2. Ask yourself pre-reading strategies
• Think about:
• What is the topic, and what do you know what
about it?
• How does it connect to what we have been
doing in class?
3. Identify and Define Any New Terms
• PLEASE look up a word you do not
understand!
– The dictionary, dictionary.com
4. Main Idea
• Bracket the main idea or thesis of the
reading, and put an asterisk next to it. Pay
particular attention to the introduction or
opening paragraphs to locate this information.
• You should also bracket the main idea(s) of
the chapters when reading a novel.
5. Annotating the Text
• Write questions in the margins, and then
answer the questions in a reading journal or
on a separate piece of paper. If you’re reading
a textbook, try changing all the titles,
subtitles, sections and paragraph headings
into questions.
• Re-write the main idea in your own words!
• Underline only the key points
6. Annotating Continued
• Harvard’s library even told incoming students: “ First of all, throw away the
highlighter in favor of a pen or pencil. Highlighting can actually distract you from
the business of learning and dilute your comprehension. In actual fact, it can lure
to you into a dangerous passivity”( 2005).
•
• WHY ANNOTATE?
• It keeps students focused and engaged with the texts.
• It makes comprehension a little more conscious and intentional.
• When a text becomes difficult, annotating helps to heighten your awareness.
• To remember information for later discussion and application
•
• THE TWO TIPS TO USEFUL ANNOTATING
• For students to annotate in a way that empowers later discussion, they must to do
two things:
• Mark ONLY the most important sections
• Stop and write down their thinking in their words.
7. Graphic Organizers
• Make outlines, flow charts, or diagrams that
help you to map and to understand ideas
visually.
• See worksheet
8. Determine the Main Idea
• Read each paragraph carefully and then
determine "what it says" and “what it does.”
Answer “what it says” in only one sentence.
Represent the main idea of the paragraph in
your own words. To answer “what it does,”
describe the paragraph’s purpose within the
text, such as “provides evidence for the
author’s first main reason” or “introduces an
opposing view.”
9. Summarizing
• Write a summary of an essay or chapter in
your own words. Do this in less than a page.
Capture the essential ideas and perhaps one
or two key examples. This approach offers a
great way to be sure that you know what the
reading really says or is about.
• Write your own exam question based on the
reading.
