Before Reading

Reading Resources Home

Before you begin Reading

Quick Links: Before you read While you're reading After you finish reading Reading boring texts Reading hard texts Reading literature	Preparing to read a book is sometimes easier said than done. Before you get started on reading a book, novel etc. various issues come into play. A metaphor which may help you better understand the Pre-reading process is a job interview. Before you go to a job interview, don't you want to know as much information about the company, as possible? And exactly how do you go about getting that specific information such as job duties, salary, hours etc.? Do you ask people you know that work there? Do you look information up on-line? Well, I believe these questions relate directly to the Pre-reading process. Before choosing to read a specific book, you may interview specifics regarding the book. For example, you could interview the author. Some of the questions you may ponder before deciding to read a specific book: Who is the author? How old is he/she? Where does the author come from (background, culture etc.)? What does the cover and title say to you? Is the language used complicated, easy or moderate? How many pages is this book? Is the book a classic or contemporary? What kind of reputation does the book have? Did someone recommend this book to you? I turn off the TV, grab a glass of water, turn on a low-key CD, and begin to relax into the book. -Brenda Before I read, I look over the cover of the book and ask people I know, if they have ever heard or read the book them self. I will usually want to know something about the author so I will look them up on the internet to find out more info. - Vanessa I look at the cover and back of the book (if applicable) hoping to find a few clues. I also look at the authorís name to see if I recognize or know anything about this writer. I do not skip the preface or introduction to a piece unless my time is so pinched that I absolutely cannot afford the extra minutes. -Caroline I made sure to have all of my homework written down with importance first. I made sure that I had some water near by and I turned on some background noise and I went to business. -Kelly Usually, I just jump right into it. I open the text and start reading. ?Nicole They say, "You canít judge a book by its cover," and this is true, but you should still look at the cover carefully; there is a lot of information there. ?Kevin I like to enter the authorís name into an internet search engine and see what comes up. Knowing something about the author helps me to think of reading as interacting with the author, rather than trying to interact with the lines on paper that make up words.-Kevin What does the title imply? What could it mean? I also look at the cover, but I don't rely on the cover too much. I've read great books that have lame covers, and I've had other books with beautiful covers that I stopped reading when I got half way through it. ?Steini The only real question I might have in my head is, what's this book about? I don't think so much about the theme, but more about the TOPIC. ?Steini A page about pre-reading strategies from Utah State University	Before reading a book, interview it! Page Leaders: Kevin & Vanessa