ShmoopTube

00:09

You know the feeling.

00:10

There you are, completely lost in a book, when out of nowhere comes… [Boy reading a book quickly]

00:15

…a word you don't recognize. [Boy looks shocked]

00:17

Yup. It's a terrible feeling.

00:19

But does that mean you should stop reading and toss the book into the trash? [Boy putting the book into a trash can]

00:23

No!

00:24

Because a little thing called a glossary might just be able to help you out. [Glossary pops out the bin]

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A glossary is an alphabetical list of words related to a specific subject, with definitions. [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

00:33

You'll often find them in the back of a book, especially if the book contains a lot of specialized,

00:37

tricky language, like a textbook.

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Often the words we find in glossaries are academic words: y'know, words that students [Professor holding a glossary]

00:44

tend to run into when they're studying at school.

00:46

Different academic subjects, like math and science, have their own set of academic words, [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

00:50

so chances are, you'll be reading plenty of glossaries in the future. [A conveyer belt of books runs in front of the kid]

00:53

And guess what?

00:54

If you already know how to use a dictionary, a glossary will be a breeze. [Kid with dictionary in one hand and glossary in the other]

00:58

Say you're reading a book about botany, aka the science of plants…

01:01

…and you come across this sentence: "In fossils, we can find evidence of xylem going

01:06

back hundreds of millions of years." [Kid pointing to the word xylem]

01:08

One of the words in there might be a little unfamiliar. [Boy looks shocked]

01:11

…and no, not "can." [Kid throws the flower in the trash can]

01:13

You don't exactly encounter the word "xylem" in everyday life. [Guy rides into a xylem road sign]

01:16

Unless that happens to be the name of your dog.

01:18

In which case, congratulations for your creative naming. [Kid holding a trophy]

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However, on the off chance you don't happen to have a pooch named "Xylem," your best bet [Kid putting up a lost xylem poster]

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is to flip to the glossary.

01:27

Since "xylem" starts with an "X," we skip the As, the Bs, and even those lovely Cs… [Pages being turned in a book]

01:32

…all the way down to the Xs.

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And sitting right in plain view is the definition of xylem: the tissue in plants responsible

01:38

for conducting water and dissolved nutrients up from the root.

01:42

Having learned this new morsel of vocab, you can flip back to the page you were on and [The book is closed]

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keep on reading.

01:48

Best of all, you didn't even need to get up and find a dictionary. [Kid sat in his chair]

01:50

Though you can get up, if you want.

01:52

Glossaries will never stand in the way of some light exercise. [Boy doing squats with weights]

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