Steps for Active Reading
- Survey—skim the text for main ideas
- Question—respond to claims and evidence by noting down questions that arise during your reading
- Read—carefully examine text, answering questions from #2
- Recall—reflect on the most important aspects of the text
- Review—revisit steps #2-#4 to ensure an understanding of the text
Elements of Close Reading
- Read with a pencil or pen in hand and annotate the text.
- Look for patterns in the things you've noticed about the text—repetitions, contradictions, similarities, etc.
- Ask questions about the patterns you've noticed—especially how and why those patterns occur.
- Develop a thesis—an assertion about the meaning and function of the text.
- Compile evidence from the text.
- Analyze evidence in detail.
Adopted from Princeton University’s “Active Reading of Textbooks” and Patricia Kain's “How to Begin” (Writing Center at Harvard University)
