READING --Understanding the Reading Process

When you read critically, you read actively. You read not just to memorize
facts or gather information, but to evaluate, analyze, appreciate, understand,
and apply. As a critical reader, you engage in a dialogue with the author.
You don't automatically accept the author's perspective or arguments.
Instead, you challenge the author and subject his or her ideas to careful
examination.

Previewing

When you preview a text, you survey it quickly to establish or clarify your
purpose and context for reading. In doing so, you ask yourself questions
such as those included in the following guidelines.

Guidelines for previewing a text

1. Where and when was this text published? What do this source and date
suggest about the accuracy of this text?

2. What, if anything, do I know about the author of this text?

3. What can I learn from the title?

4. What can I learn by quickly surveying this text? Is the text divided into
sections? If so, how do these sections appear to be organized? Can I easily
perceive the gist or general approach the author is taking? What predictions
about this text can I make on the basis of quickly surveying it? What questions
can I now formulate to guide my subsequent reading of this text?

5. What is my personal response to the text, based on this preview of it?

Annotating

When you annotate a text, you highlight important words or passages and
write comments or questions that help you establish a dialogue with the text
or remember important points. You would annotate a text you are reading
primarily for your information differently than you would an essay you are
reading for an assignment or a poem you are reading for pleasure. Many
readers annotate directly on the text as they read. If you have borrowed the
text or prefer not to mark up your own book, you can use a separate piece
of paper or computer to copy important passages and to write questions and
comments.

Guidelines for annotating a text

1. What is my purpose in reading this text? What do I need to annotate to
accomplish this purpose?

2. Where does the writer identify the purpose and thesis or main idea of the text?

3. What are the main points, definitions, and examples in the text? Would it be
useful to number the main points, or make a scratch outline in the margin?

4. What questions does this text suggest to me?

5. Can I identify key words that play an important role in this writer's discussion?
Does the text provide enough information so that I can understand these key
words and appreciate their significance, or do I need to do additional reading
or ask another reader for an explanation?

6. Can I identify passages that seem to play a particularly crucial role in this text?
What is my response to these passages?

7. Can I identify passages where my personal experience and values or knowledge
of the subject cause me to question the author's assertions, evidence, or method?



Reading | Annotation | Summary