Develop Ability to Anticipate and Predict

"There is creative reading as well as creative writing."

Anticipate and Question

Reading comprehension is the process of reading, thinking about what you read, and what is coming. This involves questioning the material. Improving your comprehension is based on the way you approach your material.

Have you ever stood in line at the grocery store and read certain headlines that proclaim that a baby has been born with a mermaid tail, or that Elvis spent the night with Cleopatra?

What do you do when you read them? Watch the reaction of people the next time you're in line. Some of them will smirk. Others will laugh outright, still others will frown, and put on a "doubting" face. Why is this?

You can't always believe everything you read. But, the beauty of this example is that you have proven that you instantly question as you read. This is an excellent approach to anything you read!

Asking questions in your mind, or even out loud, is essential for effective reading.

What do you know about the authors? Are they experts? Are they credible?

What is their background? Do they have the experience to write this piece?

Why did they write this piece? Are they venting, or are they trying to educate?

How current is this information; is it current enough to be of benefit to you?

Is this a fact-based piece or is this an opinion-based piece?

Why are you reading it? What do you expect or need to get out of it?

What do you hope to learn? What do you need to learn?

Only by being an active participant in your reading will you dramatically improve your comprehension of everything that you read.

Tip:
Remember, passive reading leads to very little comprehension; interactive reading greatly improves reading comprehension.

Signal Words

As you are reading, you will begin to notice words that are signal words. They help you to anticipate a change in what is coming next, which help you to anticipate where the author is going. Signal words might indicate that there is:

Additional Information

Also
And
Another
As well as
Besides
Furthermore
In addition, in addition to
Likewise
Moreover

Sequence or order

Because
Finally
First, second, third,…
In order that
Initially
Next
One, two, three, …

Reasoning and explanation

The reason for
Because
In light of
Then
Since

Comparing and Contrasting

Alternatively
Analogous
As
By contrast
However
In the same way
Just as
Likewise
On the other hand
Parallel
Rather than
Similarly
To
While
Yet

Change of thought/reversing thought

Although
But
Conversely
However
Instead
Nevertheless
On the contrary
On the other hand
Unlike
Yet

Example or illustration

e.g.
For example
For instance
In other words
_____ is an illustration of
Such as

Summary or conclusion

Accordingly
As a result
Consequently
In conclusion
In summary
Then
Therefore
Thus

Pay attention to these signals, because they indicate that you either need to pay more attention, or some kind of change is coming. Whenever possible, make copies of some of your more challenging materials and underline or highlight signal words. This often helps you to understand how the author is thinking, and developing an ability to anticipate.

These are key words and phrases that give you, the reader, clues about the way the author has structured and organized the various passages or paragraphs. It also helps you determine the direction in which the argument is moving.

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