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Notes on Reading Comprehension Strategies

  1. Main Idea
  • Identifies the topic/states most important ideas about it
  • Can be found in the 1st sentence or last sentence of paragraph
  • May be implied (not stated) – think about all the ideas in paragraph
  1. Facts and Details/Supporting Details
  • Support and tell more about the main idea
  • Help understand main idea more completely
  • Often tell who, what, when, where, why, how about main idea
  1. Word Meaning in Context/Context Clues
  • Figuring out the meaning of an unknown word from other words around it
  • Context clues can be words or phrases around the unknown word
  • Context clues often found in sentence with unknown word
  • Synonyms, antonyms, comparisons, and definitions may be context clues
  1. Sequence
  • The order in which things are done or events happen
  • Clue words – first, next, then, last, finally, before
  • Words about time – time of day, time of week, month, season, year
  • Think about beginning, middle, end
  1. Compare/Contrast
  • Compare – finding out how 2 or more things are ALIKE
  • Compare clue words – both, same, like, alike, similar
  • Contrast – finding out how 2 or more things are DIFFERENT
  • Contrast clue words – but, unlike, different, however, instead
  1. Drawing Conclusions/Making Inferences
  • Figuring something out that is not directly stated in a reading passage
  • Reading between the lines
  • Pay attention to people, places, objects that are not fully presented in passage
  • Use details from story/passage and what you know from your own life to make an inference
  1. Cause and Effect
  • What happens and why
  • WHY something happens – is the CAUSE
  • WHAT happens (the result) – is the EFFECT
  • Clue words – so, so that, since, because, therefore, reason, as a result, if, then
  1. Author’s Purpose
  • Reason why an author writes something
  • FOUR reasons: describe/express/reflect, entertain, explain/inform and persuade/influence
  1. Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion
  • FACT – statement that can be checked or proven TRUE
  • OPINION – tells what someone thinks or feels about something and can NOT be proven true
  • Opinion clue words – think, feel, believe, seem, always, never, all, none, most, least, greatest, worst, best
  1. Figurative Language
  • Authors use figurative language to help readers create pictures in their minds
  • Includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, analogy, idiom
  1. Making Predictions
  • Make a ‘good’ guess from what you already know and clues from what you have read on what might happen next
  • Clues may be found in the title, in the facts/details or pictures
  1. Paraphrasing/Summarizing
  • A short statement that tells the main points or important ideas of a reading passage
  • MUST restate the important ideas
  • Usually not stated in passage – use your own words!
  • A good summary of fiction tells about the main character’s problem and solution
  • A good summary of non-fiction tells the main idea of the reading selection