Reading and Analyzing

Before you can write an effective essay, you must know how to read and analyze a text.

Benefits of Careful Reading

• If you read closely, you’ll be able to determine the strategies the writer uses to argue his or her case, create fictional scenes, or present information.

• Reading closely not only helps you understand a text better but also helps you pinpoint ideas and details that you can use to develop your argument in an essay.

• If an exam presents you with a passage from a text, or if a teacher assigns a text to read for class, read closely by flagging relevant pages or underlining key parts.

The Writer’s Use of Language

Good writers use language carefully and deliberately. The specific choices writers make can reveal their attitudes, purposes, strategies, and meanings. When you read, pay attention to:

• Word choice: Does the writer use concrete or abstract nouns? Monosyllabic or polysyllabic words? Are there a lot of words you don’t know? The words writers choose can tell you a lot about them and what they intend with their work.

• Syntax: Are the sentences short, long, or a combination of both? Are they dense or do they present just one idea each? Consider how sentence structure adds to or takes away from the writer’s subject.

• Figurative language: Does the writer use any similes or metaphors? What effect do they have on you as a reader? Do they clarify the ideas in the text or complicate them?

The Writer’s Argument

To understand a writer’s argument, you should evaluate all the things you yourself take into consideration when constructing an essay. Make notes in the margin as you read and pay special attention to:

• Reasons: Are they convincing? How is the writer trying to reach you—through logic, character, or emotion?

• Evidence: What kinds of details does the writer include—quotations from experts, personal experiences, statistics, or something else? Does the evidence support the reasons and convince you of the writer’s position?

• Introduction: What is the writer’s motive for writing? If the text is just an excerpt from a longer work, can you guess what the motive is from context clues?

• Conclusion: Does the writer draw ideas together in a satisfying way?

Be a Critical Reader

Don’t believe everything you read. To be a critical reader, ask yourself the following questions as you read:

• What’s the writer’s attitude toward the subject? Is it hidden, or is it obvious? Does the presence or absence of attitude work for or against the writer?

• Is the argument convincing? If so, what convinces you? If not, what makes you skeptical? Might other readers be convinced? Why or why not?

• Does the writer acknowledge or ignore the opposite point of view?

• Does the writer want you to have an emotional reaction? What details or words might elicit an emotional response?

• Does the writer have an agenda? Does he or she support a particular religious or political group, or is he or she targeting a specific audience? Questioning a writer is a way of “reading between the lines.”