lessons:
Strong readers develop a considered opinion by weighing reasons and evidence offered up by both sides, remaining open, and suspending judgement.
Strong researchers and readers remain OPEN as they are learning more about the topic and they suspend judgment, not letting their own initial opinions get in the way. When you read, you’ll want to figure out the reasons and evidence that support different viewpoints, learning about the people who think differently than you do, and also learning about the evidence people draw on to support their positions.
You’ll need to take notes, because once you do settle on a preliminary position you’ll need to be able to engage in a debate for that position, citing substantial evidence - not just talk about gut feelings.
Here is a tip for note-taking while you read:
Below are some different options for note-taking. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures.
You’ll need to take notes, because once you do settle on a preliminary position you’ll need to be able to engage in a debate for that position, citing substantial evidence - not just talk about gut feelings.
Here is a tip for note-taking while you read:
- You won’t want to jumble evidence for and evidence against the issue into the same big pile. Think about how to distinguish between evidence for, evidence against, and information that is neither for nor against, but is still relevant.
Below are some different options for note-taking. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures.
Strong readers make sense of difficult texts by annotating as they watch/read. They create summaries and gather facts, write ideas and generate questions.
Reading is not a simple one-way transfer of information. To get the most from a text you’ve got to “talk” to the text with your pen. These “talks” are called annotations.
Types of Annotations
Things Good Annotators Do:
Types of Annotations
- Summaries- short restatements of major actions or concepts in a text. These help you follow along in hard, slow passages
- Your ideas- quick jots about what you’re thinking as you read. These help you interpret the text and make meaning from it.
- Questions- The things that are unclear at this point or the things you wonder about. These help you stay alert to answers that might come later. They help you make inferences, and realize when you are confused or uncertain.
Things Good Annotators Do:
- They underline only the most powerful words and phrases
- Re-write powerful passages in the margins in their own words
- Mark confusing words, phrases or passages and write questions in margins
- Track who said what, drawing arrows between quotes and source
- Rank evidence they underlined by writing numbers in the margins
When researching a topic, strong readers identify authors’ perspectives by examining the information that is presented and how it’s presented.
To identify an author’s POV/perspective, you can look at:
- Source
- Title/Heading
- Word Choice
- Statistics/facts & how they’re presented
Strong readers analyze how an author communicates his/her ideas effectively by examining the techniques they use to craft their argument.
Readers can think about, discuss, and write about texts on different levels. On one level, you can think about what they are about - their content. But another level of thinking about texts is to think more about how the author’s choices have shaped that content and why. In other words, their craft. Pay attention to what techniques authors use in order to show their point of view on the topic. Some of these include:
- Include personal stories or anecdotes
- Incorporate humor
- Quote an authority or expert
- Repeat key terms and phrases
- Make a comparison
- Raise questions
- Address the reader directly
- Give examples
- Provide a surprising fact or statistic
- Word choice
