Reading Strategies

1. Introduction

This resource was created using resources developed by Ontario Education. A full version is available online at: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/Reading.pdf

As students progress through school, they are asked to read increasingly complex informational and graphical texts in their courses. The ability to understand and use the information in these texts is key to a student’s success in learning. Successful students have a repertoire of strategies to draw upon, and know how to use them in different contexts. This resource is to assist readers in the development of these strategies so they may become better readers.

These strategies can be used in all courses. However, let's begin with some information about how to best approach reading texts in English.

Reading Literary Texts

Literary texts (such as stories, descriptions, essays, biographies, dialogues, novels, scripts, and poems) are written to entertain, provide insights, or communicate a writer’s ideas and viewpoints. Literary texts are sometimes incorporated into informational text forms. Providing students with an approach to read ing this type of text can help them to become effective readers in other contexts as well.

Hopefully you will become familiar with the elements and features of literary texts used in the course. This will allow you to explore a process for reading literary texts, using a range of strategies for before, during and after
reading. You will read for information and enjoyment and practise essential reading strategies and apply them to different types of course-related materials.

Literary texts come in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, with many forms and genres. Each uses language and literary elements in particular ways to communicate something significant. Some of the elements of fiction are characters, plot, setting, theme (big idea), perspective (point-of-view taken by the narrator), style, language, and structure. Dramas (scripts and dialogues) use many of the same elements as novels and short stories, but may include special features such as stage directions, acts and scenes, and notations. Poems use elements such as structure, rhythm, rhyme, imagery and figurative language to communicate an idea, feeling or image.
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Non-fiction literary texts include biographies and essays. Biographies often tell the story of their subject through narrative elements. Elements of biography include setting (how it influences the events in the person’s life), characterization of the subject (representation of the subject’s character and motives), theme, accuracy, structure (time sequence), illustrations, graphic features, structural patterns, and organizational features (table of contents, index, references). Essays might be persuasive, personal, or descriptive but often use the same elements to communicate a significant idea or viewpoint. These elements include thesis, introduction, body, conclusion,
arguments, and evidence.

Many of the strategies used for reading informational and graphical texts can be used effectively to read literary texts. Focus one or two tips at a time to help you before, during and after the assigned reading. You may wish to create an organizer to guide you as you read a particular text.

Tips for Reading Literary Texts

Before Reading

• Read the title and think about what might happen in the story or what the essay might be about. Does the title suggest any connections to your own life or raise any questions?
• Recall other selections you may have read by this author.
• Look at any illustrations. What do they tell you about the story or subject?
• Look the text over and sample the text to note its length, organization, level of language,  and structure. Pay attention to punctuation.

During Reading

• As you read, ask questions about what is happening. Make predictions about what might happen next.
• Form opinions about what is going on. Think about your responses and reactions to what you are reading. Making notes can help you focus your thinking as you read.
• Picture the setting, events or images in your mind. Sketch them. As you read, imagine how the words will be spoken and see the action.
• While reading a narrative selection, try the following:
• Read the first page and pause. What do you know so far about the people (characters), setting, conflict, and point of view? Where do you think the storyline is going? Make connections to what you already know.
• Who are the people and how are they related to each other?  Put yourself in their place. What would you say or do?

After Reading

• Write down favourite quotations from the text. Share and compare them with a partner.
• Create a visual interpretation of the text, such as a web, story map, or timeline, to show the relationships among the major characters and their feelings and attitudes.
• Create a sensory web of the setting. Use a graphic organizer to illustrate the story’s plot or sequence of events (situation, complications, climax, resolution).
• Retell/summarize the content in your own words, orally or in writing.

Please become familar with the following strategies. Use the one you need to help you understand what you are reading. You would never use all of them at once, but it is important to have a good selection to choose from to help you form understandings about what you are reading.

2. Getting Ready to Read: Previewing a Text

Some courses will have you reading a textbook or website. You will not be doing this in English,as all of your texts are provided within the course material.  However, it is helpful to know some strategies that will assist your understanding of textual information in other courses.

 Most informational texts use a variety of visual, graphic and text features to organize information, highlight important ideas, illustrate key concepts, and provide additional information. Features may include headings, subheadings, table of contents, index, glossary, preface, paragraphs
separated by spacing, bulleted lists, sidebars, footnotes, illustrations, pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, captions, italicized words or passages, boldface words or sections, colour, and symbols.

When you first receive these types of texts, preview the table of contents. This will help you become familiar with the content.

Prior to reading the pages:

• scan the headings; you will know what information the text will provide.
• look for bolded words; if you do not already know the meaning of these words, you will have to find them. Often bolded words are defined in the margins or at the back of your text.
• look for italicized words; often phrases are italicized for emphasis - these phrases will likely appear on a test! Sometimes the italicized words are a title of a major work - these are not as important to remember.
• look for titles and captions on tables, diagrams and illustrations; the supplimentary information will assist you in understanding the content
• look for highlighted or coloured text and illustrations; often this material is offered as a support to the content on the page
• pay attention to other features such as: headings, subheadings, prefaces, paragraphs separated by spacing, bulleted lists, sidebars and footnotes. All of these features are used by text creators to draw attention to important material.
• pay attention to introductory and concluding paragraphs; they often summarize the content of the section or chapter
• scan the resources (index, glossary, etc.) at the back of the text; understand you can use these resources to find and understand content

Prepare to read using the SQ4R strategy (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review, Reflect). In this strategy, you would:

• survey the title, headings, subheadings, maps, pictures, sidebars, bold or italic print, etc.
• Turn the title, headings, and captions into questions.
• Read the passage to answer questions.
• Recite the answers to their questions to summarize the passage.
• Review the passage toremember the main idea and important information and details.
• Reflect on the passage and process to check for understanding of the text, and to generate additional questions.

3. Getting Ready to Read: Finding Organizational Patterns

Information can be grouped and ordered in different ways – for example: sequentially (as in a procedure), by order of importance (as in a persuasive argument), or by classification (as in a periodic table). The way information is organized in a text is a cue to help the reader understand the ideas and make meaningful connections.

A text may combine several organizational patterns, depending upon the topic, content, purpose and audience.

Graphic organizers (such as timelines, flow charts, and mind maps) can help you “see” the relationship(s) among ideas more clearly.

Some organizational patterns used in texts:

1.    Spatial Order
1. Information and ideas are arranged in an order related to the geographic or spatiallocation (e.g., left to right, top to bottom,foreground to background). This pattern is often used in descriptions, maps, diagrams and drawings to help to record spatial details.
2. Signal Words: above, across from, among, behind, beside, below, down, in front of, between, left, to the right/left, near, on top of, over, up, in the middle of, underneath.
2. Order of Importance
1. Information and ideas are arranged in order of importance (e.g., least important to most important; or the 2-3-1 order of second most important, least important and most important). This pattern can be used in persuasive writing, reports, explanations, news reports and descriptions.
2. Pyramid, sequence and flow charts are examples of visual organizers.
3. Signal Words: always, beginning, first, finally, following, in addition, most important, most convincing, next.
3. Cause/Effect
1. Details are arranged to link a result with a series of events, showing a logical relationship between a cause and one or more effects (e.g., describe the cause first and then explain the effects, or describe the effect first and then explain the possible causes). It is sometimes called a problem/solution order or process order, and may be used in explanations, descriptions, procedures, process reports, and opinion writing.
2. Cause-and-effect charts and fishbone diagrams can be used to illustrate the relationships.
3. Signal Words: as a result of, because, begins with, causes, consequently, due to, effects of, how, if…then, in order to, leads to, next, since, so, so that, therefore, when…then.
4.  Generalization
1. Information is arranged into general statements with supporting examples. The pattern may be general-to-specific or specific-to-general. Generalizations may appear at the beginning or the end of a report, essay, summary, or article.
2. Webs, process charts, and pyramid charts help to record the causal sequence that leads to a specific outcome.
3. Signal Words: additionally, always, because of, clearly, for example, furthermore, generally, however, in conclusion, in fact, never, represents, seldom, therefore, typically.
5. Time Order
1. Details are arranged in the order in which they happen. This is also called chronological order, and is often used in incident reports, biographies, news articles, procedure, instructions, or steps in a process.
2. Visual organizers include timelines, flowcharts, and sequence charts.
3. Signal Words: after, before, during, first, finally, following, immediately, initially, next, now, preceding, second, soon, then, third, today, until, when.
6. Compare/Contrast
1. Details are arranged to show the similarities and differences between and among two or more things (e.g., ideas, issues, concepts, topics, events, places). This pattern is used in almost all types of writing.
2. Venn diagrams, graphs and cause/effect charts illustrate the comparison.
3. Signal Words: although, as well as, but, com-
   mon to, compared with, either, different from,
   however, instead of, like, opposed to, same,
   similarly, similar to, unlike, yet.
7. Classification
1. Details are grouped in categories to illustrate or explain a term or concept. This pattern is often used in descriptions, definitions and explanations (e.g., a writer describes each category, its characteristics, and why particular information belongs in each category). Classification notes, column charts, T-charts, tables and webs can be used to group ideas and information.
2. Signal Words: all, an example of, characterized by, cluster, for instance, group, is often called, looks like, many, mixed in, most, one, part of, the other group, resembles, similarly, sort, typically, unlike, usually.
8. Combined/Multiple Orders
1. Many textbooks and reference materials use many organizational patterns to present information and ideas. Sometimes a single paragraph is organized in more than one way,
   mixing comparison/contrast, cause/effect and order of importance.
2. Tables and webs can be used to illustrate the links among different organizational patterns.
3. Look for the patterns and trends in the signal words.

4. Getting Ready to Read: Anticipation Guide

An anticipation guide is a series of questions that will help guide your reading. When you encounter material that is new to you, an anticipation guide will help you process it. It should activate your prior knowledge and experiences to help you think about the ideas you read about.  Done well, it will encourage you to personally connect with the text in a way that integrates your prior knowledge with the new knowledge gained from the text.

Create your own anticipation guide by writing down the main headings of the text you will be reading. For each heading, create at least one statement you from your previous knowledge and experiences about the topic. Try to anticiapte what the content of the text will be. Then, while reading a text, look for new-to-you information. Reread the statements you created and write new statements that encorporate what you have learned.

For Example:

Citizenship in Canada [this is the heading]

A good citizen always does what the government tells him or her to do. [This might be your statement of belief about the heading]

A good citizen follows the laws of a country, but also knows that as times change, laws should also change to reflect those changes. Sometimes a good citizen brings about changes through respectful resitence of current laws. [This might be your new statement of belief after reading the section]

It is also a good strategy to discuss new information with a classmate. What are your different ideas? To what extent do you agree of disagree with your classmates?

5. Getting Ready to Read: Finding Signal Words

Signal words are sometimes referred to as connectors. In your writing assignments they are referred to as transition words. They are used to link ideas and help the reader follow the flow of information.

Before you read a text, scan it to find signal words (before, after, during, next, during, finally, on top of, next
to, in addition) that indicate the text's structure, link ideas or transition between ideas. Determine the pattern of the text through the signal words. Do they create a sequential reading or are they used to compare and contrast ideas? What context do they provide (time, location, sequence, importance, summary, comparison, contrast)?

When you have finished reading, summarize the information using the signal words you found.

6. Getting Ready to Read: Extending Vocabulary

As you progress through school, you are required to learn increasingly complex texts. Your vocabulary may increase by as much as 2 000 words each year! To help you become more familiar with new words, keep track of them. Your instructor might have a place (such as a glossary) for you to put those words and their definitions. If a place is not provided for you, create one of your own to assist in your learning.

Before reading your text, skim or scan to find new vocabulary words. Skimming means to read quickly – horizontally – through the text to get a general understanding of the content and its usefulness. Scanning means to read quickly – vertically or diagonally – to find single words, facts, dates, names, or details. Often content-specific words will be bolded - pay close attention to those! Write these words in a notebook, on recipe cards, bulletin board or other resource you have. Find the definition and include it in your resource. You may wish to include a diagram or picture that will help define the word.

Directions for skimming:

1. Read the first few paragraphs, two or three middle paragraphs, and the final two or three paragraphs of a piece, trying to get a basic understanding of the information.
2. Some people prefer to skim by reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph, that is, the topic sentences and concluding sentences.
3. If there are pictures, diagrams, or charts, a quick glance at them and their captions may help you to understand the main idea or point of view in the text.
4. Remember: You do not have to read every word when you skim.
5. Generally, move your eyes horizontally (and quickly) when you skim.

Directions for scanning:

1. Knowing your text well is important. Make a prediction about where in a chapter you might find the word, name, fact, term, or date.
2. Note how the information is arranged on a page. Will headings, diagrams, or boxed or highlighted items guide you? Is information arranged alphabetically or numerically as it might be in a telephone book
   or glossary?
3. Move your eyes vertically or diagonally down the page, letting them dart quickly from side to side and keeping in mind the exact type of information that you want. Look for other closely associated words that might steer you towards the detail for which you are looking.
4. Aim for 100% accuracy!

7. Engaging in Reading: Using Context to Find Meaning

Writers use a variety of ways to convey the meaning of unfamiliar words and concepts. These include
definitions, examples, descriptions, illustrations, clarifications, parenthetical notes, comparisons,
elaborations, and typographical cues.

Context refers to the surrounding environment. It may refer to the situation the author was in while writing (time, place, etc.) or to situation the content you are reading is in (the surrounding words or passages).

Here are some clues you can use to determine meaning of context words:

8. Engaging in Reading: Reading Between the Lines (Inferences)

Making inferences from words that are read or spoken is a key comprehension skill. You may miss vital information if you fail to make appropriate inferences.

By making inferences, you can draw meaning from the text - through explicit details and implicit clues. You will be able to connect prior knowledge and experiences to the content of the text in order to make good guesses about what is happening, what may have happened or will happen in the future.

 Explicit details appear right in the text (for example, names, dates, descriptive details, facts). Implicit details are implied by clues in the text. Both of these are also referred to as 'Reading ON the lines". You are more likely to recognize implicit details if they relate to prior knowledge and experiences. Inferences are conclusions drawn from evidence in the text or reasoning about the text. Inferences is referred to as 'Reading BETWEEN the lines'.

While reading a text, make note of your thoughts and guesses about what is happening. You might use any of these sentence starters to organize your thoughts:

• I realize that...
• Based on…I predict that…
• I can draw these conclusions...
• Based on this evidence, I think…

9. Engaging in Reading: Most/Least Important Idea(s) and Information

Distinguishing between the most important details and the least important details will help you focus your learning. 

Determining the main idea(s) in a text is not always a clear, straightforward process. Some or all of the following strategies can help you:

• Activate prior knowledge to help you connect to the information in the text.
• Note the type of text and its typical audience and purpose (e.g., to persuade, to explain, to illustrate).
• Set a clear purpose for the text so that students have common ground for finding the main idea.

Main ideas are often found in first sentences or last sentences in a paragraph, or first and last paragraphs in a chapter.

You may wish to create a T Chart of the details you read in a text. Under one arm of the T, list the most important details; under the other arm, list the less important details. Alternatively, you can highlight the details in different colours to distinguish between them. Whenever possible, share your findings with a classmate. You may not have drawn the same conclusions, but discussing them will enhance your understanding.

10. Engaging in Reading: Sorting Ideas Using a Concept Map

A concept map is a way to visually organize your understanding of information. It is hierarchical in nature, beginning with the subject or topic at the top, middle or side of the page, and then branching into sub-topics and details.

Bubbl.us is a great online concept mapping tool. You may wish to have this website open while reading to help you further your understanding of the content of the text.

Some concept maps use a cascading sheet instead. There are a series of layers to this type. At the top of the map is the main concept; under that is a sentence summarizing the concept; below that are examples, words that connect, and ideas about the context; followed by the meaning of the concept and finally personal connections the reader has made to the concept.

11. Engaging in Reading: Visualizing

Visualizing text is a crucial skill for students because if you can get the picture, often you've got the concept.

If you don’t get those pictures in your head, you may need to think aloud and talk through the ideas in the text,  or ask a fellow student to explain the pictures that come to his or her mind. Visualization can help you to focus, remember, and apply your learning in new and creative situations. It is an invaluable skill in subjects such as Math, Science, and Design & Technology, where understanding spatial relationships can be a key to solving complex problems.

In order to visualize text, you need to understand the concepts of seen text and unseen text.

• Seen text involves everything that can be seen on the page: words, diagrams, pictures, special typographical features.
• Unseen text draws on background knowledge and experiences, and word knowledge as you come across unfamiliar vocabulary.

Learning to visualize takes practice. As you read a text, try to pay attention to what you 'see' in your mind. Some students have described this as the movie that plays in their minds while they read. Make note of these images and if possible, share them with a classmate. Compare your images and ask questions to determine why your images are different.

12. Engaging in Reading: Making Notes

Notes help readers to monitor their understanding and help writers and speakers to organize information
and clarify their thinking. T-Charts, KWL charts, Venn Diagrams, webs, trees, and key-word lists are all great ways to organize your notes as you read.

Asking yourself a few questions after reading a section will help you take good notes. Some effective questions are:

• What part of this section is the most important?
• What does the author want me to know about this topic?
• What did I find really interesting about that part?
• What other questions do I have?

Here are some pointers to note taking:

13. Reacting to Reading: Drawing Conclusions (I Read/I Think/Therefore)

Readers draw conclusions based on the ideas and information that they read from one or more sources. Using a graphic organizer before reading helps to organize thinking during reading in order to analyze, and make inferences and draw conclusions after reading.

Drawing conclusions involves gathering information and deciding what the information means. For example, a report may describe effects on the Trans Canada Highway during the months of July to September  (e.g., more injured wildlife, increased damage to roads, air pollution/smog complaints, visible litter); it may draw a conclusion about the information (increased vacation traffic is a local environmental concern); and it may offer recommendations.

Create a graphic organizer with two columns across the top titled: I Read, I Think, and a row across the bottom titled: Therefore.  

• In column one (I Read), record the relevant information from the text.
• In column two (I Think), record what you know about that information and what you think it means.
• In the bottom row (Therefore), record your conclusion based on all of the information gathered and your prior knowledge.

14. Reacting to Reading: Making Judgements (Both Sides Now)

Readers increase their understanding by reviewing what they have read, reflecting on what they have learned, and asking questions about the significance.

To make judgments, readers ask questions to help them process information, assess the importance and relevance of the information, and apply it in a new context. Evaluating is a skill that readers use when reading and critically thinking about a particular text. Readers make value judgments about the validity and accuracy of the ideas and information, the logic of a writer’s argument, the quality of a writer’s style, the effectiveness of the text organization, the reasonableness of events and actions, and more.

While you are reading any text, make note of any questions that come to mind. Many courses have a forum where you can post questions. Classmates and teachers will read and respond to your question. Also, you may respond to the questions that other students post. Some of these questions can be answered directly from the text, sometimes by making an inference about the reading. Other times the question will be answered using information that is found outside of course material. All of the questions and answers will help you develop a deeper understanding of the material and concepts. A question that is 'on the lines' is one that can be answered within the text, 'among or between the lines' questions can be answered by making inferences, 'beyond the lines' questions are answered by finding information that is not in the text.

Editorials, magazine articles, and reference materials often present one side or viewpoint on a particular
issue, or limit one of the viewpoints. Therefore you may need to read several short selections on
the same issue or topic to fully consider both sides of an issue before making a judg e ment based on the
evidence provided. You can make a T-Chart with the question you have across the top and evidence in support and evidence opposed in the two arms.

Underneath this chart you could make a decision and provide the reasons for the decision you made.