2.5: Questioning
- Use questioning as a reading strategy
Being an active reader means that you should be actively thinking about and interacting with the text you read, as if it were a conversation. Just like a conversation includes a back and forth dialogue between two speakers, when you read a text, there should be a dialogue between you and the author. Imagine that you were in an argument with a friend. While they speak, you’d be thinking about what they are saying while also formulating a response in your own mind, or thinking of questions to counter the things they are saying. When you read, you similarly want to think of it as a conversation, where you think about what the author is saying while developing your own thoughts and questions about what you read. Asking questions is an excellent way to think critically about a text and to be an engaged reader.
Before Reading
Before beginning to read, you may ask:
- What is your purpose for reading?
- What do you predict the text will be about?
- How do you feel about the topic?
- What biases might you have about the topic because of your feelings towards it?
- What do you already know or think you know about the topic?
- What do you need to know about the topic?
- What do you want to know about the topic?
- What do you predict the text will tell you about the topic?
During Reading
While you read, you may construct questions using one of these six basic question types:
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
- How
For example, you might ask:
What does the author mean by _____?
How does this relate to _____?
Why is this _______?
Or you may make statements such as:
I don’t understand_____.
I was confused by _____.
After Reading
After reading, ask questions to help you process and reflect on the material.
- What did you learn?
- Is there anything that was unclear? Write down some guide questions and go back and reread difficult passages with these questions in mind.
- Did you find what you needed? If not, what else do you need to know?
- Did you find the author’s style persuasive? Why or why not?
- Do you agree with what you read? Why or why not?
- How does what you read compare to other things you’ve read on this topic?
- What ideas stuck with you? Which ones do you want to investigate more?
This video gives an overview of the types of questions you should ask while reading.
You can view the transcript for “Questioning” here (opens in new window) .
Contributors and Attributions
- Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
- Questioning. Provided by : Excelsior Online Reading Lab. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-before-reading/questioning/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
- Image of man reading. Authored by : Peter. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/qFuqQ . License : CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives