18.7: After Reading

In this stage of the cycle, reflect on what you have read. Review your notes and annotations. If you have not already done so, start a reading journal to keep track of the new ideas you learn from your reading.  After-reading tasks are about understanding first, then analyzing. First, you must objectively and accurately summarize the text, outlining to more thoroughly comprehend the entire reading selection. Second, you must generate and communicate your own conclusions or connections or original insights (those light bulb moments called “inferences”). Third, engage in discussion about your reading. 

Strategy: The Reading Journal

A reading journal is a notebook in which you record your responses to what you read.   A reading journal can contain several different kinds of reactions, but the following are all particularly effective: 

•                A summary of what you learned 

•                Your feelings about ideas or information 

•                The reasons why you agree or disagree with the author 

•                An explanation of how your own experiences either support or disprove the information  • Questions you have about the information 

•                A comparison of the information with other authors’ writings on the topic 

A reading journal can be a very valuable tool not only for improving reading comprehension but also for stimulating critical thinking and for generating ideas for your own papers. Responding in writing also helps to clarify what you have learned about the topic. Often, you do not really know exactly what you think about a topic until you sit down and try to put your ideas into words. The act of finding language for your thoughts helps you understand what you know and what you believe about the topic, especially those with which you are unfamiliar.

Strategy: Summarizing 

This is an “after reading” strategy. At the end of each section, pause to summarize the main points in a few sentences. Put them in your own words and condense them. Do not try to include all of the details, just the most important points. The true measure of your comprehension is how well you can restate it in words that are your own.  Note that the Cornell note-taking strategy includes a “summary” section.

Strategy: Outlining 

Outlining can be a “during” or "after” reading strategy. Outlines not only list the major and minor details of a reading selection, but they also reveal the relationships among those details. You can use a Roman numeral outline, but the notes are usually for your eyes only, so you could also adopt or create a more informal system. No matter what kind of outline you use, though, make sure that it clearly demonstrates the general and specific relationships among the ideas. Be aware that you use this same strategy when you outline your own essays.

Strategy: Making Inferences

Making inferences is a comprehension strategy used by proficient readers to “read between the lines,” make connections, and draw conclusions about the text’s meaning and purpose. You already make inferences all of the time. For example, imagine you go over to a friend’s house and they point at the sofa and say, “Don’t sit there, Cindy came over with her baby again.” What could you logically conclude (or infer)? Right away, you were given a command, and you assume that there must be a reason not to sit where your friend is pointing. Next, the reason not to sit there is related to the fact that Cindy just visited with her baby. You don’t know what exactly happened, but you DO know what babies often do: they drool, they drop Cheerios, they spit up –or worse! So you can make an inference and don’t need to ask any more questions to know that you do not want to sit there.

To make inferences from reading, take two or more details from the reading and see if you can draw a conclusion. Remember, making an inference is not just making a wild guess. You need to make a judgment that can be supported, just as, based on a friend’s comment about Cindy’s baby, you could reasonably infer that sitting in a seat recently occupied by a baby might be messy, but not reasonably infer that the seat is wobbly or unstable, even though both would technically be a “guess.”

Strategy: Discussing

This strategy certainly is an “after reading” strategy, but it can also be used before and during reading. The important point here is to not read in a vacuum. Look for opportunities to discuss the reading with your classmates. You may have discussions as a whole class, in small groups, online discussion forums, or blogs specifically. Looking for your own opportunities with friends or family to discuss what you are learning will improve your comprehension. Participating in these discussions can help you determine whether your understanding of the main points is the same as your peers’.  Participate in class discussions about reading selections and suggest to your classmates that you discuss texts more informally as well. By talking about what you read with others, you will confirm your understanding of the text. Also, you will get the opportunity to compare your reactions with those of other critical readers. These conversations will help all of you decide if the text is valid.