Previewing a text

• Where have you encountered the work? Are you encountering it in its original context? For example, an essay in a collection of readings may have been previously published in a magazine; a speech you watch on YouTube may have been delivered to a live or televised audience; a painting on a museum wall may have been created for a wealthy patron in a distant country centuries earlier.

• What can you infer from the context (or contexts) of the work about its intended audience and purpose?

• What information can you discover about the author or creator of the text?

• What purpose, expertise, and possible agenda might you expect this person to have? Where do you think the author or creator is coming from in this text?

• What do you know about the subject of the text?

• What opinions do you have about the subject, and on what are your opinions based?

• What would you like to learn about the subject?

• What do you expect the main point to be? Why?

• What does the title (or caption or other heading) indicate?

• What do you know about the medium in which the work appears? Is it a web text, a printed advertising brochure, a speech stored in iTunes, or an animated cartoon on television? What role does the medium play in achieving the purpose and connecting to the audience?

• What is the genre of the text—and what can it help illuminate about the intended audience or purpose? Why might the authors or creators have chosen this genre?

• How is the text presented? What do you notice about its formatting, use of color, visuals or illustrations, overall design, general appearance, and other design features?