Strategies Reading

• It is important to make the distinction between leisure reading and academic reading
• Most academic assignments require a specific level of active engagement - process of discovery, analysis, and reflection. It is important to read for understanding and meaning. What is the meaning of this text?
• Most people who often engage in leisure reading are passive readers.
• Primary text- the original piece of fiction or the poem. The primary text is used when reading for basic understanding within the text.
• Secondary text- literary criticism or other cultural or historical artifacts and information. The secondary text is used to situate the text into a larger cultural context.
• In all of our initial readings, we are active participants.
• Annotation- take notes as you read; annotation is a common strategy used in reading for understanding.
• Skeleton outline- A brief sketchy overview started in the margins of a text and often transferred to outline form.
• Summary- an objective restatement of the main ideas presented in a text.
• Photo collage- a visual representation of your response to the verbal text.
• Dialogue (double-entry journal)-records quotations from the text and pairs them with the reader's response in the form of a two- column list.
• While identifying patterns of response it is important to look for patterns of repetition and patterns of opposition.