Strategies
for Elaborating on Reading Sources
- Agree or disagree with a
statement in the text and give reasons for your agreement or disagreement.
- Compare or contrast your
reactions to the topic. (For example, “At first I thought . . . , but now I
think . . . .”)
- Extend one of the
author’s points.
- Draw attention to what
the author has neglected to say about the topic.
- Discover an idea implied
by the text but not stated by the author.
- Provide additional
details by fleshing out a point made by the author.
- Illustrate the text with
an example, incident, scenario, or anecdote.
- Embellish the author’s
point with a vivid image, metaphor, or example.
- Test one of the author’s
claims.
- Compare one of the
author’s points with your own prior knowledge of the topic or with your own or
others’ experiences.
- Interpret the text in the
light of your prior topic knowledge or experiences.
- Personalize one of the
author’s statements.
- Question one of the
author’s points.
- Speculate about one of
the author’s points by:
- Asking questions about
the direct consequences of an idea.
- Predicting
consequences.
- Drawing implications
from an idea.
- Applying the idea to a
hypothetical situation.
- Giving a concrete
instance of a point made in the text.
- Draw comparisons between
the text and books, articles, films, or other media.
- Classify items in the
text under a superordinate category.
- Discover relations
between ideas in the text that are unstated by the author.
- Validate one of the
author’s points with an example or prior topic knowledge.
- Criticize a point in the
text.
- Create hierarchies of
importance among ideas in the text.
- Make a judgment about the
relevance of a statement that the author has made.
- Impose a condition on a
statement in the text. (For example, “If . . . , then . . . .“)
- Qualify an idea in the
text.
- Extend an idea with a
personal recollection or reflection.
- Assess the usefulness and
applicability of an idea.