Passage 5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books
5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books
by Shaunacy Ferro
Though e-book1 readers have become a more common sight around town, traditional books still have their evangelists.2 According to The New York Times, e-book sales have been falling in 2015. Print definitely isn’t dead. In fact, according to some research, it may actually be a better choice for some readers. While scientists are still trying to tease out exactly how digital reading affects us differently, here are five ways e-books might be inferior to their dead-tree cousins.
E-books can reduce reading comprehension.
In a study of middle schoolers, West Chester University researchers found that students who read on iPads3 had lower reading comprehension than when they read traditional printed books. They discovered that the kids sometimes skipped text in favor of interactive features in the e-books, suggesting that certain multimedia in children’s e-books can be detrimental to the practice of reading itself. However, the researchers noted that some interactive features in e-books are designed to enhance comprehension, and that those might be more helpful than game-type interactive graphics.
Young kids can get distracted by e-books.
Similar results were found by a small study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center that consisted of 32 kids reading e-books and print books with their parents. It found that “enhanced” e-books might be distracting. Kids who read enhanced e-books—ones with interactive, multimedia experiences—were more engaged with them physically, but in the end they remembered fewer narrative details than those who read print books or basic e-books.
You remember less about a book’s timeline.
Another study of adults also found that e-books can be hard to absorb. The researchers asked 25 people to read a 28-page story on a Kindle4 and 25 to read the story in paperback, then asked the readers to put 14 events from the story in chronological order. Those who read the story on a Kindle performed worse on the chronology test than the book readers, though they performed about the same as print readers in other tests. Earlier research by the same scholars, from Stavanger University in Norway, found that Norwegian 10th graders also remembered more about texts if they read them in print rather than on a computer screen.
They’re not great as textbooks.
While e-book textbooks are often cheaper (and easier to carry) than traditional door-stop5 textbooks, college students often don’t prefer them. In some surveys of college kids, the majority of students have reported preferring print books. However, a 2012 study from the UK’s National Literacy Trust of kids ages 8 to 16 found that more than 50 percent of children reported preferring screen reading.
They’re tiring.
Staring at a lit screen can be tiring for the eyes and the brain. A 2005 study from Sweden found that reading digitally required a higher cognitive workload than reading on paper. Furthermore, staring at LED6 screens at night can disrupt sleep patterns. A 2014 Harvard study found that people who used e-readers with LED screens at night slept worse and were more tired the next day. So, if you’re going to go for an e-book, go for one without the backlight.
The take-away message? If you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book. And if you’re going to be up all night studying, turn off the backlight.
However, all this may not mean that reading on a Kindle is really going to melt your brain. For instance, reading an e-book on a computer is a much different experience than reading on a Kindle, which is specifically designed for consuming books. So, too, is playing with an interactive e-book on an iPad, compared to using a simpler e-book device that only presents the text, with no opportunities to click away into digital distractions.
And some studies have found that part of the difference between the way people absorb information from e-books versus paper might be due to approaching e-books differently—in one test, participants didn’t regulate their study time with digital books like they did with paper texts, leading to worse performances. It’s possible that our expectations of e-book reading—as well as the different designs of the digital reading experience on a computer or iPad or Kindle—might affect how we approach the text and how much effort we put into studying them. As generations of e-book readers evolve, and people become more accustomed to the idea of sitting down with a digital textbook, these factors could change—for better or for worse.
“5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” by Shaunacy Ferro from MENTAL FLOSS, October 2, 2015. Copyright © 2015 Mental Floss, Inc.
1e-book: an electronic book, a publication made available digitally for reading on a computer or other device
2evangelists: advocates or supporters
3iPads: tablet computers
4Kindle: device for reading e-books
5door-stop: a reference to the idea that some textbooks are large and heavy enough to hold a door open
6LED: Light-emitting diode; LEDs are often used as a backlight for electronic devices such as smart phones and tablets.
Question
How does paragraph 7 fit into the overall structure of the passage?
- AIt indicates where the author changes the purpose of the writing.
- BIt introduces the author’s opinion on the issue.
- CIt signals a shift in the position of the author.
- DIt begins the author’s commentary on the preceding information.
Show the answer
Correct answer: D
The question asks for an explanation of the role of paragraph 7 in the overall structure of the passage.
A. Incorrect. The purpose of paragraphs 2–6 is to present reasons physical books might be better than e-books, and paragraph 7 offers summarizing “take-away” advice based on those reasons. As a result, it may seem as though the author’s purpose for writing the entire passage has shifted. However, the author’s advice in paragraph 7, that readers who want to learn from reading “might want to go for a physical book,” makes it clear that paragraph 7, like paragraphs 2–6, continues to serve the same purpose for the passage that the writer expresses in paragraph 1: to inform readers that printed books “may actually be a better choice for some readers” than e-books.
B. Incorrect. In paragraph 7, the author does offer the advice that readers who want to absorb material “might want to go for a physical book” rather than an e-book. Even though the author makes the statement favoring physical books for those who want to learn from their reading, the author is not sharing a personal opinion. Instead, the author offers the advice as a summary of the information presented in paragraphs 2–6, which explore various studies about the advantages of physical books over e-books. Furthermore, the idea that physical books are sometimes a better option is not introduced for the first time in paragraph 7. Instead, it is introduced early in the passage, when the author states in paragraph 1 that physical books “may actually be a better choice for some readers.”
C. Incorrect. Paragraph 7 presents a clear shift in style and content from paragraphs 2–6. Paragraphs 2–6 are each preceded by a heading stating a reason physical books might be a better choice than e-books, and each paragraph provides research evidence. Paragraph 7 shifts to stating a “take-away message”—the author’s advice—which is based on the reasons in paragraphs 2–6. Paragraph 7’s different style and content do not, however, signal a change in the author’s position. Instead, the author’s advice in paragraph 7 (“if you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book”) actually reinforces the position first introduced in paragraph 1 that physical books “may actually be a better choice for some readers.”
D. CORRECT. The author uses paragraphs 2–6 to present “five ways e-books might be inferior” (paragraph 1) to physical books. Each of paragraphs 2–6 presents one reason for the inferiority of e-books, based on a scientific study. Paragraph 7 indicates a shift because it describes neither a reason e-books might be inferior nor a scientific study. Instead, it presents personal commentary: the “take-away,” or conclusion, the author draws from the studies and evidence presented in paragraphs 2–6. That commentary consists of the author’s own practical advice to readers who want to retain information that they read (“you might want to go for a physical book”) and to those who are “going to be up all night studying” (“turn off the backlight”).
Question analysis
This text-structure question asks how paragraph 7, a two-sentence paragraph that follows the five research sections, fits into the overall structure of an article arguing that printed books might be better than e-books. Students must compare it with the opening claim and the paragraphs around it, and the four choices use similar abstract wording about the author's purpose, opinion and position.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students analyze how sections contribute to a text, but here all four choices are abstract statements about the author's purpose and position, and telling them apart means tracking the argument from the first paragraph to the last.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer major
- How, not what moderate
- Evidence in several places minor
- Evidence
- Answered from the whole text
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 49 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
All four choices are abstract claims about the author's purpose and position, so none can be checked against a single sentence. Paragraph 7 does feel like a turn, from studies to advice, which makes the choices about a changed purpose or position tempting, but the advice repeats the view the first paragraph set out. The real hedge comes one paragraph later, and the closest call is whether paragraph 7 introduces a view or comments on evidence already given.
A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The right choice and the one saying paragraph 7 introduces the author's opinion both find the author's own voice there; they part on whether that view is new, and paragraph 1 already said print “may actually be a better choice”. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks what paragraph 7 does in the article, a short take-away after five research sections, so its advice about physical books and backlights matters only for its role. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Evidence in several places minor Working it out
Judging the claims of a shift or a change needs both ends of the article, the stance of paragraph 1 and the “However” that opens paragraph 8. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Strategy: Compare what paragraph 7 does with what paragraphs 1–6 do: where was the author's view first stated, and what is new in paragraph 7? Then match that role to a choice.
Traps
- Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
- Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
The wrong answers, classified
A Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Notices the move from research findings to practical advice and calls it a new purpose, but the advice serves the aim stated in paragraph 1, showing print may be better.
B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Rightly hears the author's own voice in the take-away, but introducing that view is what paragraph 1 does; paragraph 7 restates it as advice drawn from the studies.
C Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Places the article's hedge too early: the author softens the stance only in paragraph 8, “all this may not mean”, while paragraph 7's advice keeps the same position.
Working it out, step by step
Know what the question asks
This asks about the structure of the passage, which means how its parts fit together. You need to name the job paragraph 7 does compared with the paragraphs around it.
Map the passage first
Paragraph 1 states the author’s view: print “may actually be a better choice for some readers.” Paragraphs 2 through 6 each sit under a bold heading. Each one reports research on one way e-books might be worse than print.
Read paragraph 7
It begins, “The take-away message?” A take-away is the lesson you carry away. Then the author advises, “If you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book.” The author also says to “turn off the backlight” when studying late. Both tips come from the studies just before. So paragraph 7 is the author commenting on that evidence.
Check each choice
- D fits: it “begins the author’s commentary on the preceding information,” and preceding means coming before.
- A is wrong because the purpose doesn’t change, since the advice still shows print may be better.
- B is wrong because the author’s opinion first appears in paragraph 1, not paragraph 7.
- C is wrong because the author softens the view only later, in paragraph 8, with “all this may not mean.”
Watch out: B is tempting because paragraph 7 really is the author’s own voice. But it is not the first time you hear it.
Choose the answer
Paragraph 7 turns the research in the five sections into advice, which is commentary on what came before. So the answer is D.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
B comes closest, since paragraph 7 really is the author speaking. But the author’s view already appeared in paragraph 1. Paragraph 7 doesn’t introduce it. It sums up the research before it and turns that research into advice. That is commentary on the preceding information, as D says.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” as printed (pages 58–59)
