91Ó°ÊÓ

Because analytical reading is one in which you must prepare to respond to the text in some fashion, it is important that you are continually gauging your interaction with the text.

When most people read for pleasure, it is a passive process. As the reader’s eyes scan the page or screen, images in the form of words enter the mind and form meaning. That meaning is usually consumed with very little interaction aside from an occasional reaction, usually emotional.

Much like watching television or a movie, passive reading requires some suspension of disbelief. For this process to work, the reader actually needs to become unaware that they are reading. Unless there is a major distraction, one will often read right-over unfamiliar words with little thought to the cues within the text that give the words meaning.

There is nothing wrong with passive reading. However, in academics you must read to comprehend and respond. This requires an active process of continually being aware of the reading process. This allows you to still enjoy the text but to also be on a fact-finding mission in which you are looking for information and laying the groundwork for a response.

The most common approach to reading used in academic study is based on processes developed by the United States government to help military recruits learn quickly to prepare for battle.

As the United States ramped up military training in the mid twentieth century to account for the large number of civilians entering the armed forces because of the draft, trainers were faced with the challenge of teaching recruits from a variety of academic backgrounds. Because of the war effort, the military needed these recruits to learn quickly and accurately. The learning process the military developed with the help of cognitive and educational specialists in higher education consisted of three phases: preview, apply, and review.

Like this three-part training approach, an active reading process has three major steps: prereading, reading, and rereading.

Preread

Identify the title and the author. Note if you know anything previously about the author. Also, check the publication date. What can the year of publication tell you about the text? What do you see in the title that could be important? Some titles are merely descriptive placeholders; others add an integral meaning to a text that would not exist without that title.

Next, skim the text. While you skim, look for key information. This could be subject headings, bold words, italicized words, or summaries at the beginning or end of sections. For example, the introductions to the chapters in this book start with some learning objectives. Make a note of these while skimming so you can be sure to identify this information when reading, later.

Last, identify possible questions. When you skimmed the text, you likely noticed some things. If you see a term that jumps out at you, then what is the definition of that term? How is the text using the word? If anything looks confusing, create a question about it.

If the reading is a textbook, it may already have questions either as thought-provoking questions at the end of sections, or as assignments.

Read

Often the best advice is to “read with a pencil in hand.” This means you should do something with that pencil. Underline passages that seem particularly interesting. Write down questions you have as a reader (“Where did the author get their information? “Who is the audience for this article?” How is this new information related to what I already know?”). Also, one should write down any unfamiliar words, look them up, and note the definitions. These notes that you create while reading are called annotations, and they are extremely useful to help you learn the material.

Many digital options exist for annotating, as well. For example, if the document is a pdf, many pdf readers include highlighting tools. If you save the file to your own device, you can use these tools to highlight important information.

As you read, look for connections. Linking similar concepts is a natural part of thinking. By noting relationships, you can hijack the thinking process and make it active. Write down the connections you see.

Reread

There are really two different reasons to reread.

One is to commit information to long-term memory. If you are reading a textbook or something similar for a class, you are reading because you need to learn the information. Effective rereading strategies can help move information from short-term to long-term memory.

If you are reading research, you are reading because you need to possibly work with the information. Effective rereading skills will help you identify the most important information to move forward into the writing process.

For any narrative work, put together a skeleton outline. A skeleton outline is not a formal outline like what you create to write an essay. Instead, it is more like a list of important plot developments in order. For a longer work you may want to do this by chapter or scene. For shorter works like short stories, one outline will do.

Then, make notes of possible ideas to which you may respond.

One effective method of response is a reading journal. A reading journal may include any or all the notes you created while prereading, reading, and rereading.

Another common journaling method is freewriting. When freewriting, you set a time or page limit and just force yourself to write about the text until the limit is reached. For those who have not done this type of journaling before, freewriting can seem frustrating. It is easy to be more concerned about the need to keep writing than the actual content. However, part of the effectiveness of this process is to accept that discomfort. Often, you may even write “I don’t know what to write next” until the next thought kicks in.

There are more formal journals, which may include assigned writing prompts. These are the types of short writing that an instructor may ask for as assignments. For this type of response, you must be sure that you understand the prompt. Then create a quick plan to organize a response. Finally, respond. You may need to use information from the text to help illustrate or support your stance.

Discussion can also be a very effective method of responding to a text if one is prepared. This includes completing the writing process techniques listed above as well as some preparation to catch possible discussion topics. If it is an informal discussion like a group of students who meet to talk about class, then this preparation may mostly consist of deciding what one would like to talk about.

If it is a formal discussion like that done in class, then one may want to go further and anticipate what others may want to discuss as well. It helps to jot down notes of important information from the text beforehand to bring forward in discussion.

In academics, the final analytical response to the reading process is often a written response of some type. Reading and writing are related concepts, and the writing process (see section three, The Writing Process) has a lot in common with the reading process.

Overall, an active, academic, reading process is much more involved than passive reading. It takes time and commitment. Probably the most important skill an academic reader can possess is the ability to always consider how to respond to the text and to prepare for that response.