Conversing with a text—or talking back to a text and its author—helps you move beyond your initial notes to draw conclusions about what you’ve read. Perhaps you ask additional questions, point out something that doesn’t make sense and why, or explain how the author’s points suggest wider implications. As you talk back to a text, you look more closely at how the author works through a topic, and you evaluate the author’s evidence and conclusions.

Many writers use a double-entry notebook to converse with a text and its author and to generate insights and ideas. To create one, draw a line down the center of a notebook page. On the left side, record what the author says; include quotations, sentences, and key terms from the text. On the right side, record your own ideas and questions.

To create a digital double-entry notebook, you can use a table or text boxes in a word processing program.

Using sources responsibly: Put quotation marks around words you have copied, and keep an accurate record of page numbers for quotations.