street

Chapter 3 FILM STUDIES: Is Cinema an Art or Business?

Reading One One Hundred Years of Cinema

Reading Two A Conversation with Leo Tolstoy on Film

Reading Three An Interview with James Cameron

Chapter 4 MEDIA STUDIES: The Internet and Social Media

Reading One Mind Control and the Internet

Reading Two The Positive Effects of Social Networking Sites

Reading Three The Use of Social Media in the Arab Spring

Chapter 5 NEUROSCIENCE: The Brain and Memory

Reading One In Search of Memory

Reading Two The Brain and Human Memory

Reading Three Music and the Brain

Chapter 6 ZOOLOGY: Animals and Language

Reading One Bridges to Human Language

Reading Two Speaking to the Relatives

Reading Three Language and Morality

Chapter 7 POLITICAL SCIENCE: The Rulers and the Ruled

Reading One The Morals of the Prince

Reading Two The Declaration of Independence

Reading Three Two Cheers for Democracy

Chapter 8 PSYCHOLOGY: Aggression and Violence

Reading One Civilization and Its Discontents

Reading Two Reflections on Natural History

Reading Three A Neuroscientist Uncovers a Dark Secret

Chapter 9 ETHICS: Resistence to Evil in the 20th Century

Reading One The Ghosts of Mrs. Gandhi

Reading Two Denmark in World War II

Reading Three Three Ways to Meet Oppression

Chapter 10 WOMEN’S STUDIES: Reaching for Equality

Reading One The Declaration of Sentiments (1848)

Reading Two Speech on Women’s Rights (1888)

Reading Three  The Day the Women Got the Vote

Vocabulary Index