Reading Powerfully:

• Lesson Objective • Learn reading techniques for Analytical Reading– Technique: a method of

performance; way of accomplishing

– Analytical: a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their

relations

General Reading (books for enjoyment) often do not force the reader to actively put clues together

• Analytical Reading Defined

• The use of previewing and marking the text in order to draw conclusions and evaluate the logic within a piece of writing.

Analytical reading must be done with your thinking cap on.

Remotes or cell phone need to be out of sight!

• Analytical Reading • Needed for the following:– Complex essays– Technical Reports– Legal Contracts

If Iron Man wants to be a thinker, so should you!

• Strategies for Analytical Reading

• Previewing:– questioning the text,

making conclusion, identifying main ideas

• Marking the text:– highlighting, making

marginal notations, writing in margins

Being able to evaluate what is important and what is extra is a skill that can be carried into ANY profession

• 5 Steps to Active Reading– Step 1: Highlighting

the Text

• Read first and then highlight selectively

• Underline only words and phrases that state what that chunk of material is mainly about

Want to be a pro athlete or QB at Notre Dame?

Learn how to pick out what you need to remember

• 5 Steps to Active Reading– Step 2: Finding

Transitions

• Making Transitions stand out in the text helps you locate the ideas

• Transition Examples: first, for example, next, finally, therefore, etc.

• 5 Steps to Active Reading– Step 3: Using the

Margins

• Write down main ideas in the margin

• Use as few words as possible in the margin

• At the end of a paragraph, ask yourself, “What was most of that paragraph about?”

• 5 Steps to Active Reading– Step 4: Writing Your

Own Thoughts and Questions

• Jot down ideas or questions and bracket them either at the top or bottom of the page you are reading

• This will force you to consider the implications and applications of what you are reading

• 5 Steps to Active Reading– Step 5: Write brief

summaries • Summarize at end of sections and at the end of chapters

• Brief phrases only• Do not read and write

at the same time