My Critical Reading Strategies

The Norton Field Guide to Writing covers topics about writing and composing. Several of which I was already familiar with. In chapter 2, Bullock and Weinberg express how “Many readers find it helps to annotate as they read…” (16). I have become very familiar with annotating over the years. I often use this writing method to help me understand and summarize text I come across.

Analyzing is one effective reading strategy a reader can use. This method is most effective by thinking about the writer’s arranged ideas. For example, viewing the developed topics and the structure of the paragraph is a way of analyzing. Annotating is beneficial to the reader who is analyzing the text. When using annotating, a reader

At the time that I have been in the college, I have used some of the strategies named in the introduction of the book “The Norton Reader” such as: Describing, rereading, exemplifying and knowing about the author and the audience. However, it surprised me to know that there were even more strategies than the previously mentioned. Personally, I got some interest, knowing about comparing and contrasting that in the book’s word means: “which analyzes the similarities and differences between or among people, places, things, or ideas.” Because I can see how finding similarities between articles can help the reader to understand them better. Of course, I’m going to use those new strategies in future because they can help me as reader to create strong

This weeks reading included They Say I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein and From Critical Thinking to Argument by Sylvan Barnet, Hugo Bedau, and John O’Hara. In They Say I Say, Graff and Birkenstein talk about the importance of being able to look at writings and be able to not only find the thesis/ argument that the author is making but also be able to figure out “The view or views that motivate the thesis - the ‘they say’” (Graff and Birkenstein 155). In From Critical Thinking to Argument Barnet, Bedau, and O’Hara talk about how to think critically. This includes being able to see both sides of an argument. A good way to do this is by clustering, which is where one thinks about possible counterarguments/ responses to their claim. We also read about how when reading a paper, we should preview the paper by looking at the author, publisher, title, context, and the thesis. We should also annotate, highlight, and

--Answer below: My first step would be of course to process the information and figure out what approach to take to retain as much as possible in my memory. I’m not good reading directions follower but I remember much better by repetition, through memory consolidation. Sometimes I will read article several times, loud, pretending that I’m a TV presenter and that visual of myself speaking, even gestures that I might make will stay in my memory and I will be able to repeat something I read almost 100%. This takes time so I learned new techniques in memorizing information.

I have to agree with Carr reading a few paragraphs without being distracted, especially online has become a challenge to me. The first thing that I do when I am doing research online is to scroll down and see how long the article is. If the first few paragraphs do not grab my attention I move on. I do this out of laziness or because I am distracted by what is going on in the web page. Sometimes I think that my conviction for reading has changed I no longer read in depth I just read on the

My annotation grades have not been consistent so far, because I annotate on the same day I write my rough draft and sometimes get in a rush just so I can get to writing my paper faster. I usually don’t have trouble understanding the article, unless I am particularly tired or I am in a bad mood. Ways I could improve on my work is dedicating specific time to each task of the assignment and spreading my work hours out to develop deeper connections with the text.

Strategies that I use before I read or view my text are analyzing the title and any subtitles of significance. By analyzing any titles, subtitles, or imagery that is present, I can begin to gather ideas about what the text will include. I can also infer major ideas or statements that the author will discuss in their work. Thus, by analyzing the title of the text I am reading, I can gather important ideas and concepts such as the main thesis, the audience or point-of-view of the text.

Based on chapter 9, annotation is summing up the information in my text by briefly writing the key ideas in the margin. I have to annotate because annotation encourages me to process the information and think about it. It helps me to manage the amount of information I need to read. It also helps me to decrease information by 50 percent or more, and it helps me to reorganize the information in a way that make the information easier for me to remember. Annotation helps me to identify topics and support ideas.To annotate, I have to read a chapter and then think about what would be important if I am going to make a presentation, and I also need to read at least three or four paragraphs in order to take note. In addition, I have to write my annotation

A reflection of my reading strategies varies. When I reading, I try to keep an open mind to what I’m reading I have an open perspective from my point of view of from someone else, or even the author point of view. Depending on what kind of text is it or coming from I might see it in a different way. When reading a novel, you try to keep perspective of a character feelings as it expression it emotional and try to feel the emotion of through reading when character falls in love, or heartbroken. My reading strategies try to empathize with the text. When reading a textbook or newspaper that when my strategies change, your reading a textbook that’s more expand your knowledge or a newspaper to inform you of what going on in your community or all

The annotated bibliography was a new assignment for me since it had been my first, but I learned a lot throughout the process. This was the first project that I had to use the campus library, and I am grateful for the chance. I also learned about what is needed in an annotated bibliography. It has prepared me for not only the speech that follows the bibliography but also for future assignments in any class.

I have chosen active reading as a skill to build on because although I read certain pieces of work as though I was reading a story to a child in order to retain the information better I have never thought of re-reading the work to work through the potential interpretation variations. I find that this skill would be particularly beneficial when you are struggling

The task was to create annotations in order to understand the article and to develop stages of thoughts, where one jots down their ideas on how they apprehend the article as they read along. The annotations were very helpful in processing my thoughts accordingly. I annotated sentences that I believed pertained directly to the main idea. The side notes contained a small sentence that summarizes a paragraph or others which correlated as a whole. Together as a class we reviewed the assignment to determine if the article was comprehended by everyone with similar thoughts. My instructor pin-pointed phrases or words within paragraphs that share a connection to help construct thoughts when having difficulties understanding a passage. Using this new technique than just highlighting sentences allows me to improve my ability to grasp the paragraph's content. My instructor also mentioned the conclusion of each paragraph must signal the reader a foreshadow of the upcoming paragraph. By taking this to mind, it lessens the confusion between concepts and causes the paper to be more organized and

The method by which I was taught to read literature effectively and discerningly similar to the formulaic pattern played out in the introduction to chapter five in the Brown and Yarborough text. The steps were to identify the setting, primary theme, characters, common motifs, and illusions to outside works. From there I was left to identify the authors intent. I was told that each work of literature was a puzzle with a simple solution, and it was the readers duty to find it. I was fortunate enough to take AP Lit my junior year and, in doing so, learned how to properly read and interpret text. Often enough, I would find myself identifying subtextual themes before noting the truth of the text itself. My largest downfall as a reader was falling

Writing has always been a stressful experience my whole lifetime. Throughout high school, I had painfully struggled to put my thoughts on paper for English assignments. Writing has never been one of my strengths. I remember being told from the instructor of the class “remember put in your own words”. I had a very difficult time completing this task. The annotations Is what I struggled with the most of every assignment. The poems were the most difficult to interpret. I still struggle with the annotations, but they are not as difficult to annotate as they were when I started the class.