Reading Strategies:
Twenty Thinking Strategies Readers Use to Comprehend Nonfiction Texts
Explore the thinking strategies students need to use before, during, and after reading to improve comprehension of nonfiction selections:
1. Activate Prior Knowledge
2. Adjust Reading Rate/Rereading
3. Ask Questions: Before, During, and After Reading
4. Classify or Categorize Information
5. Compare and Contrast Ideas
6. Distinguish Facts from Opinions
7. Identify and Analyze Text Structure
8. Identify Author’s Purpose: Why Did the Author Write the Selection?
9. Identify Author’s Viewpoint: What Does the Author Think?
10. Identify Main Ideas and Supporting Details
11. Make Inferences and Draw Conclusions
12. Make Generalizations
13. Make and Refine Predictions
14. Paraphrase/Retell
15. Recognize Cause and Effect Relationships
16. Sequence Events
17. Summarize Information
18. Synthesize New Information
19. Use Context Clues to Decipher Unfamiliar Words
20 Visualize Images From Text
1. Activate Prior Knowledge
Readers have personal experiences, knowledge of the world, and previous experiences with text. They bring this prior knowledge to the text to help them understand. Readers connect new information to their existing knowledge base.
Readers activate relevant prior knowledge before, during and after reading. They decide if they need additional information about the topic, format, or language of the text they will be reading. They use their knowledge as a framework for learning new information. Readers add to or change their thinking as they discover new ideas and/or information in their reading.
Prior knowledge is a combination of the reader’s preexisting attitudes, experiences, and knowledge:
  • Attitudes include a reader’s beliefs about themselves as learners/readers, an awareness of their interests and strengths, and their motivation to read a particular text.
  • Experiences include any activities that provided a reader with a base of understanding.
  • Knowledge includes that of the reading process, content, topics, concepts, text structures, text styles, and reading goals.

Questions to help students activate their prior knowledge:
  • What knowledge will help you understand the information in this selection?
  • Which details from the text connected to your life experiences?
  • What background knowledge would help a reader to understand this text?
  • Would you recommend this article to readers? Why? Why not?
  • What connections did you make with the information revealed in this selection?
  • What other selections did this article remind you of? (Text-to-Text Connections)
  • What personal connections did you make with the information?
  • What did you learn about the world from this article?
  • Where would you find additional information for the topic of this article?
  • Based on the topic, what information would you expect to read in this selection?
  • What details did you add to your knowledge of this topic based on this article?
  • How are the events described in this article related to your life? Are there similarities? Are there differences? How are the events similar or different to the life of people you know?

2. Adjust Reading Rate/Rereading

Readers are able to monitor their level of understanding as they read. When reading to remember, readers slow down their reading rate. They often reread parts of the text when they are unsure that they understand. When comprehension breaks down, they adjust their rate, reread, and use other strategies to ensure understanding.

3. Ask Questions:
Before, During, and After Reading

Readers generate questions before, during and after reading. Questions pertain to the text’s content, structure and language. They ask questions for different purposes including those that clarify their own developing understanding. Readers wonder about the choices the author made when writing.

Questions to use BEFORE reading:
Activate topic specific knowledge, general world knowledge, text organization or structure knowledge, and author knowledge:

  • What clues does the title/subtitle reveal?
  • What genre of writing does this article represent? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry?
  • Based on the genre of writing, how will you read this selection?
  • What expectations do you have when you read nonfiction? Fiction? Poetry?
  • What information do you know about this topic?
  • What information could be researched to deepen your understanding of the text?
  • Why are you reading this article? What is your goal? (Set a purpose for reading.)
  • What information do you hope this article will include?
  • What questions do you hope this article will answer?
  • Do you know this author’s work? Have you read other pieces written by this author? What do you know about the kinds of writing this author has composed?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this article?
  • When you scan the text features (title, subtitle, headings, illustrations, captions, bold print, italicized phrases), what details can be collected to help you prepare for reading?

Questions to use DURING reading:
Monitor level of comprehension; Apply problem-solving strategies when comprehension breaks down:

  • What do you understand from the paragraph you just read?
  • Could you summarize its key ideas?
  • What three words represent key ideas? What clues in this paragraph will help you understand that unfamiliar word?
  • Do you need to reread the paragraph to understand what the author is saying?
  • Do you need to slow down your reading in order to understand the ideas? What strategies can you use to unlock the meanings in this text?
  • What images can you visualize using text details in order to build your understanding?
  • Do you need to stop and check the dictionary for an unfamiliar word? Is it essential to know its definition in order to understand the main ideas of the article? Or can you read on?

Questions to use AFTER reading:
Respond, Make Connections, Extend Comprehension, Analyze and Evaluate Ideas, Read Between and Beyond the Lines, Assess Literal and Interpretative Comprehension:

  • Which pre-reading questions did this article answer?
  • Which pre-reading predictions were confirmed?
  • Which predictions were revised?
  • What are the main ideas of this article?
  • What generalizations can be made using the details from the text?
  • What conclusions can be made from the details described in the selection?
  • What cause and effect relationships were revealed?
  • How did the author reveal descriptive information?
  • What is the overall theme of this article?
  • What connections did you make with the information in this article?
  • Would you recommend this article to other readers? Why or why not?

4. Classify or Categorize Information

Readers sort and organize information from a selection. Classifying ideas aids comprehension. Instruction focuses on helping students identify similar or distinct attributes to classify information.

Questions that help students classify or categorize information:

  • How are these ideas alike? How are the ideas different?
  • Which ideas belong together?
  • How are the ideas related?
  • How would you group the facts from the selection?

5. Compare and Contrast Ideas

Authors often connect unknown ideas with known concepts to help readers learn about a topic. Compare/contrast instruction includes identifying author’s use of comparisons and a reader’s ability to make comparisons.

Simile:A simile is a comparison of two unlike things that are alike in one way; a simile uses like or as or a comparative adjective and than.Examples:Butterflies are like flower petals with wings. Migration is like a journey. Caribou feet are like snowshoes.
Metaphor:A metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things. A metaphor does not use a clue word.Examples:Butterflies are flower petals with wings. Migration is a journey.
Analogy:An analogy is also a comparison of two or more objects. The analogy implies that the objects are alike in some ways.Examples:An orchestra of robins welcomed the sunrise. Birds soar through highways in the sky.

Questions that help students compare and contrast:

  • What does this selection remind you of?
  • What does (idea from selection) remind you of?
  • What comparisons did the author use to describe ideas?
  • What similes or metaphors did the author use to describe ideas in the selection?
  • What analogies were used to help readers connect ideas?
  • What are the similarities described? What are the differences described?
  • How did the author help readers learn new ideas?
  • Why did the author compare...to... How are they alike? How are they different?
  • Writers often connect new ideas with something a reader may already know. What examples from the selection show this writing strategy?

6. Distinguish Facts from Opinions

Facts are statements that can be proven true. Opinions are statements that describe someone’s judgment, belief, feelings or way of thinking about a topic. Readers sort out facts and opinions from a selection. Readers check a variety of sources to support statements of fact. Opinions are sometimes supported by facts or authority. These statements are defined as valid opinions.

Questions that help students distinguish facts from opinions:

  • What facts were presented in the article?
  • What evidence did the author include to support statements of fact?
  • What hypotheses did the author present in the selection?
  • What opinions were revealed in the selection?
  • Can (this statement) be proven true or false?
  • How did the author convey the validity of the information?
  • What words and/or phrases did the author use to let readers know that an idea was a fact or an opinion?

7. Identify and Analyze Text Structure

How is the information organized? Authors make decisions about how to present information to readers. They choose from a variety of structures to organize the information for readers:

Chronological/Sequence:(Time/Order) Chronological articles reveal events in a sequence from beginning to end. Words that signal chronological structures include: first, then, next, finally, and specific dates and times.
Cause/Effect:Informational texts often describe cause and effect relationships. The text describes events and identifies or implies causal factors.
Problem/Solution:The text introduces and describes a problem and presents solutions.
Compare/Contrast:Authors use comparisons to describe ideas to readers. Similes, metaphors, and analogies are used in compare/contrast organizational structures.
Description:Sensory details help readers visualize information.
Directions:How-To texts frame the information in a series of directions.

Readers experience a variety of text structures. Identifying the structure of a text helps readers read efficiently. Readers select specific comprehension strategies that fit a particular text based on knowledge of how the information is organized. Readers can anticipate what information will be revealed in a selection when they understand text structure. Understanding the pattern of the text helps readers organize ideas for synthesizing and summarizing.

Questions that help readers use text structures to aid comprehension:

  • Skim the article for titles, subtitles, headings, and key words. After scanning the text, how do you think the author organized the information?
  • Which framework did this author use to organize the information? Chronological? Cause/Effect? Problem/Solution? Compare/Contrast? Description? Directions?
  • Does the author use a combination of structures?
  • How did the author organize the text to be “reader-friendly”?
  • Which text features helped you collect information from the article?

8. Identify Author’s Purpose:
Why Did the Author Write the Selection?

Why do you think the author wrote the article? To persuade? To entertain? To inform? To express? Author’s purpose is the reason or reasons an author has for writing a selection. If readers enjoyed what they read, one of the author’s purposes may have been to entertain. If students learn while they are reading, one of the author’s purposes may have been to inform. If readers changed the way they thought about a topic or issue, one of the author’s purposes may have been to persuade. Authors may have more than one purpose for writing. Author’s purpose can be stated explicitly or readers may have to infer the intent.

Reflective readers are able to analyze information more thoughtfully when they know an author’s purpose. Identifying an author’s purpose may give clues to a reader for how to pace their reading. Students need to adjust their reading rate for various selections. Informational articles may require a reader to slow down in order to fully understand ideas described.

Questions that help students explore author’s purpose:

  • Based on the title, why do think the author wrote this selection?
  • Which words do you think best describe the main reason the author wrote this selection: to provide readers with information? To describe a person, event, or issue? To express their own thoughts and feelings? To persuade readers to think about an issue in a certain way and to take action? Or to entertain the reader?
  • Why did the author write the article from a particular point of view?
  • How did the author influence your response to the selection?
  • Was the author’s purpose specifically stated?
  • Do you think that the author achieved his/her intended purposes? Did the article effectively give information? Entertain readers? Express the author’s thoughts and feelings? Persuade readers to think about an issue and/or take action?
  • What examples from the text support your conclusions about author’s purpose

9. Identify Author’s Viewpoint:
What Does the Author Think?

Author’s viewpoint is the way an author looks at a topic or the ideas being described. The author’s viewpoint includes the content of the text and the language used to present the data. Thoughtful readers decipher an author’s point of view, opinions, hypotheses, assumptions, and possible bias. Instruction for author’s viewpoint helps students read analytically in order to identify the validity of information contained in the text. Students identify words and phrases that show an author’s strong feelings for or against a person, group, or issue. Students identify selections that present various perspectives on a topic. This strategy focuses on helping students ask questions to identify stated and unstated viewpoints.

Questions that help students explore author’s viewpoint:

  • What opinions or belief statements are evident in the article?
  • Why do you think the author has this particular opinion or point of view?
  • What background information about the author does the reader have that may help understand the writer’s point of view? (Point of reference) Would another author have a different point of view depending on his/her background experiences?
  • What pictures does the author paint for a reader?
  • What evidence did the author include to support their opinions?
  • What facts were missing?
  • What words and phrases did the author use to present the information? (Students collect samples of the language an author uses to identify the context in which ideas are presented.)
  • Why did the author write this selection? Identifying the author’s purpose helps students recognize possible viewpoints, especially in persuasive writing.

10. Identify Main Ideas and Supporting Details

The main idea is the most important element of a paragraph or selection. It is the focus of the text. Details are sentences that tell about the main idea. Details are “small pieces of information.” Facts are “small pieces of information” that can be proven true. Readers are able to determine the major points of information provided. They distinguish the relative importance of various pieces of information. Readers recall details from a selection, use details to visualize ideas, and use facts to support conclusions, predictions, and responses. Students collect details and facts that support main ideas. They identify details that reveal specific information.

Questions that help students identify main ideas and supporting details:

  • Based on the title, what do you think the article will be about?
  • What do you think is the BIG IDEA of this article? Of this paragraph?
  • What two words would you use to describe the “gist” of the paragraph? selection?
  • Which details helped you picture . . .?
  • What details from the selection support this hypothesis?
  • When students read, they think about what most of the sentences are describing. Is there one sentence that describes the main idea for this topic?
  • What was the focus of this reading selection?

11. Make Inferences and Draw Conclusions

Readers make decisions or form opinions based on information they have read. When readers make an inference or draw a conclusion, they try to figure out something by using clues from the text and what they know from previous experiences. The conclusion is reached after thinking about details and facts from the selection. Thoughtful readers synthesize and evaluate information based on prior knowledge (what experiences they bring to the text). Readers examine an author’s conclusion and evaluate the support details. Readers collect and question details in order to draw conclusions or evaluate conclusions written by the author. Students are invited to go beyond the literal meaning of text to derive interpretative meanings.