ENGL 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Thesis Statement, Free Writing
Document Summary
The challenge of reading well is to become conversant rather than reading for the gist. Find the questions rather than just the answers. Find something that doesn"t make sense to you. Overview your subject and pick 1 or 2 points to focus on. Put key passages from readings into conversation with each other. Use an idea or methodology in a reading in order to generate thinking about something else. Gain control of complex ideas on your own rather than needing a teacher to do the work for you. Accept that you need to learn to speak the language of the text and treat reading as a physical as well as a mental activity. We tend to assume that things mean simply or singly, but virtually all words have multiple meanings, and words mean differently depending on the context. Give a reading the benefit of the doubt; assume that the reading is correct and think with the piece.
