Talk to the Text

What is Talk to the Text?

As you read documents in this book, please read them actively. Please demonstrate this by talking to the text with a printed copy of the reading.  (This will often be an assignment worth points. )

Basically, this strategy is to engage actively with what you’re reading and do that by reading a chunk (a section, a paragraph, a sentence or even part of one), then using a pen or pencil and marking things and writing in the margins.  Below are suggestions.

• Underline key terms.

• Circle unfamiliar words.  Keep reading to see if you’ll understand by context, but if you don’t understand look it up later.

• Bracket a main idea or thesis and put an asterisk next to it.
• Write in the margins.  Here are some ideas:
  • Write what you know about something already or think you may know, if you have some prior knowledge. “I know the author also wrote… or did…”  Or, I think this is about…    You don’t have to be “right.
  • Take a guess at the meaning of a word you’re not sure about and write it down. Look it up later if you can’t gain the meaning from context.  (Context means reading what came before and after that can help you understand a word, sentence or passage.)
  • Summarize a key idea: Answer the question “what it says” and try to be brief and use your own words!
  • Where are you confused? Mark the spot and write what you’re confused about.
  • Make your own Headers — key words to help you find where a topic is covered.
  • Briefly write what the text does: For example: Reason 1, Reason 2.
  • Mark a particularly good quote you may be able to use later as evidence with a Q for Quote or E for evidence.
  • Put an exclamation point by what you agree with or a short comment like Yes!
  • Write your disagreements: “But what about….”
  • Think of an example and jot it down.
  • Make Connections:
    • What’s an analogy you can think of that helps you understand a concept or explanation?
    • How does what you’re reading relate to another situation (your life, today’s world, another place in the world)?
    • “This makes me think of…”
    • “This makes me feel…”
    • “This reminds me of…”
    • “I wonder…”
  • Reflect:
    • Create a quiz question for yourself to answer.  Answer it in your words.
    • Write a short reflection.
    • What else do you wonder about the topic that isn’t covered?