Establishing Connections

When you make connections, you identify relationships among details that you observe. You look for what your observations might have in common, and you ask how your observations relate to one another. Perhaps a writer uses similar kinds of examples. Or perhaps he or she includes repeated references to science or to popular television shows.

As you make connections among observations, you discover how one example is related to another. You also discover how one paragraph is related to another, and you realize how one part of a passage is related to the other parts. In making these kinds of connections, you will more fully understand what the author says, and you will be better able to interpret his or her use of information.

As you read and make observations, ask yourself just how the details you observe can be connected. These observations and connections help you see how the author organizes material. Understanding a writer’s organization helps you understand his or her ideas.