Expectations for College Writing

2c Read actively.

Your instructors expect you to be an active reader—to offer informed opinions on what readings say. Stating your opinion doesn’t require you to be negative or combative, just engaged with the class and the text. The following strategies will help you read actively:

Note the name of the author and the date and place of publication; these items can give you clues to the writer’s purpose and intended audience.
Understand the overall content of a piece well enough to summarize it (12c).
Formulate critical questions about the text, and bring these questions up in class.
Understand each sentence, and make direct connections between sentences and paragraphs. Keep track of repeated themes or images, and figure out how they contribute to the entire piece.
Note the author’s attitude toward and assumptions about the topic. Then you can speculate on how the attitude and assumptions may have affected the author’s thinking.
Note the writer’s sources: what evidence does the writer rely on, and why?
Distinguish between the author’s stance and the author’s reporting on the stances of others. Watch for key phrases an author uses to signal an opposing argument: while some have argued that, in the past, and so on.
Go beyond content to notice organizational patterns, use of sources, and choice of words.
Consider annotating your readings, especially if they are very important (12b). Make notes in the margins that record your questions, challenges, or counter-examples to the text.
If the readings are interactive—that is, if they allow you to post a comment—take advantage of this opportunity to get your voice into the conversation.