Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking

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When you write in college, you pose questions, explore ideas, and engage in scholarly debates and conversations. To join in those conversations, you will analyze and respond to texts, evaluate other writers’ arguments, and put forth your own ideas.

When you write about a text, you will need to read it several times to discover its meaning. The best way to become a good writer is to become a good reader. The following strategies may help you get started.

How to read actively

Mark up the text, ask questions, and interact with the text to really understand it.

Guidelines for actively reading a written text

Guidelines for actively reading an image or a multimodal text

Annotated article

Annotated multimodal text (Equal Exchange advertisement)

Annotated multimodal text (McDonald’s advertisement)

Annotated web page

How to outline a text

Identify the main idea and major parts—a text’s thesis and argument—to understand a text.

Outlining a written text

Outlining an image or a multimodal text

How to summarize a text

Capture the main points of the text in your own words.

Summarizing a written text

Summarizing an image or a multimodal text

How to analyze a text

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Form a judgment of what the text means and how it conveys its main idea.

Analyzing a written text

Analyzing an image or a multimodal text

Writing guide: Analysis essay

How to speak confidently

Organize your ideas for an oral presentation.

Preparing a presentation

Delivering the presentation

Remixing a paper for a presentation