How to Mark A Book
Name
Professor Keshishyan
English 102
13 February 2014
How to Mark A Book
Active reading is important because it keeps your mind dynamic and promotes a better understanding of what you are reading. You are able to answer questions you have that come up throughout the story-line and solve problems or confusions about the plot or characters. As you read along, you can make notes either agreeing or disagreeing with the current events taking place in the book. You are allowing yourself to input ideas of your own. Making notes in your book as you read through is, in a sense, engaging in a dialogue between the author and yourself.
The reason active reading is so important is that it helps to keep your mind dynamic and willing to explore, and promote fresh ideas. Mortimer Adler states that “writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed” (p9.) The meaning of active reading is that one is reading something with a clear intent to evaluate and understand the material. “The physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory” (p12.) This isn’t just reading the material over and over, but rather critically and actively engaging with the content of the material. “To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions” (p12.)
When reading a great book, marking in notes is also almost essential every time a new character is introduced. Anytime something important about that character is revealed, like background story, physical appearance, motivations, etc., you can underline it. Later on in the book sometimes characters will re-appear out of nowhere and you can put a note there on which page they were described. This helps a lot for books in which there are a lot of characters, or the characters have exotic
Professor Keshishyan
English 102
13 February 2014
How to Mark A Book
Active reading is important because it keeps your mind dynamic and promotes a better understanding of what you are reading. You are able to answer questions you have that come up throughout the story-line and solve problems or confusions about the plot or characters. As you read along, you can make notes either agreeing or disagreeing with the current events taking place in the book. You are allowing yourself to input ideas of your own. Making notes in your book as you read through is, in a sense, engaging in a dialogue between the author and yourself.
The reason active reading is so important is that it helps to keep your mind dynamic and willing to explore, and promote fresh ideas. Mortimer Adler states that “writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed” (p9.) The meaning of active reading is that one is reading something with a clear intent to evaluate and understand the material. “The physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory” (p12.) This isn’t just reading the material over and over, but rather critically and actively engaging with the content of the material. “To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions” (p12.)
When reading a great book, marking in notes is also almost essential every time a new character is introduced. Anytime something important about that character is revealed, like background story, physical appearance, motivations, etc., you can underline it. Later on in the book sometimes characters will re-appear out of nowhere and you can put a note there on which page they were described. This helps a lot for books in which there are a lot of characters, or the characters have exotic