Summa Cum Laude

Every use to which we can put a source is based on our ability to understand it. Without understanding we can do nothing, and so understanding must be our very first goal as a critical reader. The steps in reading to understand can be summarized as follows:

• Identify the author’s purpose. This will likely be to inform or to argue.
• Identify the author’s intended audience. The text will be written with particular readers in mind. Determine if we are the intended audiences.
• Locate the author’s main point. Every competently written text has a main point that we should be able to express in our own words.
• Understand the strusture of the text. If the author is arguing, locate the main point and supporting points. If the author is presenting information, locate the main point and identify the stages into which the presentation has been divided.
• Identify as carefully as possible what we do not understand.

When we know that we must base later writing on a source we are reading, we should consciously adopt a system for reading to understand. There are many systems you can follow, but each commonly entails reading in three stages:

1. Preview. Skim the text, reading quickly both to identify the author’s purpose and to recall what we know about the topic.
2. Read. Read with pen in hand, making notes about the content and the structure of the text. Stop periodically to monitor our progress.
3. Review. Skim the text a second time to consolidate our notes. Jot down questions and hightlight especially important passages.