Reading Strategies

The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Scholars: This year you will learn how to "read deeply." Reading deeply means you read a text not just to know and enjoy what happens in the text--"the what"; this type of reading is a "surface reading." A "deep reader" also understands "the why," the author's individual writing technique. All artists--writers, painters, sculptors, dancers, actors, musicians, etc., have their own special technique. Look at Vincent van Gogh's technique in his famous painting, for example.

Understanding "the why" is reading analytically, using your critical thinking skills by asking questions about the text as you read: main idea, purpose, supporting details, etc. 

Use the following strategy every time you read something. In this way, you will become a more analytical, "deep reader." Your reading comprehension will increase and you will become smarter as a result.

ENC1101: Analysis Activity--Angelou's "Graduation," Walker's "Beauty," and Hurston's "Colored Me"--Review to enhance your knowledge. These points will help with your annotations.

Recall any reading/analysis/note-taking on "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self," "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," and "Graduation." You and your group members will do the following in order to elicit a class discussion or to brainstorm ideas for your Compare/Contrast Analysis Essay. You need not answer every item below. Decide what is appropriate to generate ideas for your papers and/or discussion. Take notes. Help one another understand the similarities and differences among the texts, as well as assist one another in developing possible very specific and focused thesis statements that may need to be qualified (depending on the texts you are comparing and contrasting). For example, Both Hurston and Walker discuss how their "blackness" affected concepts of self and identity at different times in their lives; however, Hurston focuses primarily on race, whereas Walker introduces issues related to beauty. FYI--the "however" clause is what is called a qualification, which means the essays differ slightly in their thematic emphasis.

ENC1101--Read this Interesting Article About the History of Plagues

Click on the following link: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/coronavirus-pandemic-plagues-history.html

Copy and paste into a Word document. Then print out and read/annotate the article.