Employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking.

Reflection and Evidence

Post-Reading Blog Post:

Nguyen Reading, Annotations, and Commentary

Annotations:

Looking at my annotations for Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard, it appears that I read articles critically. By approaching readings critically, I am actively considering how I feel about a text, any questions I may have, and what I do and do not agree with. Reading actively is important because it helps the reader better understand the arguments the author is presenting, this allows readers to form their own opinions instead of simply absorbing the author’s message. You can see me reading actively by looking at my first annotation, “how does this apply to students who don’t read ‘deliberately,’ and what does this author consider deliberate reading?” I begin my annotation by asking how the highlighted sentence applies to various audiences, which challenges the versatility of the text. I follow up with a question that prompts an extension and asks the author to define how the term “deliberately” is used within the piece. By questioning the text, I am able to expand my own opinions about the subject of the article. Due to my critical approach, I tend to annotate areas of the text that appear opinion-based or sections that address possible bias. In this particular article, I also comment on text-to-self connections.  

Overall, my approach to active reading is to be critical; I feel like if I approach the text with questions, I will always be learning something. I tend to mark areas where the author may be speaking with bias or introducing something that may make them biased (such as their age, gender, class, culture, etc.). Before this course, I would mostly highlight phrases for my annotations, however, highlighting is not an active form of reading. This course has taught me how to annotate actively by asking questions, making comments, and making connections. This active reading and annotating has allowed me to break down everything I read on a much deeper level then if I were simply highlighting. By breaking down what I read, I have noticed that it is easier to find bias, patterns, and themes in the writing. Once I have acknowledged all of the aspects of an article, I can form my own opinions. One thing I think I should improve is how I view biases in writing. I tend to discredit any author who introduces bias, however, although it is not factual, the emotional aspects of arguments can be just as compelling.