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2nd Year General Strategies For Reading

The document outlines general strategies for reading comprehension, emphasizing the importance of modeling, practice, and feedback for students. Key strategies include using prior knowledge, predicting, identifying main ideas, questioning, making inferences, and visualizing. It also describes different reading styles—skimming, scanning, and in-depth reading—along with a step-by-step guide for effectively reading scientific articles.

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22 views4 pages

2nd Year General Strategies For Reading

The document outlines general strategies for reading comprehension, emphasizing the importance of modeling, practice, and feedback for students. Key strategies include using prior knowledge, predicting, identifying main ideas, questioning, making inferences, and visualizing. It also describes different reading styles—skimming, scanning, and in-depth reading—along with a step-by-step guide for effectively reading scientific articles.

Uploaded by

aicha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ENGLISH4 ____________________ 2ND YEAR BSC

General Strategies for Reading Comprehension


The process of comprehending text begins before children can read, when someone reads a
picture book to them. They listen to the words, see the pictures in the book, and may start to
associate the words on the page with the words they are hearing and the ideas they represent.

In order to learn comprehension strategies, students need modeling, practice, and feedback. The
key comprehension strategies are described below.

Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing


When students preview text, they tap into what they already know that will help them to
understand the text they are about to read. This provides a framework for any new information
they read.

Predicting
When students make predictions about the text they are about to read, it sets up expectations
based on their prior knowledge about similar topics. As they read, they may mentally revise their
prediction as they gain more information.

Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization


Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires that students determine what is important
and then put it in their own words. Implicit in this process is trying to understand the author’s
purpose in writing the text.

Questioning
Asking and answering questions about text is another strategy that helps students focus on the
meaning of text. Teachers can help by modeling both the process of asking good questions and
strategies for finding the answers in the text.

Making Inferences
In order to make inferences about something that is not explicitly stated in the text, students must
learn to draw on prior knowledge and recognize clues in the text itself.

Visualizing
Studies have shown that students who visualize while reading have better recall than those who
do not (Pressley, 1977). Readers can take advantage of illustrations that are embedded in the
text or create their own mental images or drawings when reading text without illustrations.

Reading styles
There are three different styles of reading academic texts: skimming,
scanning, and in-depth reading. Each is used for a specific purpose.

Skimming
Skimming means to read a page or handout - skip read - by reading
the headings and first sentences of each paragraph or section. It
usually takes three forms: Preview, Overview and Review.
ENGLISH4 ____________________ 2ND YEAR BSC

Scanning
Scanning differs from skimming in that you do not deal with all of the
content, but search through the material for a specific purpose or a
specific word (or its synonym):

• finding the answer to a question

• seeking an appropriate quotation reference or statement

• locating names in a directory, words in a dictionary, prices in a catalogue, etc.

When you scan, you cover only as much of the content as is


necessary to accomplish your purpose.

In-depth reading
In-depth (or detail) reading is the most involved and essential. The
purpose of this style is to understand the concepts and arguments
that the text contains. It should be done after skimming the text.
Reading a Scientific Article
Attempting to read a scientific or scholarly research article for the first time may
seem overwhelming and confusing. This guide details how to read a scientific article
step-by-step. First, you should not approach a scientific article like a textbook—
reading from beginning to end of the chapter or book without pause for reflection or
criticism. Additionally, it is highly recommended that you highlight and take notes as
you move through the article. Taking notes will keep you focused on the task at hand
and help you work towards comprehension of the entire article.

1. Skim the article. This should only take you a few minutes. You are not trying
to comprehend the entire article at this point, but just get a basic overview.
You don’t have to read in order; the discussion/conclusions will help you to
determine if the article is relevant to your research. You might then continue
on to the Introduction. Pay attention to the structure of the article, headings,
and figures.

2. Grasp the vocabulary. Begin to go through the article and highlight words
and phrases you do not understand. Some words or phrases you may be able
to get an understanding from the context in which it is used, but for others you
may need the assistance of a medical or scientific dictionary. Subject-specific
dictionaries available through our Library databases and online are listed
below.

3. Identify the structure of the article and work on your comprehension.


Most journals use an IMRD structure: An abstract followed by Introduction,
Methods, Results, and Discussion. These sections typically contain
conventional features, which you will start to recognize. If you learn to look for
these features you will begin to read and comprehend the article more quickly.
ENGLISH4 ____________________ 2ND YEAR BSC

o The abstract gives a quick overview of the article. It will usually contain
four pieces of information: purpose or rationale of study (why they did
it); methodology (how they did it); results (what they found); conclusion
(what it means). Begin by reading the abstract to make sure this is
what you are looking for and that it will be worth your time and effort.

o The introduction gives background information about the topic and


sets out specific questions to be addressed by the authors. You can
skim through the introduction if you are already familiar with the paper’s
topic.

o The methods section gives technical details of how the experiments


were carried out and serves as a “how-to” manual if you wanted to
replicate the same experiments as the authors. This is another section
you may want to only skim unless you wish to identify the methods
used by the researchers or if you intend to replicate the research
yourself.

o The results are the meat of the scientific article and contain all of the
data from the experiments. You should spend time looking at all the
graphs, pictures, and tables as these figures will contain most of the
data.

o Lastly, the discussion is the authors’ opportunity to give their opinions.


Keep in mind that the discussions are the authors’ interpretations and
not necessarily facts. It is still a good place for you to get ideas about
what kind of research questions are still unanswered in the field and
what types of questions you might want your own research project to
tackle. (See the Future Research Section of the Research Process for
more information).

4. Read the bibliography/references section. Reading the references or


works cited may lead you to other useful resources. You might also get a
better understanding of the basic terminology, main concepts, major
researchers, and basic terminology in the area you are researching.

5. Reflect on what you have read and draw your own conclusions. As you
are reading jot down any questions that come to mind. They may be
answered later on in the article or you may have stumbled upon something
that the authors did not consider. Here are some examples of questions you
may ask yourself as you read:

o Have I taken time to understand all the terminology?


o Am I spending too much time on the less important parts of this article?
o Do I have any reason to question the credibility of this research?
o What specific problem does the research address and why is it
important?
o How do these results relate to my research interests or to other works
which I have read?
ENGLISH4 ____________________ 2ND YEAR BSC

6. Read the article a second time in chronological order. Reading the article
a second time will reinforce your overall understanding. You may even start to
make connections to other articles that you have read on this topic.

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