Strategies for Reading

In chapter 38 of The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings, it talks about different reading strategies. The first paragraph explains how there are different ways to reading. I thought there was just one, you read and that's that. But reading a newspaper or a cookbook is a lot different than reading a chemistry or history book. The book states, and I agree with this, that before you start reading you should skim the text to get a feel for what you're going to be reading about. For me, it helps me focus on the text a little more and I won't have wondering thoughts. I'll be able to comprehend what I'm reading. The book also states that you should write down your first reactions to the text. I've never done this but I can see how it will help with writing an analysis. I'm not going to lie, when I first saw the word "annotating" I had no idea what it was. When I found out what it meant, I realized I do it all the time when I read for school. It's basically just highlighting and taking notes. I had never heard of the believing and doubting game before. Where you act like you believe everything the author says, and then you doubt everything the author says. I can totally see how that would create new ideas and questions. Thinking about what the text says/does and summarizing are ways to create new ideas, questions, and perspectives also. Some things the book says to consider when analyzing a text are the claim, support for the claim, evenly addressed issues, oustide sources used, and how the author addresses the reader. The book also addresses issues with fallacies. Some things to look out for are ad hominem, bandwagon appeals, begging the question, either-or arguments, false analogies, faulty casuality, hasty generalizations, and slippery slope.