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Reading strategies and why they are helpful
Reading strategies and why they are helpful
Reading strategies essay
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The focal point of Chapter 4 of Successful College Writing is on how to critically read and decipher text and visuals. It highlights the importance of not just looking at the surface of the words, but diving into their true meaning. Authors put every word and picture into their work for a reason, and it is your job to ensure that you do not fall victim to biases and false information. It is crucial to learn how to identify author's tones, opinions, and overall purpose in their writings. Learning how to analyze these patterns will better equip you in acquiring accurate information and also not adopting these deceptive techniques yourself. When reading someone else's work you need to be certain that you read between the lines. Author's, at times, will attempt to distort information in order to make their beliefs more prominent. In order to avoid this disinformation, you have to learn the difference between denotations and connotations and facts from opinions. Furthermore, you'll have to recognize figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, which can incite specific feelings onto readers. …show more content…
For example, if the author provides statistics to prove their case, it's important to check the date, location, etc., of when this data was collected. Just because authors may have an eyewitness, survey, or results from a scientific study, doesn't mean that their data is reliable. Their info may be subjective and therefore, not trustworthy. Moreover, some writings can include broad generalizations, assumptions, and omission of facts. This can mislead you into believing something that is not true which is why you should make your own inferences whilst reading. When making an inference, figure out the author's purpose, take note to the details, address the facts they give, inspect their usage of words, and back your inference with
To quote Ben Jonson,” Weigh the meaning and look not at the words” to put this simply he means do not merely look at what is written literally because often what one is reading is only half of what the author has written. Some authors compose their works, giving the world a thrilling or informative story on the surface, but in actuality their real purpose in writing them is the hidden meanings within or underneath the stories which only those who are truly paying attention will notice and understand. Zone off for just a second and whole world could be missed. Cousteau’s work “How to Swim with Sharks: A Primer” may seem to the inexperienced or uninterested reader an ordinary guide to swimming with sharks, but any who delve deeper will notice
‘Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing’ by Fernsten and Reda is an interesting study how reflective writing practices can be useful for marginalized students, who are struggling with “negative writer self-identity. The possible causes according to Fernsten & Reda are, “issues such as race, class and gender that are marginalized factors for many basic writers”, in addition to the expectations of the dominant academic culture. However, even though Fernsten & Reda illuminated the ‘potential conflicts’ within the academic world, they have failed to provide conclusive evidence that supports their argument regarding their solution. Their reliance on dated research that provides a one sided historical perspective, may no longer accurately reflect current socio/economic issues. In addition, education has been evolving to an inclusive curriculum approach, as immigrated children enter the school system in record numbers. “Persons obtaining legal permanent status in the U.S from the year 2000-2010 are roughly eleven million” (Homeland Security,pg.10/2010). Fernsten & Reda’s confidence of their own limited teaching practices without legitimate comparables from an empirical study leads to their underlying assumptions about the true effectiveness of reflective writing strategies and the causes they believe are associated to a student’s socio/economic background.
Writing has always been a difficult subject for me to tackle throughout my education. I enjoy writing academic essays and rhetorically analyzing in research papers but not personal narratives of any sort. In this class, there was a combination of both, which helped me to continue to grow as a writer. During this semester, I have learned several valuable things in this class and gained a lot of knowledge to use in future academic classes. From different styles of writing, how to analyze images, MLA format, rhetorical analysis, and structuring my writing to an online audience. Even though this class initially seemed to be a difficult task, going through the entire semester beginning to end has helped make writing a more achievable challenge.
First-Year Writing courses provide a common introductory experience in college-level thinking and writing for all students at Wellesley. These courses serve as a launching point for developing advanced writing skills, and students will continue to practice and enhance these skills in work they do across the curriculum throughout their college careers.
Robinson, William S., Stephanie Tucker, and Cynthia G. Hicks. Text and Context: A Contemporary Approach to College Writing. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
As a first time, English student in the university, I begin to understand what writing and literacy means. As I work halfway through out my semester, I have come to read and learn about different situations and meanings in many articles and books. Taking this course allowed me to understand and develop my writing process even further than I did before. As I read these articles, I notice certain aspects that these authors were trying to teach and inform us about. I shall demonstrate and identify what I have learned throughout this semester by creating points below.
...ruly realize the false reality that literature made. The reader also has a huge role into expressing these false realities to the public, which can cause prejudice in the near future. People need to be open and understanding of different people and situations. Perspective plays a huge role into the thinking of a human mind, and readers should be more aware of the information’s brought upon different ways. Readers should not come up with a preconceived idea based upon the beliefs of other people perspective but should experience these different societies.
The writing process is no simple task. From brainstorming, creating an outline, to implementing ideas into a coherent paper requires a strong understanding of the task at hand. Looking back at the classes leading up to first year writing this semester, I can seee were my prior knowledge has proven to be helpful. In Ap language and composition in high school, the writing process began to be something of enjoyment. The most important information was how to identify aspects of a paper that would answer the general question of analysis, “What is the author trying to convey to the reader?” Responding to this question is it important to look at the aspects of writing which including: tone, diction, style, syntax, and word choice. These five aspects
College-bound students are expected to understand as well as apply a specific level of critical thinking/writing that is beyond the high school requirements. Looking back on my written work, it’s easy to see the potential for college level writing, however there were elements that clearly needed improvement. The habits you have is what separates high school from college. Therefore, I know that I would not have been as adequately prepared for this level of writing coming straight from high school and entering college. The break from school during the fall semester would be the first time that I didn’t have a teacher telling me to read, write an essay, summarize, etc. During this time off, reading became a huge part of my routine thus allowed me to fine-tune my critical writing skills. The thought process you have while reading directly affects your writing. I wasn’t reading to retain information with the end goal of writing a summary. However, I was rhetorically analyzing as I read. While reading the article, there were a variety of thoughts as well as feelings that I went through. Confident in all aspects of critical thinking and habits of the
Having attended high school for the past four years many of us have accomplished the act of analyzing articles and books as well as writing many papers to the extent of our abilities. High school english was meant to prepare us for college courses. High school introduced the five paragraph format and many organizational methods so that we could have strength and stability while writing papers at a college level. It also taught us how to analyze and annotate written articles, books and poems. Little did we know that those methods were only our training wheels. Once we start writing in college we are forced to think outside the box and not on a specific format. More importantly we are to focus on researching a specific topic and writing about
This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I have. Strangely enough, I?ve found the college English experience to be much more rewarding and enjoyable than in high school.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
Writing in college can be very intimidating. Every teacher that you have has a different style and way that they would like you to write and present your essay. I never thought I was a good writer until last semester when I met my English 098 teacher. She showed me that I did have pretty good writing skills for being out of school for thirteen years.
We all have strengths and challenges in our writing process. My challenges are coming up with an idea to write about. I feel that I have lack of confidence in writing. My strengths would be that I am a perfectionist. I always want things just right.
Kiniry, Malcolm, and M. Rose, eds. Critical Strategies for Academic Thinking and Writing, 3rd Ed. Boston, MA: St. Martin’s, 1998. Print.