Skills Links

Reading Tips

All students must read actively each night. This is an expectation of the course. That means reading with a pen/pencil and writing in the margin. Underline words you don’t know, ask the author questions, and have a conversation with the text. Underlining and highlighting are not enough - you must record your thoughts, concerns, etc. to fully engage with the text.

Questions to consider when reading:

- How does this text relate to or interact with other texts I have read?

- How does this text impact me?

- How does it fit into a genre?

- How do the characters interact?

- What is the context behind the time and place where the story is set?

- What events in the author's life might have impacted the writer's intent? What is the point of the story?

- What questions do I have about the story?

- What is the conflict within the story?

- Why does the story make me feel a certain way?

- Why does the author make particular choices of style, structure, and tone?

NONFICTION GENERAL ANALYSIS QUESTIONS

The difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction is always universal, while nonfiction is situational.

- Exigence (the situation or need for the discussion)

- What is the topic?

- Why does the piece exist?

- What is the rhetorical situation—which genre is this?

- What mode(s) of discourse is used here, persuasion, narration, exposition, analysis, synthesis, cause-effect, argumentation, ect.?

- What do you usually expect from a text like this? A personal account? Persuasion? Data?

- What is the author’s background?

- Why does this topic or situation matter to the author?

- Why did the author select this genre?

- What is the date and setting of the piece?

Tone (TONE = Purpose: A writer’s purpose is often found after examining the tone of the piece.)

What is the tone of the piece of writing?

Negative: angry, apprehensive, arrogant, bitter, biting, caustic, challenging, confused, condescending, contemptuous, contentious, critical, cynical, defiant, depressing, disappointed, disdainful, elegiac, flippant, foreboding, gothic, inflammatory, hyper-critical, irate, ironic, jaded, lugubrious, macabre, melancholic, mocking, mournful, outraged, patronizing, pedantic, perplexed, pretentious, regretful, remorseful, sad, sardonic, sarcastic, satirical, scornful, serious, skeptical, somber, threatening, vituperative,

Neutral: ambiguous, ambivalent, apathetic, confidential, clinical, detached, didactic, docile, dramatic, evasive, factual, impartial, indignant, indifferent, informative, irreverent, maudlin, moralistic, mystified, naive, nostalgic, objective, ominous, reflective, resigned, restrained, shocking, straightforward, tongue-in-cheek, urgent,

Positive: amused, apologetic, assertive, bantering, candid, compassionate, contented, elegiac, ecstatic, effusive, facetious, fanciful, gentle, happy, humorous, idyllic, inspirational, interested, joyous, laudatory, learned, nostalgic, passionate, poignant, respectful, reverent, scholarly, sentimental, silly, spiritual, sympathetic, whimsical, wistful, wry

Diction

Which words did you look up?

How would you characterize the author’s word choice?

Which words stood out to you? Why?

Audience

*Note: Unlike fiction and drama, the audience for non-fiction is not universal; it is situational.

- Who is the intended reader?

- Who was the immediate audience? (When was the text first read? Where?)

- Who is the secondary audience?

- How do you imagine the immediate audience reacted?

Purpose

- What was the author’s intention?

- Might the text accomplish something the author is unaware of? (By saying one - thing, might the author be saying something else as well?)

Logos

- What is the central contention?

- What claims are made?

- Is the author’s thesis logical?

- What are some major ideas? How are they related?

Ethos

- What does the author do to gain or lose credibility?

- Describe the voice of the speaker?

- Are rhetorical questions used?

- What inferences can you make, based on what is said?

- What assumptions does the author make—by stating them or be omitting them?

- Is a counter-argument considered and defeated?

- Does the author see both sides of the topic?

- Evaluate the sources used as support. Are they credible? How do they reflect the author and her claims?

- How are signal phrases used?

- What point of view is used? Why was this POV selected?

- What claims does the author make?

- How are the author’s claims supported? Personal observation? Quoted secondary sources? Research?

- What is the purpose for each example?

Pathos

- Does the author appeal to readers’ emotions? How?

- Does the author appeal to readers’ self-interests?

Prose

Tone: What is the tone of the piece?

Diction: Where does the author’s word choice add to the text? How is diction used?

Voice: Passive or active?

Are Tropes and/or Schemes present?

Syntax: Examine the author’s sentence structure? Are all sentences complete?

Syntax: Simple (single independent clause) or compound sentences?

Syntax: Complex sentences (two clauses)?

Syntax: Are there periodic sentences (main idea at end: They are determined to escape.)?

Syntax: Are there loose sentences (main idea at the beginning: Home is the warrior.)?

Syntax: Are sentences parallel?

Syntax: Are clauses independent or dependent. How/why are they used?

Structure:

- Essay: Is a thesis stated? Implied?

- Are topic sentences used?

- Paragraph: Does the author’s choice of essay structure fit a purpose? Is there a clear rhetorical function for each paragraph?

- Transitions: Are there discourse markers that tell you where the text is headed?

Description

- Locate imagery (visual, auditory, tactile, or smell) within the text.

Figurative language

- Are Tropes used?

- Are Schemes used?

- Are similes or metaphors used?

Reader Response

Which passage perplexed you?

What does the author do well?

What would you change?

What questions would you ask the author?

Write down the author’s thesis?

Highlight specific words or phrases that you think are important?

Which descriptions did you find interesting?

Which sources were most effective, given the author’s claim?