The Longman Academic Reading Series is a five-level series that prepares English language learners for academic work. High-interest readings cover a variety of subjects, including art history, nutrition, American literature, and forensics. The series takes a holistic approach to the skills and strategies necessary for effective reading, vocabulary building, note-taking, and critical thinking. By encouraging students to discuss and write about the ideas covered in the readings, the series helps them become better speakers and writers of English. Highlights Rigorous, sophisticated, and comprehensive readings are based on academic sources, each carefully designed to provide different and intriguing perspectives on a theme. Readings come from a variety of sources and genres -- textbooks, newspapers, magazines, online articles -- and are written by experts in widely different fields. A corpus-informed approach to vocabulary helps students build vocabulary and acquire skills to become more confident in preparing for academic work. New Essential Online Resources include reading comprehension activities, reading faster activities, teacher's manual and assessments, and audio of the readings. Level 5 only has audio of the readings.