Active Reading

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Active Reading Close Reading
eXcel Lesson 2
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ACTIVE READING
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The Reading Challenge

• How much before university?
• What kinds?
• How does reading in University differ?
• What reading challenges have you dealt
• with this year?

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Reading

• Many university courses require a lot of reading.
  Lets suppose that it takes you 4 hours to read
  a 50 page chapter for one of your courses. Assume
  that you are responsible for 10 chapters of
  material for the final exam. If the only thing
  you plan to do to study for the exam is read over
  the chapters, it will take you approximately 40
  hours.

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Reading
If you had highlighted and/or recorded important
ideas when you first read the material, you could
cut your rereading time by 80-85 percent or
approximately 32 hours! (McWhorter, 2004).
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Reading

• Reading is primary. 
• One can write only as well as one
• reads.   Consider Not all readers are
• writers.  But all writers must be
• readers. 

From Dan Kurlands  Reading and Writing Ideas As
Well As Words at www.criticalreading.com
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Reading

• All writers rely on their skills as
• readers. They must realize not only
• what they have said, but what they
• have accomplished in a
• communicative sense.

From Dan Kurlands  Reading and Writing Ideas As
Well As Words at www.criticalreading.com
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Reading

• To consciously evaluate your writing
• you must become more conscious
• of reading behaviors. 

From Dan Kurlands  Reading and Writing Ideas As
Well As Words at www.criticalreading.com
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Reading

• Throughout our education and
• employment we are expected to be
• able to read far more complicated
• texts than we are expected to write.

From Dan Kurlands  Reading and Writing Ideas As
Well As Words at www.criticalreading.com
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Reading

• To consciously evaluate your own writing you
  must become more conscious of reading behaviors,
  of how people interpret meaning. 
• Will someone reading your writing understand
  exactly what you mean?

From Dan Kurlands  Reading and Writing Ideas As
Well As Words at www.criticalreading.com
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Reading

• What are some simple writing conventions that
  make understanding easier for the reader?

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Reading Behaviours

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnhXBHlqFHKkfeature
  related

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Reading

• You bring to your reading
• General knowledge
• Working knowledge of topic
• Sophistication of vocabulary
• Biases

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Active Reading

• More efficient
• Involves critical thinking
• More learning
• . AND KEEPS YOU INTERESTED!!

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Active Reading
_ Prepare _ Read
_ Reflect
CP 32
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Active Reading

• Finding the main ideas (Summarizing)
• Examining for details (Analyzing)
• Making connections (Synthesizing)
• Judging the quality/value of the information
  
• (Evaluating)

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Avoid A-Z reading

• Stop and Start frequently, going back and forth
• Make connections between ideas
• Ask yourself questions
• Reflect
• Read with a pen, pencil, highlighter
• Repeat things to yourself

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Building Vocabulary

• Acknowledge that you dont know
• Refer to dictionaries
• Learn the terminology within the
• discipline
• Note specific definitions in texts

CP 39-43
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Strategies for different purposes

• General and specific knowledge (textbooks)
• Research reading to build general knowledge and
  then to answer specific questions
• Analysis reading for knowledge, reflection and
  evaluation

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Close Reading

• As with inductive reasoning, close reading
  requires careful gathering of data (your
  observations) and careful thinking about what
  these data add up to.
• You make reasoned judgments about the content of
  your reading

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Strategies for close reading

• Preview
• Annotate talk back create a conversation
• Summarize
• Analyze (the focus of todays class assignment)
• Re-read
• Respond

CP 33
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Steps in the close reading process

• 1. Adjust your pace this is a slow and
  systematic process.
• 2. Annotate engage in a dialogue with the
  author.
• 3. Confirm definitions.
• 4. Examine structure.

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Steps in the close reading process
5. Look for patterns, repetition,
contradictions, similarities. 6. Ask questions
about the patterns youve noticed What is
emphasized, what is the authors tone, are
there gaps, are there leaps of logic?
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Use scholarly dictionaries

• StFX online resources
• http//libmain.stfx.ca/newlib/electronic/database
  s/welcome.htm
• Oxford Reference Online
• http//www.oxfordreference.com/views/GLOBAL.html?a
  uthstatuscode200

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Example of Close Reading

• Yes humanitarian action has limits. It also
  has responsibility. It is not only about rules
  of right conduct and technical performance. It
  is at first an ethic framed in a morality. The
  moral intention of the humanitarian act must be
  confronted with its actual result.
• What is an ethic framed in a morality?
• An Ethic a set of moral principles
• A Morality a particular set of rights and
  duties, right conduct

Canadian Oxford Dictionary
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Example of Close Reading

• Compare his use of confronted with the
  phrases evaluated against and compared with.
  How does the meaning change?
• confront stand or meet face to face with
• hostile intent

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The Assignment

• Read the excerpt from the Nobel Lecture given by
  Dr James Orbinski.
• Answer the questions being as complete and
  detailed as you can. Pay particular attention to
  the language of the speech.
• Hand in your answers.

CP 36-38