Respond

As you read, you will have a variety of reactions to the text – excitement, confusion, annoyance, etc. Take these reactions as opportunities for further reflection and questioning.

Ask yourself what, specifically, in the text leads you to react in a particular way. The answer can assist you in determining the best strategy for deepening your understanding.

Strategies may include:

• rereading for further clarification
• revisiting and reworking your original questions. It may help to review what questions you were hoping to answer with the text and where your reading is leading you.
• elaborating on both your original questions and those that have emerged while reading

Remember that the process of active reading is recursive and, therefore, you are likely to move back and forth between “Question” and “Respond” as you read the text.