The College of Saint Rose Writing Center, 2011

Reading Comprehension
When writing a summary, research paper, or an analysis, your process begins with reading. You cannot write a solid paper unless you feel confident in your comprehension of the assigned text. Since every author has his/her own style of writing, it can be difficult to decipher the meaning behind his/her words. These are some tips to help with reading comprehension: 1. Read the article paragraph by paragraph or the book page by page. It helps to read the text more than once (sometimes more than twice) in order to really cement the ideas in your head. 2. Read aloud to yourself. You may feel silly, but this will force you to read every word. When reading silently we often skim and miss important words. 3. Highlight or underline the topic sentences of the paragraphs. A topic sentence is usually located at the beginning of a paragraph. It provides the reader with a general statement regarding the main point or general overview of that paragraph. 4. Write down the main point the author is trying to make for each paragraph. It helps if you write it directly on the text so you can go back and look at your notes when referencing specific information. 5. Circle any vocabulary words you don’t know. Try and see if you can understand the meaning of the word within its context. If not, look it up right away! Choose the definition that fits the context of the word. 6. Locate any interesting facts and quotations and write them down. Why are they significant? What point are they supporting? 7. Distinguish between the statements of fact and opinion found within the text. Highlight facts in one color and opinions in another. How does the author use facts to support his/her opinion? 8. Ask yourself: What is the author’s intent or purpose for writing this text? Is he/she trying to argue a point? Compare and contrast