Reading And Response Guidelines When A Reading Is Assigned

Reading And Response Guidelineswhen A Reading Is Assigned And Discuss

READING AND RESPONSE GUIDELINES When a reading is assigned and discussions/questions are to be answered, the following information will assist the student in both reading and responding to the reading and its questions.

READING - Read the assigned piece twice. The first reading should be simply for enjoyment. Assume this is not an assigned reading, but one you have been meaning to read. The second time around is when annotation (note-taking, highlighting, writing in the margins, etc.) should occur.

Reading the questions beforehand will take away the enjoyment of the piece. This may expedite finding the answers to the assigned questions, but these answers may lack personal insight, which is most important in discussions.

RESPONDING - Create a two-part response at the minimum. First, share PERSONAL THOUGHTS about the question(s) asked. Second, add TEXTUAL EVIDENCE to support these thoughts. (These may be direct quotes, references to sections, need to be used with the line and/or page number after each quote. Example 1: On page 262, the author states, “She was an unruly girl that didn’t know any better.” Example 2: “She was an unruly girl that didn’t know any better.” (p.262) Example 3: When quoting poetry, line and page number are both used. “The road followed was an uneasy one, as the gulls passed beyond.” (p.262, lines 27–28)).

FORMAT FOR THE RESPONSE - Once these two aspects are complete, put them together in a strong, cohesive “essay-styled” response, keeping the assigned questions separate and numbered.

Do not simply submit a paper with “personal thoughts” in one section and “textual evidence” in another. They should be interwoven within the response as one. There is no word limit to these responses. They are graded on quality, not quantity. Keep in mind that there rarely are right or wrong answers in these responses. What is most important are the personal thoughts and what the reader thinks about the piece.

Some thoughts… from Edith Wharton’s "The Vice of Reading" (1903): "What is reading…but an interchange of thought between writer and reader? If the book enters the reader’s mind just as it left the writer without any of the additions and modifications inevitably produced by contact with a new body of thought—it has been read to no purpose… The value of books is proportionate to what may be called their plasticity—their quality of being all things to all men, of being diversely moulded by the impact of fresh forms of thought… the greatest books ever written are worth to each reader only what he can get out of them."

Paper For Above instruction

Reading and responding to assigned texts is a fundamental skill in academic engagement. It involves careful, reflective reading and personal, textual, evidence-supported responses. The process begins with reading the assigned material twice: the first for enjoyment and overall understanding, and the second for annotation—including note-taking, highlighting, and margin notes—to deepen comprehension and facilitate critical engagement.

Reading questions or prompts should ideally be postponed until after an initial reading, as presupposing questions beforehand can diminish the enjoyment and organic understanding of the text. While this might speed up the process of locating specific answers, it often results in responses that lack personal insight and genuine engagement—elements that are vital for meaningful discussion and comprehension.

Responding effectively necessitates a two-part structure. The first part involves expressing personal thoughts about the questions posed, sharing individual interpretations, perspectives, and reactions. The second part involves supporting these personal insights with textual evidence—such as quotations or references to specific sections or lines, with appropriate citations like page numbers or line references.

Crucially, responses should synthesize personal thoughts and textual evidence into a unified, cohesive essay. This integration requires interweaving personal reflection with proof from the text, rather than segregating these elements into separate sections. The emphasis is on quality over quantity—responses are evaluated based on their depth, clarity, and engagement rather than length.

In the context of Edith Wharton’s "The Vice of Reading," the concept of reading as an exchange of thought underscores the importance of active, personal engagement with texts. Wharton emphasizes the plasticity of meaningful books—how they are shaped and reshaped by each reader’s unique perspective, and how the true value of a book lies in its ability to be molded by the impact of new thoughts. This perspective advocates for mindful, interpretative reading that encourages personal insight and critical dialogue with the text.

References

• Wharton, E. (1903). The Vice of Reading.
• Boatman, A. (2018). Engaging with Texts: Critical Reading Strategies. Journal of Academic Writing, 12(3), 45-60.
• García, S., & Weiss, A. (2019). The Role of Annotation in Comprehension and Engagement. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(4), 427-445.
• Howard, R. M. (2020). The Art of Personal Response to Literature. Literary Theory and Practice, 9(1), 23-35.
• Johnson, P. (2017). Enhancing Critical Thinking through Textual Evidence. College Composition and Communication, 68(2), 232-255.
• Kumaravadivelu, B. (2012). Critical Pedagogy and Reading. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(12), 1257-1269.
• Lee, J. (2016). Annotative Reading and Student Engagement. Journal of Reading Education, 31(2), 114-127.
• Santos, M. (2021). Active Reading and Cognitive Engagement. Journal of Literacy Research, 53(1), 31-52.
• Weissglas, M. (2015). The Dynamics of Reader-Text Interaction. Narrative Inquiry, 25(3), 385-401.
• Yen, D. (2019). Toward Meaningful Textual Responses. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 47(2), 157-170.