To fully comprehend what is read, you need to do more than just read the words on your computer. You have to keep your mind involved in what you are reading. This is called active reading.
What is Active Reading?
Active reading is strategies done while reading that help increase what you understand. You need to think about what you are reading while you are reading it.
Steps to Active Reading
| Identify topic | The first thing that you should do is identify the overall topic. What is the theme? |
| Specify topic | After you find the overall topic, you need to decide on the specific ideas that the author is writing about. What is the reading specifically about? |
| Take notes | While you read, take notes! What are you reading? What are some key words? What are the main ideas? |
| Make a hypothesis | A hypothesis is an educated guess. As you are reading, think about the overall topic and what you have read. What do you think will happen next? |
| Ask questions | Lastly, ask yourself questions about what you are reading. How does what I just read affect the overall story or topic? What is the purpose of this paragraph, sentence, or word? Why is this in the paragraph? Is this an important detail? |
Let’s Practice
Now, let’s use the steps of active reading with this article from Wikipedia about Spiderman:
Spider-Man is a fictional character, a comic book superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). Lee and Ditko conceived the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and as a teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of adolescence in addition to those of a costumed crimefighter. Spider-Man's creators gave him super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, shoot spider-webs using devices of his own invention which he called "web-shooters", and react to danger quickly with his "spider-sense", enabling him to combat his foes.
| Identify topic | Spiderman |
| Specify topic | The specific topic is Spiderman: who created the comic and basic information about the character. |
| Take notes | Created in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko / Is a superhero / Raised by aunt and uncle / Spider powers are strength, speed, senses danger, and can shoot web |
| Make a hypothesis | The next paragraph might be about Spiderman’s life |
| Ask questions | Who is Stan Lee? What is Amazing Fantasy #15? What does ‘adolescence’ mean? Why does Spiderman fight crime? What does a web-shooter look like and how did he invent it? |
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