<p>After reading an article, prose or book, a capable and intelligent reader is expected to be able to do the following (not exclusive):</p>
<p>Recognizing main idea
Drawing conclusions
Recognizing author’s purpose, tone, approach, and point of view
Recognizing mood
Distinguishing between fact and opinion
Generalizing</p>
<p>I lack a solid foundation on any of these as a college student. I wasn’t taught to do them in K-12 and I never read a book annually on my own when I was K-12 (excluding the books required by school classes). Most of the time, I can’t state the main idea of what I read. So I’m turning to dear parents for advice on how to obtain these skills. I doubt it’s something that can be naturally gained by just reading a lot (or is it?). I’ve recently started making it a habit to read the Economist weekly and some books daily to eventually gain these abilities, but it doesn’t seem to be working, because no one is standing by my side to go over what the main idea, author’s purpose, etc. are and I can’t figure those out by myself without any guide.</p>
<p>One thing that worries me is the saying that it’s very hard (some sources said even impossible) to obtain these kinds of reading skills after you pass a certain age range (approximately between kindergarten and grade 5) because it has something to do with development of the human mind. Is this a truth or myth?</p>
<p>Rather than attempting to analyze a book or article in a vacuum, why don’t you try discussing the book or article with a couple of other people who have also read it? That’s the principle (and fun) of book clubs. Discussing what you have just read helps to organize your thoughts, gives you good practice in articulating a viewpoint, and increases your analytical abilities. Then try rereading the material with the above goals in mind.</p>
<p>“One thing that worries me is the saying that it’s very hard (some sources said even impossible) to obtain these kinds of reading skills after you pass a certain age range (approximately between kindergarten and grade 5) because it has something to do with development of the human mind. Is this a truth or myth?”</p>
<p>Myth.</p>
<p>You can develop those skills at any age. Just start reading and don’t worry about your list. It will come with time.</p>
<p>First, don’t constrain yourself by thinking that you can’t do this. While language acquisition is something that is dependant upon age (yet another reason for schools to offer languages other than English at a very EARLY age!), I don’t believe that you can’t improve reading skills later in life. First, don’t restrict yourself to reading dry, dull articles! Read things which interest you and which you find engaging. If you find books too long, then try short stories or magazines, on-line articles or newspapers. If you want to read a book but can’t face something long, do look in the YA (Young Adult) section of the library; there are plenty of great things there and some wonderful science fiction! Go to your local library and see what resources are available to you- talk to the librarians. They won’t judge you, they’re delighted to have people read and will do all they can to guide you. Joining a book group or discussion circle is great idea. Usually they will meet- virtual or even on-line (there is one here on CC, look within this same Forum to find it)- to discuss specific chapters and there are no rights or wrongs.
On many campuses, there are services offered to students who need help in various areas,and I know that reading comprehension is one of them. Sure it may not be the easiest thing to walk in there, but if they can help, it’s worth it. A facility I am familiar with has several Reading Specialists on staff and they are trained to work with you on exactly what you have written about. They are permitted to work with your profs to tie their assistance in with the coursework assigned to you which can lead to increased confidence on your part and better grades too.
From the way you have written, I think you are not giving yourself enough credit, but the fact that you realize there is a problem and that you are seeking to find ways to improve your abilities is a major plus. If you’d like to PM me and let me know where you go to school and your major, I may be able to direct you to the proper office on your campus. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m sure you can pick up those skills at any point in life. I don’t think my kids were taught to do this stuff in school in any very useful way. They just read a lot. Huge amounts of sci fi and fantasy and older son read books about math and computer programming while younger son read a lot of military history.</p>
<p>Try reading for pleasure. Then go find some people to talk about those books. Book clubs, blogs, amazon reviews whatever.</p>
<p>I don’t think The Economist is the best choice for developing the reading skills you wish to develop. It’s too complex and advanced (better for a little later). Try reading The New York Times–shorter and more varied articles. Read what interests you and then try to employ one of the skills you mention for each article. Time magazine might also be good.</p>
<p>I grew up reading two daily newspapers, Time, and Reader’s Digest. I read all of those from 6th grade till college. If you read a good newspaper every day (as much of it as you can), you will develop the skills you are seeking. I also read a lot of books, especially in the summer. </p>
<p>Are you currently taking English classes? Is there a reading or English study center at your college? If you could develop a relationship with a kind English professor or grad student, you would have someone to discuss these skills with.</p>
<p>These are skills we introduce very early in elementary grades and continue to reinforce every day, every year, often starting with main idea. They certainly are skills that you would be able to learn, but they may not be as intuitive. Listening to certain “talk radio programs” or reading the nytimes book review will help you understand certain aspects, or analytic literature, like purpose, POV, tone, mood. Some other areas are probably things you do already, like drawing conclusions, and main idea. And I’m assuming you know the difference between fact and opinion.</p>
<p>If interested, you might consider joining a book club. Your library may offer something like that. Many communities also provide author’s night, or book talks. If you’re serious about expanding your understanding of literature, you can find plenty of ways to do that.</p>
<p>I think you are far from alone. Learning to extract the main idea, supporting ideas, analysis of content, etc. is very, very hard for many students, even college students. </p>
<p>I used to work on this with my D when she was a junior in HS. She was in a very challenging history class where she had tons of reading. She was very diligent about doing the nightly reading but was not able to really analyze and internalize what she had read. It was the first time she was expected to do more than regurgitate the material and she had trouble making the connections between historical events if it wasn’t spelled out in the text. It was a college text and she wasn’t used to reading between the lines and extracting meaning. It was something she had to learn. </p>
<p>I think this is a hump that many students have difficulty getting over. I see students lining everything with their highlighters as they read, which I think is a mistake. I think it is better to read small portions and then reflect on what you have read. Write in the margins. Ask questions of the text, respond with your own thoughts. To be truly effective, you need to think of reading as an interactive activity.</p>
<p>Idea for you (New Year’s resolution time!):
Make yourself a worksheet with the comprehension skills you listed in your first post.
Pick two articles from the newspaper each day, one an editorial, so that would be an opinion piece, and one a news article.
Analyze the two articles and fill out the worksheets.
If you do this every day, in a few months you will see real progress.</p>
<p>When you are analyzing a piece of writing, there isn’t always just one, simple correct answer. You have to learn to develop these skills yourself. For example, read an opinion piece on the editorial page each day. Then write down what you think is the main idea, what is the author’s purpose, what is the author’s point of view. If there is a reading center at your college, take in a couple of the articles and your comments and ask the person there to review with you.</p>
<p>If you ask at your college library, there are also books that can help you with this. You are looking for information on understanding and interpreting literature and nonfiction.</p>
<p>You might also want to come up with a list of questions that will help you develop the skills you need.</p>
<p>For example, who is the audience? What is the purpose of the author? (Is he/she trying to inform, persuade, stir up a specific emotion?) What does the author draw upon to achieve his/her purpose? (Facts? Stories? Appeal to feeling?)</p>
<p>Watch the MacNeil Lehrer News Hour and compare it to a major network’s news show. What are the differences in approach? How are they hoping to keep the attention of their audience?</p>
<p>Think about these types of questions as you read or listen to the media.</p>
<p>Todpose: you say this: “Most of the time, I can’t state the main idea of what I read.”</p>
<p>I’d start there. Not everything has a single main idea. In fact, very few things have a single main idea. What is the main idea of what <em>you</em> wrote? I expect that you’d find some disagreement. It could be: “I don’t have good reading comprehension.” It could also be: “I need help to develop better reading comprehension.” Or even: “My high school teachers were incompetent.” </p>
<p>Instead of trying to find a single “right” answer to the questions you raise, I’d suggest you try to find as many answers as possible to each of the questions. I think in creating those answers, you will find your understanding of what you read increases.</p>
<p>You mention distinguishing fact from opinion. You need to understand that facts, while theoretically immutable, can change. The fact “George Bush is president” changed last January; however, it would be fact in any article written from January of 2001 to January of 2009. Examine the context of statements that are presented as fact. Look for the assumptions on which they are based.</p>
<p>When you’re reading a local newspaper, look for the main idea is by reading one paragraph at a time. Write notes on the side (called annotating). It’s true that a single main idea may not come from reading a multi-paragraph essay, or even a multi-sentence paragraph, but you should be able to come up a main idea within a paragraph. It’s not necessarily summarized in one sentence for you. By compiling, you are inferring some ideas. It’s like the folk tale about the blind men who came across an elephant: 1 said it had tree trunks (the legs), 1 said it was like a crocodile (he was touching its rough hide), 1 said it was like a snake (he was touching its trunk), 1 said it was soft as a feather (its ears), and 1 said it was a a long reed of grass (its tail). The main idea is that it was an elephant (something you infer) and the parts are known as supporting details.</p>
<p>The difference between fact and an opinion is simple: facts are prove-able. There may be certain words that sound like “proof” but aren’t. Example: I am 55 years old (fact), but many people say I look much younger (opinion). No one disagrees with the fact about my age, but my son and my husband may have differing ideas about how young I look. Even saying, “many people” is an opinion. Your idea of what constitutes ‘many people’ can be different from mine.</p>