Active
Reading Strategies
Reader Reception Theory
emphasizes that the reader actively
interprets the text based on his or her
particular cultural background and life
experiences.
Active reading involves
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Annotating
Outlining
Paraphrasing
Summarizing
Synthesizing
Contextualizing
Exploring the
significance of
figurative language
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Looking for patterns of
opposition
Reflecting on
challenges to your
beliefs and values
Evaluating logic
Recognizing
manipulation
Judging the writer’s
credibility
Annotations
Your own marks or writings in a text are
called annotations. They represent
your reactions, questions, key points,
outlines, summaries, evaluations—in
effect, a conversation you have as a
reader with the writer through the
medium of the text.
Suggestions for Annotating
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Circle words to be defined in the
margin.
Underline key words and phrases.
Bracket important sentences and
passages.
Use lines and arrows to connect ideas
or words.
Annotations in the Margins
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Number and summarize each
paragraph
Define unfamiliar words
Note responses and questions
Identify writing strategies
Point out patterns
Take an Inventory
Look for patterns and repetitions such as
recurring themes or images, stylistic
features, repeated words and phrases,
repeated forms, examples, or
illustrations, and use of specific writing
strategies.
Outlining
Paraphrasing
&
Summarizing
Outlining
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Formal outlining helps you to
distinguish between main ideas and
supporting materials such as
examples, quotations, comparisons,
and reasons.
Scratch outlining helps to quickly
summarize material and is sufficient
for most critical reading.
Paraphrasing
Translate the reading into your own
words, putting quotation marks around
any words or phrases you quote from
the original.
Summarizing
To summarize, write a paragraph or
more that presents the writer’s main
ideas largely in your own words. Be
sure to fill in the connections between
ideas to indicate the writer’s purposes
and strategies.
synthecizing
and
Contextualizing
Synthesizing
Synthesizing blends your readings
from two or more sources. Look for
patterns among your sources, possibly
supporting or refuting your ideas, and
write a paragraph that presents the
relationships you find. Use quotation,
paraphrase, and summary to present
what the sources say about the topic.
Contextualizing
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Describe the historical and cultural
situation as presented in the reading.
Compare this to your own historical
and cultural situation.
Consider how your understanding is
affected by your own context.
Exploring the Significance
Of
Figurative
Language
Exploring Figurative Language
Figurative language—simile, metaphor,
and symbolism—enhances literal
meaning by conveying ideas in vivid
images and evoking feelings and
associations.
Exploring Figurative Language
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Simile compares two different things
by using like or as to signal the
relationship between the two.
Metaphor makes a more direct
comparison by identifying two
different things.
Symbolism compares two things by
making one stand for the other.
Exploring Figurative Language
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Annotate all figures of speech.
Group figures that express related
feelings and attitudes.
Explore what these patterns tell you
about the text.
Looking for Patterns
Of Opposition
Looking for Patterns of Opposition
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Annotate for words or phrases that
indicate opposition.
List the pairs in opposition.
For each pair of opposites, indicate
which one the writer prefers.
Explore what the patterns of
opposition tell you about the reading.
Reflecting on Challenges
To Your Own
Beliefs and Values
Reflecting on challenges
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Annotate places in the text where you
feel your values and beliefs are being
opposed, criticized, or unfairly
characterized
Reflect on why you feel challenged.
Analyze your feelings to see where
they come from.
Evaluating
The Logic of an
Argument
Evaluating logic
Test for appropriateness by checking that
the reasons and support are clearly and
directly related to the thesis.
Test for believability by deciding if you can
accept the reasons and support as true.
Test for consistency and completeness by
deciding if the argument has contradictions
and whether any important objections or
opposing arguments have been ignored.
Recognizing Emotional
Manipulation
False or exaggerated emotional appeals
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Are overly sentimental
Use alarming statistics
Use frightening anecdotes
Demonize others
Identify with revered authorities
Use emotionally loaded symbols and
words
Recognizing emotional
manipulation
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Annotate places in the text where you
sense emotional appeals are being
used.
Assess whether these are unfair or
manipulative.
Judging the Writer’s
Credibility
Judging credibility
Test for knowledge by examining the facts
and statistics the writers present, the
sources they rely on, and the depth of their
understanding.
Test for common grounds by assessing if
the writers’ base their reasoning on shared
beliefs and values.
Test for fairness by analyzing how writers
handle opposing arguments and objections.
Judging credibility
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Annotate for writer’s knowledge of the
subject, how well common ground is
established, and how the writer meets
and handles objections and opposing
positions.
Decide what you find credible and
what you question.