RAPQ

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RAP-Q

• Submitted By
• Maria Everly

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More often than not reading our assigned class
materials is not a leisurely activity. Most of
the time we end up getting stressed out because
we are having a hard time understanding the main
idea of what we read or why we are even reading
it. The RAP-Q is a strategy to help you stay
focused on the main idea of what you read.
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This strategy is broken up into four parts
R - Read
A - Ask
P - Paraphrase
Q - Question
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Read
Read smaller parts of the whole. Instead of
reading your entire chapter break it up into
sections or even paragraphs. Reading smaller
sections gives you less to think about at one
time and less to get confused about.
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Ask

• Ask yourself what the main ideas are.
• Try to find what the most important information
  is within the text.

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Paraphrase

• Put what you have read into your own words.
• When you paraphrase the main ideas use words
  other than what is already in the book.

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Question
Write a question about what you have read. Base
your question on the main idea and what you have
paraphrased. Dont forget to write down an
answer. You can compare both your questions and
answers to previous sections to see how the
information lines up together.
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Example
Below is the first paragraph of the article Al
Qaeda and the Jihadis The Al Qaeda that most
Americans imagine does not exist. It is largely a
figment of our imaginations and fears, a phantom
that never existed in the way that many of us
imagine. Al Qaeda is not an organization in the
Western sense of the word. It is a movement, a
historical phenomenon and a set of ideas offered
to Muslims across the world. This does not mean
that there are not violent and dangerous jihadi
terrorists in the world. There are, but they are
not members of a sprawling and tightly organized
secret army of Islamists who operate in
obedience to orders from Osama bin Laden. There
is no cave in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border
country that has a sign in Arabic over the door
that reads Jihadi World Headquarters, Osama bin
Laden, Commanding. There is no central command
for the jihadis.
Step one is to Read the text!
The entire article is linked through the title.
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Example continued
Step Two is to Ask what the main idea is.

• The Al Qaeda is not the evil force that we all
  believe.
• Not all jihadis are bad but there are some that
  are very violent terrorist.

Step Three is to put the section into your own
words.
This article discusses how the Al Qaeda that we
all perceive does not really exist. The Al Qaeda
is a movement or set of ideas for all Muslims.
The article emphasizes that although there are
some very violent jihadi terrorists out in the
world there is no central command center for them
in a cave.
Step Four is to write a Question about what you
have read
Question What is the Al Qaeda?
Answer It is a movement, a historical phenomenon
and a set of ideas offered to Muslims across the
world.
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Your Turn To Try!
Using the same article, Al Qaeda and the
Jihadis read the next section with the heading
The True Source of Jihadism. After reading the
text use the RAP-Q Strategy to help you figure
out the text.
References http//coe.jmu.edu/Learningtoolbox/ Lan
g, P. (2006). Al Qaeda and the Jihadis. America,
195(9), 20-21.