The Reading Process

Things to remember: Plan to read a text multiple times. Ideally, this will be in more than one sitting. Do not let yourself look up every word you don’t know. Plan to read actively. Become comfortable enough with a text so you can ask yourself questions about the writer’s choices. You will learn to analyze texts in this way.

Content vs. Style Outside of class, people read for content – they do it for pleasure, to learn something, to achieve a goal. In this class, you will learn to read for style – you’ll learn to notice the choices writers make and the effect those choices have on readers. This is analysis.

Step One Preview! Notice the title. Read the information about the author and the text in the headnote (bio and information about the text) Read the prompt. All of these help you understand the context of the text and might lead to better understanding of it.

Step Two Read once Just read – Don’t write Don’t look up words Just read When you’re done – do you have an idea of what it’s about?

Step Three Read again – circle/underline/ highlight unfamiliar words that repeat or seem important. Look up circled vocab. You might need to read several more times to understand or to analyze. Give yourself lots of time!

Step Four Read again – annotate this time. This will allow you to… Read again for analysis. This is a skill we’ll work on a lot this quarter. It will be required of you in future composition classes.